JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and BNY Mellon (BK) will kick off the third quarter earnings season on Friday.

Citizens JMP director of financial technology research Devin Ryan joins Market Domination to break down what investors can expect from these earnings and his top plays in the sector.

After the Federal Reserve delivered a 50-basis-point cut in September, Ryan explains, "What you earn on your cash on the asset side of the equation is going to come down a little bit. But the flip side is the deposit costs are going to come down as well." Thus, he points to names like Charles Schwab (SCHW) that are in a position to benefit after underperforming in the last year.

"Even though on one hand, they are going to see a little bit of a lower asset yield on some of their short-term stuff, the longer-term securities are rolling off and they're going to reprice higher," Ryan tells Yahoo Finance. He adds, "And then they have this funding cost dynamic where customer, essentially cash deposits, have been going out the door to money markets. And I think that's going to stop as well."

In addition, Ryan notes that capital markets have been "very depressed." As interest rates continue to fall, companies will likely decrease their financing, and in turn, financials could see a rise in M&A (mergers and acquisitions) activity.

He also points to Goldman Sachs (GS) as another great opportunity, as he is bullish on its alternative asset management business. "The alternative asset managers trade at 25 times or more on forward earnings. So as that part of their business becomes more meaningful, that's going to move the needle," Ryan argues.

Ryan highlights Perella Weinberg (PWP) as a small-cap play in the sector. He explains, "It's a small advisory boutique trading at 13 times our estimate for next year. The peers are over 20 times. So I think they're going to close that valuation gap, so there's a lot of upside still there."

Watch the video above to hear what Ryan thinks is in store for LPL Financial (LPLA) as it grapples with a leadership shakeup.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl