Short Story: Washington Federal

As you can see from this graph of Washington Federal (WFSL), short investors have been increasing their positions dramatically in the loan holding company, and with good reason. The share price has dropped from $25 in January to $15 today, so for those investors who came to the trade at the correct time, sizable profits would have been made. On Tuesday the company saw its shares hit a 52-week low due to its large residential construction loan portfolio.

Utilisation is at 48% and there are 16.27 Days to Cover.

Comments

[fatcat:]

Thank you Jessica,I didn't know about this stock...

2008 Jul 10 08:04 PM

[Eric Fox:]

Interesting choice for a short...its non-performing assets as a percentage of total assets was .58% at March 31, 2008. This is pretty low compared to peers but the data is very stale.

Tier 1 (Core) Capital Ratio - 10.08%
Total Risk-Based Capital Ratio - 17.89%
Tier 1 Risk-Based Capital Ratio - 17.03%
Tangible Equity Ratio - 10.08%

These are strong as well but again are from 3/1/08.

2008 Jul 11 11:20 AM

[Ames Tiedeman:]

Anything financial has crashed.

2008 Jul 16 07:09 AM

[Eric Fox:]

Ames...as you know, the key is to find the ones dragged down in sympathy. Updated numbers for the end of June are not due until Sept according to the FDIC site.

2008 Jul 16 08:22 AM