Citigroup has just learned that hell hath no fury like a chafed Dick. Yesterday, CFO Gary Crittenden popped in on a little gathering run by Deutsche Bank's Mike Mayo. While breaking bread and shooting the shit with a couple of buy-siders, Crittenden casually mentioned that the banking behemoth (gettin' smaller every day though!) would probably have some sort of writedowns related to leveraged loans and bond insurers in the second quarter. All-smay oblem-pray. It appears the Critter may have flaked on the rule about disclosing material information to everyone at the same time. You know, the whole Reg. FD thing. And apparently Punk Ziegel analyst Dick Bove--not invited to the klatch-- wasn't prepared to issue him a pass one this one. So you know what Bove did about it? Went circus-freak crazy and put out a report wherein he rained righteous indignation down on Lil' Vik and the Critter's ass. Sayeth Dick:
The fashion by which the company made this information available is questionable and unacceptable to this analyst. The company did put out a press release indicating that the call would be held but not to all investors. The call was handled so only one analyst and the clients of his firm could ask questions. Material information was made available but it is open to question if it was made available in a fair and honest fashion to all investors. Perhaps SEC FD is dead. Shame on Citigroup.
Regaining his composure, and holding his left arm akimbo and his right hand up in the air in the classic female "You are not worth my tears, I am bigger than this" pose, Dick added:
Despite the upset today, I am maintaining the Buy recommendation on the stock based on the improved performance of the core business and the positive longer term outlook.
But you know he told his girlfriends over drinks later that night, "I swear, this is the last time. If he tries to pull this shit on me again, I am taking back my bull call and downgrading the whole fucking sector to Sell."
More Big Write-Downs Loom for Citigroup, Executive Says [NYT]
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 10:52AM
Ha fantastic. Classic Bess in her prime.
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 10:57AM
Punk Ziegel was purchased by that bucet shop Ladenburg Thalmann. Ladenburg used to be a good firm but several years ago they sacrifice sold to a bunch of boiler room operators from long island who merged it into Gaines Berland, a spinoff of the old cheezy First Jersey Securities where they all went to jail. Bove has ZERO credibility with the name Ladenburg Thalmann behind him. At least Punk Ziegel was acceptable, not great but not sleezy like Ladenburg.
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 10:57AM
Bess,
I want to fuck your brain.
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 10:59AM
Haha. Mayo and Citigroup have no longtime love affair. Any bank analyst who didn;t know that there would be monoline and levg loan exposure doesn't deserve his series 87.
Dick X Bove is a crazy old coot.
Posted by Anal_yst , Jun 20, 2008 11:07AM
@ 10:57
Per ladenberg website they keep Punk seperate (although thats obviously up for debate), and interestingly enough "Richard X. Bove" is an entire seperate section. Wonder what his sign-on bonus was
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 11:09AM
They must have paid him big bucks to stay there after the merger. No one in their right mind would have Ladenburg attached to their name...it is career suicide.
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 11:12AM
Just checked the website Punk Ziegel is now Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Bove is listed as an analyst at Ladenburg Thamann & Co. There is just a separate section link for punk ziegel (probably because the merger wasnt final at the time the website went up) but when you go into the link it is Ladenburg now.
Posted by terry , Jun 20, 2008 11:15AM
summers are currently in a mcdonalds challenge. one is eating egg mcmuffins, one eating sausage biscuits with extra cheese (didn't want the eggs or something like that). eating 5 in 30 minutes proved impossible (for them) so time limit has been extended 10 minutes. will update on progress soon.
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 11:18AM
I think the investment banks are dead money for the next decade. They no longer can use the leverage and product lines like structured finance are gone. It is the same a Microsoft-it hit a high of $60 ten years ago. Know it is half that and Microsoft is a lot better business than all investment banks.
www.theinvestingspeculator.com
Posted by Capt Obvious , Jun 20, 2008 11:19AM
Bess has her fastball going this morning
Posted by guest , Jun 20, 2008 11:24AM
@11:18 -- you're a genius! Let's compare and contract investment banks to mega cap tech firms like Microsoft! So many parallels to be made. Perhaps the same comparison applies to fast food chains and E&P companies. Why didn't I think of that?
Posted by guest , Jun 21, 2008 7:25PM
Well, well, well. Once again, bloggers have sniffed out truth and justice the American way. I recently came across the astute observations of a guest blogger who had connected the dots beteen Gasbagarino, DB, the piece about Dick Bove and Mike Mayo. Apparently, Wall Street executives like Jimmy Cayne, John Thain, John Mack, Dick Fuld, Loyd Blankfein, etc have instructed their respective staffs to have no contact with Gasbagarumor due to his erroneous information, hostile nature and moronic observations. Despit this, the blogger has observed, Mike Mayo appears to be a frequent and anonymous source for the on-airhead editor. Oooops, he/she points out, watch yourself Mike - you're next to be fired!
So, here's the rub: I cut and posted this astute posting a number of times. However, it has been removed by someone with administrative access. Hmmm. One can only conclude that some collusion between Carney, the Gasbag and Mike Mayo to mislead the blogosphere is in play here. Big mistake guys - you don't want to lose your loyal followers! Better that the bad guys be exposed for what they truly are -fucking stupid.
Posted by guest , Jun 23, 2008 12:29AM
Anyone else going into work late tomorrow? F%^k Citigroup...
Posted by guest , Jun 23, 2008 12:29AM
Anyone else going into work late tomorrow? F%^k Citigroup...
Posted by guest , Jun 23, 2008 8:08AM
emmer effers