Meredith Whitney Ups Her Own Ante
In a move which can only be deemed totally out of character, Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney wrote in a new research note that things are looking good for Citigroup, and estimated an increase in profits by $2.00 a share for the year.
Messing! When pigs fly, right? Girl’s never going to let this one go. And why should she? You don't turn your back on a tried and true crowd pleaser. Plus, it's not like management has suddenly figured out how to operate the thing. In her latest report, Whitney stressed yet again how little she thinks of the ‘group, predicting the firm will lose $1.15 a share in the quarter, quadrupling her previous guesstimate of 28 cents. She also warned that this “will not be our last reduction in 2008,” which would sound like an idle threat coming from someone like Mike Mayo but from Whitney, truly scares the shit out of people. In response, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit reiterated that he’ll be letting people know how he plans to right this ship, in 2-3 months. So far, he's got nothing.
Citigroup Estimates Cut by Oppenheimer's Whitney [Bloomberg]