** Bendigo and Adelaide Bank BEN.AX on Friday reported third-quarter unaudited cash earnings of A$122.2 million ($79.36 million), down ~8% on 1H's quarterly avg

** Morningstar cites decline in non-interest income and lack of benefit from loan impairment provision release as reasons for profit drop

** However, brokerage sees financial product Homesafe's earnings weakness and lower operating expenses as timing issues, keeping forecasts largely unchanged

** Morningstar remains optimistic on co's loan growth; notes above-market rate but it's slowing as co pulls back on discounting to prevent a net interest margin decline

** Retains its fair value estimate at A$10.80/shr, citing potential profit upside from cost savings over the medium term

** 2 of 10 analysts rate the stock "buy" or higher, 5 as "hold" and 3 as "sell" or lower; their mean PT is A$10.91 – LSEG data

** Stock down 9.5% YTD

($1 = 1.5399 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; X: @thatstanishk http://www.x.com/thatstanishk;))