BSCLossMan

Wall St. Compensation Cap Is Ill-Conceived

I think all the people (pundits on TV, also) are absolutely wrong complaining about the wall street/bank bonus limits. The argument is that it will be hard to hire and keep top talent. First, with so many layoffs in the financial sector, they (like anyone else) should be happy to have a job. Also, it's all the wonderful talent who got us into this mess. Talent?

DryShips Looks Good, Even Without Its Dividends

How good is Dry Ships without its ships. I read somewhere it's so short of capital it's starting to sell its ships.

Lowe's Looks Undervalued

Many stocks are undervalued. Next week, they'll be more undervalued.

Apple TV: It Could Be the End of the Line

AAPL Tv could be the biggest winner in the universe if it was--a TV...

Whale Watching: Buffett's Move Is Just What Investors Need

I'm certainly no expert, but I simply cannot understand the price of GS shares. Now it's just a bank with a golden name, but still just a bank among many banks vying for deposits. The high valuation of GS (250/share not so long ago), and it's precipitous drop to 100, then up to 125+ reflected its status as an investment bank not a regular bank. I don't know why this isn't trading at $50, which still is giving it a premium (as a bank) for its golden name. Can anyone answer this?

Why I Bought AIG Last Week

AIG comment #2: I'm certainly an amateur, but I have one more qualification about buying any AIG stock, regardless of price. I am probably wrong, but I think the fed would be very leery about letting the shareholder revolt wrest control of AIG from them. $85B is a lot of money, but AIG has much more bad stuff on its books, and it's difficult for me to imagine a consortium of large shareholders raising enough capital to make the fed feel okay with letting them take control of the company. Even with asset sales, there might be many more extremely large write-downs at AIG and if the fed lets AIG go, they (the fed) might be in the same boat in the future, bailing out AIG again. $2.50 a share sounds cheap until it goes to 5 cents...I of course, don't know, but these are just my thoughts.

Why I Bought AIG Last Week

It's amazing how difficult it is to find answers on the internet to the most simple question about stocks. For example, I've not seen a single word about what would happen to those extra millions of shares of stock that would be issued by AIG in a fed takeover after the loan is paid? Are they put onto the market (thereby maintaining a massive dilution) or are they given back to AIG subsequently to be destroyed? (PS: I'm not sure what the law says about destroying stock that has been issued). The way I look at it, that's the most important question regarding AIG shares.

AIG: The Mark-to-Lehman Market

There's a good article on Forbes today about AIG. AIG has many assets it can sell, real assets, not voodoo securities.

Market Losing Patience with AIG

Hold on. I think AIG will triple from here in 3 years. The drop is primarily due ot shorting the stock. I'm not saying AIG doesn't have problems, but it's not like LEH or BSC or WM. It has tremendous assets and great businesses. While the fed is trying to stablize markets, the SEC made a terrible mistake allowing naked shorts. They should be stopped, period, for all stocks, and for all time.

Why ETFs Will Overtake Traditional Mutual Funds

I agree with everything said, but one must be careful of saying (as so many people parrot) that ETFs are low-cost. Many ETFs have expense ratios in excess of .6%, even up to 1%. And many mutual funds, finally wising up, are finally lowering costs, with many below 1%. Vanguard, of course, is best in both categories. It seems to me that mutual funds are best for investors, while ETFs are best for traders.

Freddie and Fannie: Living in the Past

In my humble opinion, entities like fannie and freddie should not exist and should never have existed. Banks that write loans should never be allowed to package them in any way, shape or form, to sell elsewhere. It's clear that Wild Capitalism, during which anyone will do anything to make money and juice returns, the only restraint (obviously government supervision doesn't do much) is to force, by law, banks to hold all loans on their books. Period.

Our Advice? Buy the Financials Now

I like your thoughts, but the end of the financial crisis has been called all the time, even in January. We aren't close yet; too much deterioration. After Fannie & Freddie & LEH fail might be the time to buy. Then again, financials could go down further, even after that. AIG case in point; when they do another massive write-down, financials will follow downward.

Bank Index [BKX]: Near-Term Bottom in the Financials?

I wish people would stop talking about the bottom in anything, particularly financials. We're in for a long slide yet.

Alcoa Management: "Global Supply and Demand Is Essentially Balanced"

And AA was down by the time of market close...

Still Bearish on Financials - Stop Trading! (5/29/08)

I think it's silly to say C can quintuple in 5 years. At the height of the voodoo-security bubble, C was only 55, and all that voodoo is disappearing, and earnings for banks have to be much lower going forward. Maybe, at best, a double in 5 years