Printer Friendly

eMail Article

October 07, 2008

Anecdotal Observations Regarding Bank of America
by Reggie Middleton

This bank is in big trouble. Notwithstanding their own credit issues, a slowing business cycle, and horrible macro conditions, they actually paid $100 billion for acquisitions in the last 5 quarters. This company wasn't even (IMO) worth $100 billion in the last 5 quarters. Talk about subprime borrowing!

• Bank of America Profit Skids 68%; Dividend Halved

• BofA in $8.6 Billion Settlement over Countrywide

Two of those acquisitions were the largest companies in their respective industries, along with the largest problems caused by the Asset Securitization crisis (or one could say caused by them). Merrill Lynch led Wall Street in asset value writedowns, and I don't think they were really all that aggressive in doing so. Countrywide is a gaping radioactive cesspool of liabilities and underwater assets (see the posts below from LAST YEAR). They actually have practically as much in REOs (dollar value) as performing mortgages. This makes them effectively a real estate company - against their will. The legal liabilities appear to be near limitless. What the hell was Ken Lewis thinking when he bought these two companies? Integrating a large acquisition is hard enough, doing 5, with 2 being the largest in their respective (very large) industries during the worst credit and real estate downturn since the Great Depression, as your own credit and earnings metrics deteriorate in the face of nearly $10 billion + worth of legal liabilities seems to be a form of corporate hari kari. Then again, what does a lowly blogger know about the intricacies of high finance and corporate machinations...

Reggie Middleton
Reggie Middleton, LLC
Perpetual Interests, LLCTM
http://boombustblog.com/

Who am I?

Well, I fancy myself the personification of the free thinking maverick, the ultimate non-conformist as it applies to investment and analysis. I am definitively outside the box - not your typical or stereotypical Wall Street investor. I work out of my home, not a Manhattan office. I build my own technology and perform my own research - in lieu of buying it or following the crowd. I create and follow my own macro strategies and am by definition, a contrarian to the nth degree.

Since I use my research as a tool for my own investing to actually put food on my table, I can stand behind it as doing what it is supposed too - educate, illustrate and elucidate. I do not sell advice, I am not a reporter hence do not sell stories, and I do not sell research. I am an entrepreneur who exists just outside of mainstream corporate America and Wall Street. This allows me freedom to do things that many can not. For instance, I pride myself on developing some of the highest quality research available, regardless of price. No conflicts of interest, no corporate politics, no special favors. Just the hard truth as I have found it - and believe me, my team and I do find it! I welcome any and all to peruse my blog, use my custom hacked collaborative social tools, read the articles, download the files, and make a critical comparison of the opinion referencing the situation at hand and the time stamp on the blog post to the reality both at the time of the post and the present. Hopefully, you will be as impressed with the Boom Bust as I am and our constituency.

I pay for significant information and data, and am well aware of the value of quality research. I find most currently available research lacking, in both quality and quantity. The reason why I had to create my own research staff was due to my dissatisfaction with what was currently available - to both individuals and institutions.

So here I am, creating my own research for my own investment activity. What really sets my actions apart is that I offer much of what I produce to the public without charge - free to distribute and redistribute, as long as it is left unaltered and full attribution is given to the author and owner. Why would I do such a thing when others easily charge 5 and 6 digits annually for what some may consider a lesser product? It is akin to open source analysis! My ideas and implementations are actually improved and fine tuned when bounced off of the collective intellect of the many, in lieu of that of the few - no matter how smart those few may believe themselves to be.

Very recently, I have started charging for the forensics portion of my work, which has freed up the resources to develop the site to deliver even more research for free, particularly on the global macro and opinion front. This move has allowed me to serve an more diverse constituency, which now includes the institutional consumer (ie., investment turned consumer banks, hedge funds, pensions, etc,) as well as the newbie individual investor who is just getting started - basically the two polar opposites of the investing spectrum. I am proud to announce major banks as paying clients, and brand new investors who take my book recommendations and opinions on true wealth and success to heart.

So, this is how I use my background and knowledge in new media, distributed computing, risk management, insurance, financial engineering, real estate, corporate valuation and financial analysis to pursue, analyze and capitalize on global macroeconomic opportunities. I have included a more in depth bio at the bottom of the page for those who really, really need to know more about me.

Visit his blog Boom Bust Blog.

Copyright © 2007-2009 Reggie Middleton

Image rendition and html coding Copyright © 2000-2009 SafeHaven.com

« Opinions expressed at SafeHaven are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of SafeHaven or its management. Articles are available via RSS/XML. Please visit RSSHelp for instructions. »