Victor Cook

Which Banks Are Holding Those 'Hard-to-Value' Assets?

No, I did not include Wachovia in the analysis. Since you plan to run an analysis on that bank combined with the eight included in my article you should know I’m using S&P Compustat data standardized for direct comparability among companies.

Also, I cross-checked the S&P numbers with EdgarOnline I*Metrix data -- As Reported. In the case of banks both services define Total Revenue as Net Interest Income + Total Interest Expense + Total Non-interest Income. For example, WFC’s reported Total Revenue on 9/30/08 was $6.381+$2.393+$3.998=$... Note that Yahoo Finance reports revenue net of interest expense for some banks. In effect, Yahoo removes what amounts to a bank’s "cost of goods sold" from reported revenue. I’ll be interested to see what you come up with. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email any time. Thanks for your interest.