I’m still trying to get my head around this: What does it mean when the stock you hold that is sitting at $6.00 per share posts a $11.00 per share loss? That’s is the Wachovia shareholder experience.
Punt.
Chief Executive Robert K. Steel said, “Although this has been a challenging quarter, Wachovia’s underlying businesses remain solid and our franchise exceptionally attractive.”
As we pointed out yesterday, we might be outraged, but nothing surprises us anymore. Seriously. Nothing. Really. We saw a cab drive by the other day dragging a burning Christmas tree behind it. Nothing. No bells. No whistles.
Ironically, their net loss of $23.7 billion looks suspiciously close to the $25.5 billion purchase price for Golden West Financial. Funny how that works.
Wachovia Swings to a $23.7 Billion Loss [Wall Street Journal]
OMG! I was retrenched from LEH 2 months ago from my equity research analyst position and now I’m having a tough time finding a similar position. I tried applying for backoffice equity settlements positions but I was rejected due to my lack of experience in back office. WTF! I’m now worse than a back office dude?
Need. To. Die.
NY needs good cabbies – try that.
Here is an article I wrote this morning on my web site that applies to the Wachovia situation.
Article follows ===
Where has common sense gone and a observation
vjbwork | 22 October, 2008 05:44
An observation I’ve recently noticed
Your interpretation of this site, or any site will depend on whether you have an open or a closed mind
Your interpretation of this site, or any site will depend on whether you think logically or emotionally
I think open minded and logical thinking will get a person further in this world, but you may not see it that way
Now on to the common sense part
I recently had the opportunity to work on the World Savings to Wachovia Merger and it was one of the more eye opening contracts that I have encountered as I was like a ping pong ball in the middle, but that is another story
Todays headlines stated that Wachovia had one of the biggest ever losses in history
Granted, I am not a banker, but what could be easier as long as you follow these rules
1. Never lend out more money then you have cash on hand to cover.
2. Never lend out money if there is doubt that you will be repaid, unless the borrower is willing to put up a substantial deposit or down payment.
3. When in doubt, refer to rules 1 & 2.
Could it be that our bankers and our regulators are not following these common sense rules ?
If so, they deserve to go down with the ship and their depositors deserve to have their accounts insured by the FDIC, but the bank does not deserve a bailout of any shape or form
Virgil Bierschwale
http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com
@3
get lost.
Virgil–what a stupid name. Was your dad named Thor?
Completely off topic, but not really. Instead of the dead space on the right of the home page (Forums, Blogroll, Opinion Polls etc.) why not put up a stock market tracker. It would save those of us not on a trading floor the bother of having to flip over to other websites to know what’s going on.
@5
Funny.
“What does it mean when the stock you hold that is sitting at $6.00 per share posts a $11.00 per share loss”
Maybe WFC has already discount the $11 loss and the end result is the $6?
@5
That is a relevant question to virgil since he’s currently trying to find out through the internet
http://genforum.genealogy.com/bierschwale/messages/3.html
6-
If you’re comfortable getting market prices from a dealbreaker ticker, you probably don’t need to see them that badly anyway.
@1
If you die I don’t think the back office guys will miss you.
However, I would suggest an attitude adjustment and a little maturing as an alternative. In your case this really could be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.
What kind of a tree was it?
@3…”Never lend more money than you have”, your an idiot, Vigil, there is a guy that knows how the banking system works. 10:1 leverage, that is banking. Get used to it.
#13 is this a joke
@13…YOU’RE an idiot. Why such problems with homonyms on this site??
@13…If firms were only leveraged 10:1 we wouldn’t be having this bad of a crisis…more like 50:1 in some cases
@11: show some sympathy. All of us could be in #1′s shoes in the not-too-distant future.
The equity research paid-by-commissions model just does not work financially any more. There is going to be a lot less money paid to research analysts – the days of high 6 figs and 7 figs is over.
