The accompanying table presents the 25 lowest-rated stocks in my US-based Regional Banking Index. The index contains a total of 99 companies with market caps between $500 million to $20 billion which are classified as either regional banks or savings and loan companies. The ratings for each company are calculated quarterly based on a formula which considers the price-to-book ratio, the trailing 52-week stock price performance, and the percentage of total market caps represented by each company.
It may take some time to realize the full potential of this stock, but with two rock bottom purchases in just over 3 months, JP Morgan is positioned to be a financial services powerhouse in the coming 12 to 18 months. Combine the fire sale prices Jamie Dimon has paid for Bear Stearns and now Washington Mutual with the impending government financial services restructuring plan and only good things can happen to this stock. These aquitions will prove to be acretive to earnings in the next several quarters and will bolster the investment banking operation and create the retail branch coverag...
I get a lot of questions about bank stocks- have we seen a bottom? Is it safe to start nibbling? What bank is the cheapest? And while the financials are not my favorite sector right now, I think that if you have a longer term investment horizon, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is the bank stock that should take a look at.
Just an aside – There seems to be a lot of confusion about what it means for a stock to be “cheap.” People often say things to me like – "but WaMu (WM) is trading at 4 dollars, don’t you think it is really cheap right now?” First of all, the nominal value of an individual stock has no
After scanning the charts this early Monday morning, I’ve zeroed in on an investment bank behemoth in the financial industry that sometimes buys up other competitors when they get into liquidity trouble, as they just recently did during this time of liquidity credit crisis. Longer term, we would be a share buyer of this excellent company. Near to intermediate term, I’m putting a sell on it.
Thinking of investing in finacial stocks. Consider Bil Gross's comments first.
Bond manager Bill Gross wants to spread the bailout wealth. Gross says in a commentary posted on the Pimco Web site Thursday that the government must “open up the balance sheet of the U.S. Treasury” to support Fannie Mae ( FNM ), Freddie Mac ( FRE ) and, in a new twist, “Mom and Pop on Main Street U.S.A.” as well.
Gross has previously said he believes the Treasury will have to assist Fannie and Freddie in any efforts to raise new capital. His Pimco Total Return bond fund has major p
The following two-part article puts forth ten stock ideas that I believe would be better off in your investment portfolio than one comprised primarily of Certificates of Deposits (CDs) or bonds, or even government treasuries. This is not to say that these do not have value or offer some level of security, but they are long term losers.
A basket of high yielding-high quality stocks can offer a higher return
Over the last couple of days, the market’s reaction to the bad news surrounding the housing and financial sector is, I believe, quite insightful about the psychology of the market and the reason for the substantial daily swings. The main concern seems to be the fear of another mortgage underwriter or investment bank going under. I can’t help but realize how the market psychology about this so-called “bad news” is extremely similar to late 2006/early 2007, at the height of the M&A boom; only this time, market dynamics are reversed.
You might be surprised how one can say that a market which re
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says all that money has to go somewhere, and this is a likely destination.
Clash of the ideals! Oil's down, and what can you buy when there's so much bad bank news? What can you buy when Wachovia (NYSE: WB) (Cramer's Take) is boosting reserves and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)) (Cramer's Take) is still being pursued by authorities and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) (C...
This company is one of the strongest companies during the credit crunch snapping up assets at fire sale prices. The future with JP Morgan under the helm of Jamie Dimon will be a very prosperous company especially gaining bear stearns at a great price. I'm sure that the share price will increase after the profits from acquiring bear stearns is shown after the economy improves.
Analysts' Recommendation: Hold 30 Days Ago: Buy Analysts' Target: $43 Analysts' Targets UBS Securities $37 Hold Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Ladenburg, Thalmann $39 Neutral Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Lehman Brothers $50 Equalweight Monday, June 09, 2008 Punk, Ziegel & Company $44 Mkt Perform Friday, February 29, 2008 BusinessWeek Rankings Best Global Brands Best Global Brands 2007 #32 2006 #33 Best Places to Launch a Career Best Places to Launch a Career 2007 #17 2006 #9 JPMorgan Chase & Co., a financial hold...
As seen on the S&P report: We anticipate further pressure in JPM's market-sensitive business in 2008, as the environment remains challenging.We expect near-term results to be pressured by credit quality issues in its sub-prime mortgage, auto, home equity, and credit card portfolios. Return on equity increased from 7.8% in 2005 to 12.2% in 2006 and 13.0% in 2007.We think recent expense management initiatives, implemented by Mr. Dimon, JPM's CEO, will help drive ROE improvement in 2008.We see EPS growth of 5% annually over the next three years.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the acquired Bear Stearns portfolio is worth even less than he thought.
How bad was that Bear Stearns portfolio? I am beginning to believe that JPMorgan's (NYSE: JPM) (Cramer's Take) buy of Bear is looking like a big mistake. It can only be justified by what might have been an even bigger p...
JPM has the world's largest exposure to credit default swaps (CDS) with notional exposure of $8.0 trillion (yes trillion not billion!) and BSC is the second largest with notional exposure to CDS of $2.7 trillion. JPM’s largest counterparty exposure in CDS could reasonably be expected to be on BSC. I suspect that the notional exposure would have accounted for circa 5% of BSC’s book leaving JPM with an exposure of $135 billion.
However this direct exposure would have been subject to various netting arrangements which would have reduced the net exposure to a much lower amount.
Early Options Activity
- Taking an early look at the options market, we found the following names that may be worth watching throughout the day for further indication of invest...
More bad news for the financial sector
- Bond manager Bill Gross wants to spread the bailout wealth. Gross says in a commentary posted on the Pimco Web site Thursday that the government must ...
The following two-part article puts forth ten stock ideas that I believe would be better off in your investment portfolio than one comprised primarily of Certificates of Deposits (CDs) or bonds, or even government treasuries. This is not to say that these do not have value or offer some level of security, but they are long term losers.
