Analyst Pussyfoots Around Saying A Failing Bank Will Fail
Florida-based BankUnited Financial Corp (huge in the option ARM biz in South FL) is down 83 percent YTD. The Office of Thrift Supervision, it's hilariously named regulator, may lower its capital rating. The humidity in Miami is unbearable this time of year. All signs point to fail. David Bishop, however, refuses to come out and say it. The Stifel Nicolaus analyst instead downgraded the firm to sell and danced around the whole thing, writing that the "viability of the bank is increasingly fraying...[and while it] may yet be successful in finding private equity capital to forestall additional regulatory sanctions, we believe there is a good enough chance that this will not come to pass." It's unclear whether Bishop has a longstanding history of not JUST SAYING IT: YOU WILL FAIL, or if his skittishness is a recent phenomenon having something to do with the bank down the road suing everyone's favorite woodland creature for having the pair to do just that.
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Stifel cuts BankUnited to sell on capital concerns [Reuters]