If you want to do research: go to a boutique, probably outside NYC
If you want the money: Start doing analytics on companies on your own, be on top of them for interviews, and again – look small for companies hiring. the big guys will be out of commission for a while.
I got laid off in April; got new job in August at smaller HF and doing fine. It was a full-time job finding another job though. At least 5 phone calls a day (forget email – it is ignored); talked to my friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends.
I found doing field research with condoms lucrative and very personally satisying. I now receive payment-in-kind for my condom research by a largely diverse demographic who has health concerns. I estimate my total market to be in excess of 100 million adults.
I see no downside for my life’s work and am in a surge period now. I am also thrusting into new markets that require my hard evidence to maximize their utility.
Any women wishing to avail my services, feel free to leave a note. I prefer working with 34C types.
“What does it mean when the stock you hold that is sitting at $6.00 per share posts a $11.00 per share loss”
Umm, GM does it every quarter.
19 billion in “goodwill” written down. I hope to god, that weren’t holding goodwill as reserves.
20 Man, that is so ignorant. This is why aspiring BSD’s should know at least a little something about accounting.
@17
Thanks for your advice. I really appreciate it. Is your current position the same as your previous one?
I was just shocked that I was passed over for back office dudes. Probably the worst slap in my face in my whole life. I thought trying for a position beneath my previous one would help, but clearly not.
@ 10
Movements I’m interested in are percentage rather than basis points; my timeframe is not minutes/seconds. Dealbreaker ticker is fine for my purposes.
6
@22 – How do you call a research analyst in NYC?
….hey waiter…
Well, we had a portfolio company that was trading around $3 when it posted an $80 a share loss… it no longer exists…
@17
It’s tough love.
more like, “do you want fries with that?”
24 That’s sad. I remember when the Q was “how do you call an actor in NY?” Actors at least are agile and attractive. Not sure any of us could be waiters.
$50BB for Golden now? More losses to come. They are getting ready for the next wave of ALT A defaults – then on tho th POA’s!
http://tinyurl.com/558bbd
Not even close to bottom yet…
@28
speak for yourself, we are hotties. nothing does wonders for your skin like 100 our weeks..
@ 22
Get the hell over yourself, jesus. Are you surprised that you didn’t get the back/middle office gig when you have no experience, when they could hire someone with years of it instead with 1/10th the attitude?
You need a serious attitude adjustment/reality check bro, reading your whining is downright painful.
@13 – you misspell his name and then call a guy an idiot?
duh.
31 Actually, the real problem is that people generally dont like to hire overqualified people cause it usually results in a bad additude and also quick exits when things get slightly better. In short, they’re not hungry enough so they’re not really a bargain.
@22: #17 here. My job is the same (buy-side research).
Don’t look at it as “not good enough for back office”. It is far more similar to you applying for a job as a a research scientist: you have no experience at titration (as far as I know), so of course they’d rather have someone they don’t have to train or watch ramp up the learning curve. They can afford to be picky and get someone who is just “plug and play”.
No one wants to have to train you. So if you can market yourself as someone who can be “hired and go”, that is what people want. Esp. the smaller firms, who are the only ones hiring.
good luck
33 – Reminds me of stories of police departments turning away applicants for scoring too highly on tests. They didn’t want to spend the time training someone who would likely get bored with the job and want to do something else.
@ 28, don’t forget personable/able to fake it. I don’t think any of us would be able to pull off the “service with a smile”.
I could definitely memorize the hell out of a small to moderately sized wine list, though.
at 1, follow your own advice you wrote at the end of your whiny rant
dear back office reject; did you really think having a research job for a couple years would guarantee you 6 figure bonuses for the rest of your career? For thumbing through some financials and writing BS opinion pieces? and brown nosing your MD? really? Try not to suck al the air out of the starbucks you end up mopping for a living.
speaking as a onetime ncaa punter (true story), i can safely say you need hangtime + distance to = good field postion. hangtime is acheived by angling the ball correctly, distance by strength and conditioning.
its 4th and long. punt away wacho.