Despite Bank of America’s $16.65 billion mortgage settlement unveiled today, investors can still make money on the company’s stock over the next three years.

Bank of America Corp.’s BAC, -0.55% shares rose as much as 2% following the announcement of the deal with the Department of Justice, and six states’ attorneys general.

The settlement sprang from charges of fraud related mainly to securitization of mortgage loans by Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch, before both companies were acquired by Bank of America in 2008.

In addition to payments to the Justice Department and the states, the bank will provide $7 billion in relief to consumers through loan-balance reductions, forbearance and “neighborhood stabilization” efforts, with initiatives focused on communities experiencing, or at risk of, urban blight.

That’s very nice, but one group of people who were harmed, the investors who purchased mortgage-backed securities and then took a beating, won’t be helped.

Rafferty Capital Markets analyst Richard Bove, in a phone interview, said: “The shareholders are expected to pay for something they never did, while the people who committed the crimes suffer nothing, while the people harmed get nothing.”

Leaving aside the issue of whether the settlement is fair, it appears that with this major payout, Bank of America is getting close to turning the page and focusing on improving its operations rather than litigation.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, discussing the pending Department of Justice settlement in May, said: “Of the big stuff, that’s really the one that’s left out there.”

There will still be more settlements, but they cannot be expected to be anywhere near the size of the one announced today.

So what can investors expect, as Bank of America moves past the mortgage mess?

Following media reports of the coming settlement, Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin last week said the bank’s current annual operating earnings “run rate” is roughly $1.70 to $1.80 a share, and that “with some core business growth,” earnings could climb above $2 within three years.

Bove agrees. “If you were to split away from Bank of America all the litigation this year, they would be earning a $1.80 a share, and if you make the assumption the bank could sell for 10 times earnings, that’s $18 a share,” he said.

Bank of America’s shares closed at $15.52 Wednesday and traded for 10.3 times the consensus 2015 earnings estimate of $1.50 a share, among analysts polled by FactSet. That’s a rather cheap valuation, considering that the KBW Bank Index BKX, -0.52% trades for 11.2 times the aggregate 2015 EPS estimate.

Here are the consensus estimates for the bank going out to 2018:

A major component of the higher EPS expectations is the effect of higher interest rates.

The bank is primed and ready, with an asset-sensitive balance sheet.

The Federal Reserve has kept the short-term federal funds rate in a range of zero to 0.25% since the end of 2008. With the U.S. economy continuing to add over 200,000 jobs a month, it is likely the Fed will reverse course on rates next year. Bank of America has said that a 1 percentage point parallel rise in interest rates would increase its net interest income by $3.4 billion.

So if Bank of America maintains its rather modest forward price-to-earnings ratio, the stock price could easily climb over 50% during the next three years.