One of the enduring features of the findings in behavioral psychology as it applies to finance, a subject I have discussed many times over the years, is the almost complete inability of those who are aware of them to actually apply them... The recent precipitous decline in financial stocks, especially those related to housing, which sent Countrywide Financial (CFC) to $12 last week, and led to 20 to 30% drops in financial guarantors in a day or so -- after they had already dropped between 25 and 50% this year -- is a case in point.
After falling 20% in a only a few days on no news, and this after being down 50% for the year, CFC rallied over 30% in one day once they reported their results and indicated they would be profitable for the 4th quarter and expect to earn a reasonable return on equity of 10-15% for all of 2008. The price action on both sides was driven by emotion -- first fear, then relief -- and was hardly the result of a careful analysis of Countrywide's long term business value. That, by the way, we think is in the $40's compared to its current price of about $14-15.
Bill Miller's fund is long CFC.
Miller's full letter is available via Legg Mason's site (.pdf).
