siegfried

SeraCare: Five Reasons to Buy This Biotech Microcap with Recurrent Revenue

there's an interview with the ceo in this special report:
finance.yahoo.com/news...

Banking: Will the New Be Better than the Old?

Prudent? Comerica has $15 billion in loans to commercial real estate of which more than 1/3 are in CONSTRUCTION loans. and another $5+ billion in loans to auto dealerships mostly in california and the midwest. Toxic balance sheet, watch this stock go to $0/share.

Americans Make Smith & Wesson's Day

why not just tax them higher? extra taxes on cigarettes and liquor, they can raise the taxes on guns next.

Cisco Reporting Earnings: A Landslide Trading Opportunity

and if the CSCO stocks trades 3.4% up and then 2.7% down, you should cover the open put sell with a buyside jiggeramoo and a sideways spit in the ocean. what bollocks!

Doo-Doo Bank Drill Down, Part 3: Sun Trust Bank

yes just covered my short in STI. you should at least reference the KO stock on their balance that they said they would realize $1 billion of new tangible equity from this quarter. the management promised this in last conference call, i will wait for that announcement to re-short or if the stock hits $55 again. their HELOC portfolio is what i would call the biggest risk in their loan portfolio, about $15 billion and about 10% will need to be written off in next annual report.

These 32 Commercial Banks and Thrifts May See the Dung Hit the Fan

agree--the home equity crisis is a ticking time bomb. now take your list and cull it for banks that have already taken the hit, raised additional equity and moved on, then adjust the remainder for banks "hidden assets" like the KO stock on STI's balance sheet that will add $1 billion of equity this quarter and then cull out the banks operating in geographies that have not been hard hit. You will get banks like CMA, BBT, and SNV. Still trading above book and still under reserved. Then its a race--will they have to write down before the recession turns. If the recession lasts through the year and they have to do year end house cleaning (again) then they will trade down 20% to 30% from here. If not, then you are stuck with watching them trade between their 50 day MA and their 200 day MA for the next 2 quarters.

What To Look For In a Regional Bank Stock

SNV has very high exposure to construction loans in southeast. under reserved to boot.

Raw Data Report: Fast Food Restaurants

interesting info about NATH. stock is currently uner $14/share with about $6/share in net cash. seems like good value for the money.

Real Estate and Financials: Sell the Rally

how about banks like SNV and BBT that have huge exposure to construction financing? how about bank like STI with $15 billion in home equity loans out of $122 billion in total loans, almost all in GA and FL the hardest hit markets outside of CA and NV? all have traded back up? May be another leg down once the earning season has ended and analysts realize that Visa profits and selling other assets are short term solutions in a longer winding recession.

CoSineTrading at Cash; $20/Share of NOLs

Steel Partners owns over 10% of Nathan's hot dogs, NATH, which has $33 million of net cash on its balance sheet and trades at $85 million market cap. The hot dog business yields about $6 to $7 million in free cash flow annually after deducting capex but adding back the top two exec salaries.

The Worst Is Behind Us (unless massive bank failure is considered a bad thing)

From STI conference call: "We are not enthusiastically optimistic about what’s going to go on in the home equity market. We think its going to be a pretty long haul over the next year to really if we move through the HELOC specifically. Our home equity loan portfolio is older and more mature and performing really well. It really is the brokered loans where we are really having the majority of our problems. That a little over $1.8 billion, as you look at that portfolio its going to continue to cause problems over the next two or three quarters."

Regional Bank Failures: The Next Shoe to Drop

banks are good banks are bad. except for the list by DSX lover no one is picking stocks to buy or short. and DSX, by the way, your "analysis" of the banks is so top level as to be misinformed--e.g. STI has $17+ billion of construction, land A&D loans and $14+ billion of HELOCs on their balance--all in FL and GA and out of $122 billion portfolio. Oh yeah, and $8 billion of car loans from third parties. So 1/3 of all all assets are in crap categories--before even getting to residential mortgage or Alt A or credit default swaps. Are you long or short that stock? This is drivel, and the original column entry makes me want to vomit. I CAN'T BELIEVE I WASTED MY TIME ON THIS. Very annoying.

Lehman: ‘Creative’ Financing Rides Again

giving an investment banker access to the Fed window is like giving a crackhead access to a cocaine mine.

Jim Rogers' Picks and Pans - Barron's Interview

there are two china closed end funds trading a significant discount to net asset value. CAF which is pure China and TDF which is the Templeton Dragon Fund.

Smelling a Short-Squeeze in Lehman

it's what they teach in business school all the days--i rounded some of the numbers--and it's called "riskless arbitrage". the wall street journal article today that details how LEH is putting bad loans to the Fed (i.e. US Taxpayer) is another example of arbitrage. Bet the quant that figured that one out will get big cash bonus. Rest of us get el shafto taxero.