hendi_alex

BB&T Corp: The Best House in a Bad Neighborhood

Housing is pretty slow in NC, especially in some of the metropolitan areas like around Charlotte. On the other hand, home prices didn't escalate in most areas of NC like they did in the hot spots. So IMO homes are not likely to deflate in value the way they are in CA, FL, and some other states. I recently helped my daughter search for a home in the triad area, so many houses are valued in the $120K-$240K range and those will likely stay fairly steady in price. Also in the process of renovating the repo that she bought in the Greensboro area, Home Depot and Lowes have had a brisk business most every trip no matter what day of the week we shopped. Anyway, just info from casual observation, but it would appear to me that BBT would not have the degree of exposure like other banks that conduct business in the hot spots have. That said, BBTs exposure to commercial projects and to speculative home builders will likely keep a damper on earnings for some time to come. I'm building a long term position in BBT and am placing my bet that in late 2010 or earlier, I'll be smiling at those accumulated shares. I'm also long USB and IAT. Initially bought USB several months ago near its low, and began building a position in BBT and IAT just a few weeks ago. USB is in the green, BBT and IAT are in the red, all but the most recent incremental buys.