Paul Meisel

Countrywide's Henry Cisneros Was a Useless Board Member

Let's see, 24 meetings for $358,000 -- that is around $15,000 a meeting. Forget CEO pay, that is obscene all by itself. No one can contribute that much value in a day....

Countrywide: The Lender Who Helped People Save Their Homes

"Even though I think CEO Mozillo sold shares based on the upcoming credit issue, and will be found guilty of doing so, "....

Todd, if you are going to lead with this, you should put in some of your rationale for the opinion.

The fact that Mozilo has been selling a lot of stock for a long time, and that it increased about a year ago, is not news to those following the stock. (Disclosure, I own none and have not.) A lot of executives sell a lot of stock to diversify, to send grandkids to college, to buy vacation homes and retirement hobby businesses...

I just think that if you are going to express an opinion like this you should follow up with your rationale so there is no wondering what information or insight your opinion is based on.

Although experience has taught me not to underestimate greed, in Mozilo's situation, to do anything overtly illegal would be colossally stupid -- given the visibility of his stock and his previous selling he would have to know that any change in his plans would be subject to scrutiny. Maybe I just wear rose colored glasses but I just see a rich guy who has too much of his money in one basket and is trying to move it in an orderly fashion......

Countrywide CEO Gets Lucky Grantitis

I have to believe that given the prominence of both the stock and the CEO that the SEC has looked into this and found nothing worth pursuing.

Why Countrywide is Done

I find it difficult to believe, that after several years of conversations and consideration, that Ken Lewis and BoA are so stupid that they bought into a company that won't recover. Certainly BoA has top notch M&A and business development people and a better understanding of both credit markets and financial balance sheets than almost any outside investor.

That Countrywide was in difficulty was undoubtable -- but with BoA taking a big stake, their eventual recovery to at least reasonable health is highly likely, and complete failure highly unlikely.

Ken Lewis' Savvy Countrywide Investment

And a potential blocking position against a competing acquirer, and a leg up on a future acquisition.....

Bank of America: Countrywide’s White Knight

BAC was rumored to be looking at a takeover, now they get a better deal on a smaller piece, less risk, still lots of upside, and a potential blocking position against another suitor should CFC turnaround.

Meanwhile CFC may have had to sell the whole company, they only have to sell a piece (although at a big discount), protecting their investors.

Smart.

Is the Normalization of Housing Prices a Realistic Expectation?

It is difficult to be very precise in calculation of what payments people can afford, given shifts in wage collectors vs. self-employed, increases in the number of the folks well-to-do-enough to afford two homes, and other changes in the economy over the last 30 year. But...

Is there any reason we should expect housing to increase over the long term by substantial margins above the GDP increase? The tax benefit of own-vs.-rent is old news and should be baked into behaviors.... the baby boomers have been in home-ownership brackets for years..... why should we expect more of society's resources, on a percentage basis, to go into housing year after year?

Countrywide Financial CEO Is Running For the Hills

Here is a relatively rare example of a CEO behaving like a normal, rational human and being fairly transparent about his actions.

The performance of the stock given the state of housing and mortgage financing is no surprise....... it's actually done better than some of it's competitors.

Disclosure: no position but on my watch list