Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney speaking at a private lunch right now (presumably dining on the flesh of Vikram Pandit): Wachovia is a "wacky bank." Shall we see if the negative comments affect the stock price? Oh, wait...
Meredith went on the air with Maria Bartirommo and outlined how she figured out that everything was not alright. Mathematical formulas and all. For a History major, she certainly had to do her homework.
She didn't just get lucky. She is smart and savvy and if she wasn't a woman, all of you would be saying what a hero she is.
She deserves credit for making the calls she did when she did. History will decide if she was a hero. When she was making those calls at CIBC, she certainly didn't have to worry about costing the firm M&A or equity underwriting assignments.
@23 - c'mon, everyone has to go against the grain to get noticed (marketing 101, not bad for a history major). she made a call, she's dancing with the girl (guy) that brought her (but will she go home with him?). the real test is if she can call a bottom. then we will agree that she has done the homework. one winning call does not a good analyst make (my apologies to shakes).
24 Wasn't the timing of those calls at CIBC way off? I believe that there was actually a significant run up in financials that someone listing to her would have missed. Yes?
Don't you think she is due some respect as she is the only financial insitutions anaylst who called the market correctly.
How many said "buy the financials after the lows of July 15, 2008 - we have seen the bottom". How many said no way LEH, AIG fail?
In the Fortune magazine article circa August 15, 2008 she aid that she does not see the light at the end of the tunnel rather she "see's the tunnel collapsing".
Her Q4 08 estimates, on average, are 90% lower than her peer group. I bet that when the actual numbers come in they will be closer to her estimates than her peer group.
Don't you think she is due some respect as she is the only financial insitutions anaylst who called the market correctly.
How many said "buy the financials after the lows of July 15, 2008 - we have seen the bottom". How many said no way LEH, AIG fail?
In the Fortune magazine article circa August 15, 2008 she aid that she does not see the light at the end of the tunnel rather she "see's the tunnel collapsing".
Her Q4 08 estimates, on average, are 90% lower than her peer group. I bet that when the actual numbers come in they will be closer to her estimates than her peer group.
Little Man Pandit clearly has big problems with women (Zoe, Sally...). Has anyone checked to make sure HE'S not responsible for Meredith Whitney's death threats?
Just because her peers happen to be even more clueless than she may/may not be does not (as cluzo pointed out) a star analyst make (her).
Hell, I've been saying (check 1-2knockout if you care) there is more pain ahead since I started there in March/April, yet I don't see anyone lining up to give me a medal (nor do I expect one btw).
The fact is that unless she has information which would render the firms she covers in violation of reg FD, the probability that her "analysis" is any more accurate than anyone elses is slim to none, this is especially so in our current realm of complete regulatory uncertainty.
Any clown (this guy included) can speak in generalities, well-informed or otherwise. Hell, if you try hard enough, I'm sure both the Bible Code AND Nostradomus predicted the downfall of Lehman, etc.
Every single analyst has some spreadsheets that tells them what their rating should be. The fact that she uses math to do this is about as novel as a bird using a statue as a bathroom.
She made a prediction, it worked out. I'd be more impressed if she had said from the beginning that the banks have toxic mortgage-related assets which will need to be written down, not just "SHITTYBANK AND WACKYBANK ARE BAD!"
Ariba $100+ Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $75 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $50 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $25 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $10 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $4 Sell now that insiders have been taken care of I can reduce my rating.
Every single analyst has some spreadsheets that tells them what their rating should be. The fact that she uses math to do this is about as novel as a bird using a statue as a bathroom.
She made a prediction, it worked out. I'd be more impressed if she had said from the beginning that the banks have toxic mortgage-related assets which will need to be written down, not just "SHITTYBANK AND WACKYBANK ARE BAD!"
Jury is still out on Ms Whitney. Wanna see her call the bottom before i get down on my knees for a flogging and forced oral. Plus, as somebody mentioned, she didn't have the I-banking overhang (ie, publish nice stuff OR ELSE).
Ariba $100+ Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $75 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $50 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $25 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $10 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $4 Sell now that insiders have been taken care of I can reduce my rating.
Meredith worked hard and nothing good comes easy. She also called it like she saw it and stuck to her guns (fleshy as they may be). No ifs, ands or (seymour) butts about it.
I thought this was already common public knowledge but I'll repeat to set the record straight.
Ms. Whitney, and her sweet wrinkled rasin mams, is a trafficer of information. A few PMs at financials only hedge funds (including one that has gone from $300M to almost $3B in less than two years) informed her of some major issues in the US mortgage market in late '06, and told her she better do some looking. Did these guys happen to already be short nearly every bank she covers? You bet.
So Sweet Pea runs some scenarios, looks at capital levels and tells one of these PM's that everything looks fine. When said gentlemen informed her that she needed to "Wipe that stupid grin off [her] face" and factor in declining home prices into her loss scenarios the proverbial "light" went on.
Why did they pick Whitney? It's just like the detective from Usual Suspects who concludes at the end that they picked Verbal "because you're stupid, because you are weaker" than the rest of the analyst community. It also helps that she's a self professed media whore that will do anything to get a 30 second CNBC interview.
These guys were brilliant. Picked the perfect stooge to go out and market their short, and absolutely crush it on the downside. She gets a brighter star for it, so it's a win-win and everyone leaves happy.
Malibu Stacy quotes: {tlm}
"I wish they taught shopping in school."
"Let's bake some cookies for the boys."
"Don't ask me - I'm just a girl (giggle)."
"Now let's forget our troubles with a big bowl of
strawberry ice cream!"
"Thinking too much gives you wrinkles."
"My name is Stacy, but you can call me (wolf whistle)."
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:27PM
pwnd!
shout out to mayo
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:27PM
Meredith was the only one with enough balls to tell it like it is from the beginning. When Meredith talks, people really really listen.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:29PM
Meredith was the only one with enough balls to tell it like it is from the beginning. When Meredith talks, people listen.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:35PM
anybody know what she makes?
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:35PM
@2 who is also 3. Can you speak in anything but cliches?
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:37PM
Remember Mary Meeker? Nuf said. Meredith just got lucky. She's no oracle, believe me.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:41PM
@2,3
Yawn. Next. Fan. Boy.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:42PM
she makes $dinner$ for that meathead of a husband.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:42PM
She married a WWF wrestler. Whenever I see her on the tube all I think is clothesline, followed by a pile driver.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:42PM
she makes $dinner$ for that meathead of a husband.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:42PM
Meredith went on the air with Maria Bartirommo and outlined how she figured out that everything was not alright. Mathematical formulas and all. For a History major, she certainly had to do her homework.
She didn't just get lucky. She is smart and savvy and if she wasn't a woman, all of you would be saying what a hero she is.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:46PM
11 Math formulas and all. Wow. Bet you like Sara Palin too. Another empty headed fool.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:46PM
Too female. Didn't listen.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:48PM
CEO bludgeoned to death by mob of sacked workers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4810644.ece
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:48PM
@11 You can say she did her homework and all, but calling her a hero just shows that you love her more because she is a woman.
Call me when a women or a minority does something for the first time and we don't have a parade, then I'll consider you an equal.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:49PM
Well, the initial whistle blowers are usually despised by the very people who stand to lose.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:50PM
@12
Yeah. Shamwow! Mayo!
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:53PM
@15
LOL
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:54PM
#15, when you assume you make an ass out of you and me.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 2:58PM
19. When you use cliches you make an ass out of just you.
Posted by diablo , Sep 23, 2008 3:00PM
#6
Mary Meeker was lucky in the sense that she was never prosecuted. No comparison to Whitney.
Posted by Anal_yst , Sep 23, 2008 3:03PM
I'm inclined to agree with #6, even a blind squirrel finds a few nuts every now and then...
Posted by diablo , Sep 23, 2008 3:10PM
Anal
But those blind squirrels will say nothing unless it's: Buy, buy, buy! Are you implying that Whitney must be dumb and blind?
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:13PM
She deserves credit for making the calls she did when she did. History will decide if she was a hero. When she was making those calls at CIBC, she certainly didn't have to worry about costing the firm M&A or equity underwriting assignments.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:14PM
Damn, somebody is off their game. How am I the first to say, "I'd hit it." on post what'll it be...24?
-BeckyBootFan
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:16PM
@11 is that you Bess?
Posted by Investorcluzo , Sep 23, 2008 3:18PM
@23 - c'mon, everyone has to go against the grain to get noticed (marketing 101, not bad for a history major). she made a call, she's dancing with the girl (guy) that brought her (but will she go home with him?). the real test is if she can call a bottom. then we will agree that she has done the homework. one winning call does not a good analyst make (my apologies to shakes).
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:18PM
24 Wasn't the timing of those calls at CIBC way off? I believe that there was actually a significant run up in financials that someone listing to her would have missed. Yes?
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:20PM
She just started making noise to justify her existence at the bucket shop know as Oppenheimer.
Posted by merkin capital partners , Sep 23, 2008 3:23PM
WB has been called Wacky Bank in trading vernacular long before this hen came along. Now get back to banging Rick Flair.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:23PM
Cage match, Bess vs. Meredith!
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:31PM
@ anal_yst
Don't you think she is due some respect as she is the only financial insitutions anaylst who called the market correctly.
How many said "buy the financials after the lows of July 15, 2008 - we have seen the bottom". How many said no way LEH, AIG fail?
In the Fortune magazine article circa August 15, 2008 she aid that she does not see the light at the end of the tunnel rather she "see's the tunnel collapsing".
Her Q4 08 estimates, on average, are 90% lower than her peer group. I bet that when the actual numbers come in they will be closer to her estimates than her peer group.
Just my $.02.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:32PM
Come on #20, no one uses cliches anymore, trying to bring them back in style.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:47PM
@ anal_yst
Don't you think she is due some respect as she is the only financial insitutions anaylst who called the market correctly.
How many said "buy the financials after the lows of July 15, 2008 - we have seen the bottom". How many said no way LEH, AIG fail?
In the Fortune magazine article circa August 15, 2008 she aid that she does not see the light at the end of the tunnel rather she "see's the tunnel collapsing".
Her Q4 08 estimates, on average, are 90% lower than her peer group. I bet that when the actual numbers come in they will be closer to her estimates than her peer group.
Just my $.02.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:51PM
Little Man Pandit clearly has big problems with women (Zoe, Sally...). Has anyone checked to make sure HE'S not responsible for Meredith Whitney's death threats?
Posted by Anal_yst , Sep 23, 2008 3:54PM
@ 32.34
Just because her peers happen to be even more clueless than she may/may not be does not (as cluzo pointed out) a star analyst make (her).
Hell, I've been saying (check 1-2knockout if you care) there is more pain ahead since I started there in March/April, yet I don't see anyone lining up to give me a medal (nor do I expect one btw).
The fact is that unless she has information which would render the firms she covers in violation of reg FD, the probability that her "analysis" is any more accurate than anyone elses is slim to none, this is especially so in our current realm of complete regulatory uncertainty.
Any clown (this guy included) can speak in generalities, well-informed or otherwise. Hell, if you try hard enough, I'm sure both the Bible Code AND Nostradomus predicted the downfall of Lehman, etc.
Gimme a freakin break.
Posted by a dead horse , Sep 23, 2008 3:54PM
Every single analyst has some spreadsheets that tells them what their rating should be. The fact that she uses math to do this is about as novel as a bird using a statue as a bathroom.
She made a prediction, it worked out. I'd be more impressed if she had said from the beginning that the banks have toxic mortgage-related assets which will need to be written down, not just "SHITTYBANK AND WACKYBANK ARE BAD!"
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 3:56PM
Ariba $100+ Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $75 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $50 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $25 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $10 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $4 Sell now that insiders have been taken care of I can reduce my rating.
-Mary Meeker
Bitch is going to burn in hell.
Posted by a dead horse , Sep 23, 2008 3:58PM
Every single analyst has some spreadsheets that tells them what their rating should be. The fact that she uses math to do this is about as novel as a bird using a statue as a bathroom.
She made a prediction, it worked out. I'd be more impressed if she had said from the beginning that the banks have toxic mortgage-related assets which will need to be written down, not just "SHITTYBANK AND WACKYBANK ARE BAD!"
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 4:01PM
Jury is still out on Ms Whitney. Wanna see her call the bottom before i get down on my knees for a flogging and forced oral. Plus, as somebody mentioned, she didn't have the I-banking overhang (ie, publish nice stuff OR ELSE).
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 4:05PM
Ariba $100+ Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $75 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $50 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $25 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $10 Buy as insiders exit
Ariba $4 Sell now that insiders have been taken care of I can reduce my rating.
-Mary Meeker
Bitch is going to burn in hell.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 4:05PM
Did you know that she started her career at Wachovia, because she did.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 4:14PM
Is it now more cliche to use a cliche or say something is a cliche
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 5:00PM
Whitney is a less educated Roubini with nicer gams.
-C
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 6:41PM
Math is hard. Let's go shopping!
--Analyst Barbie
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 10:11PM
Meredith worked hard and nothing good comes easy. She also called it like she saw it and stuck to her guns (fleshy as they may be). No ifs, ands or (seymour) butts about it.
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 10:28PM
I thought this was already common public knowledge but I'll repeat to set the record straight.
Ms. Whitney, and her sweet wrinkled rasin mams, is a trafficer of information. A few PMs at financials only hedge funds (including one that has gone from $300M to almost $3B in less than two years) informed her of some major issues in the US mortgage market in late '06, and told her she better do some looking. Did these guys happen to already be short nearly every bank she covers? You bet.
So Sweet Pea runs some scenarios, looks at capital levels and tells one of these PM's that everything looks fine. When said gentlemen informed her that she needed to "Wipe that stupid grin off [her] face" and factor in declining home prices into her loss scenarios the proverbial "light" went on.
Why did they pick Whitney? It's just like the detective from Usual Suspects who concludes at the end that they picked Verbal "because you're stupid, because you are weaker" than the rest of the analyst community. It also helps that she's a self professed media whore that will do anything to get a 30 second CNBC interview.
These guys were brilliant. Picked the perfect stooge to go out and market their short, and absolutely crush it on the downside. She gets a brighter star for it, so it's a win-win and everyone leaves happy.
Posted by Cincinnatus C , Sep 23, 2008 11:20PM
#45:
Malibu Stacy quotes: {tlm}
"I wish they taught shopping in school."
"Let's bake some cookies for the boys."
"Don't ask me - I'm just a girl (giggle)."
"Now let's forget our troubles with a big bowl of
strawberry ice cream!"
"Thinking too much gives you wrinkles."
"My name is Stacy, but you can call me (wolf whistle)."