 |
||||||
| Friday, November 20, 2009 |
Contact Us
|
 RSS
|
|||||
|
|
| |
|||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
|
ANALYSIS
March 2, 2009
Sagging Index no longer reflects what’s going on in the market, some say, Replacements? Google it, to start.
March 2, 2009
Downward price spiral will actually boost the cost of capital for most companies. CFOS, take note.
March 2, 2009
The latest bailout at AIG could be a preview of how the president will deal with Wall Street.
March 2, 2009
No corporate defaults. Big debt offerings. Percolating CP issuance. Things may be looking up in the capital markets.
|
|
|
|
July 30, 2008 3:51 PM ET
BankAtlantic Bancorp, the company that’s suing analyst Richard Bove for defamation, reported its second-quarter results late Tuesday and simultaneously announced a plan to shore up its capital. The holding company for BankAtlantic, which operates in Southern Florida, said its net loss from continuing operations was $19.4 million, or 35 cents a share, compared with a profit of $11.7 million or 20 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The company plans to raise up to $55 million by offering up to 50 million shares to shareholders at $1.10 each. By boosting capital, BankAtlantic is “planning for a worst case economic scenario we hope will never occur,” chairman and CEO Alan Levan said in the earnings release. “The time to raise capital is when you might need it, but do not then need it.” BankAtlantic also struck a defensive tone in its release, in keeping with its pending lawsuit against Mr. Bove, a high-profile banking analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann. On July 13, Mr. Bove published a report that ranked regional banks with assets over $5 billion by two ratios: non-performing loans to total loans and nonperforming loans to capital and reserves. The report, titled “Who Is Next?” suggested those ratios were important gauges of a bank’s financial health. Mr. Bove wrote that nonperformers to total loans should be no more than 5% and nonperforming assets to capital and reserves should be no more than 40%. According to the data in today’s release, BankAtlantic Bancorp, the entity that investors can buy stock in, had a ratio of nonperforming assets to loans of 4.2%—below Mr. Bove’s threshold. But its ratio of nonperforming assets to capital and reserves stood at about 56%, above the analyst’s cutoff point. Its banking subsidiary, BankAtlantic, fared much better. Its ratio of non-performing loans to total loans was 1.75%, while non-performing assets to capital and reserves was 15.5%. BankAtlantic Bancorp has taken steps to improve the credit quality and capital levels at its bank. In the first quarter, it moved about $101 million in non-accrual loans and $6.4 million in loan reserves to a workout subsidiary in exchange for about $95 million in cash. Those assets are no longer on the bank’s books, but they still affect the performance of the holding company. It was this difference between the results of the public holding company and those at the banking subsidiary that formed the basis of Bank Atlantic Bancorp’s suit. BankAtlantic objected to Mr. Bove’s note because the bank, which would be harmed by a run on its branches, has better ratios than the holding company. BankAtlantic Bancorp’s complaint, filed in Broward County, Fla. On July 21, referenced “the hysterical market conditions” around the time of Mr. Bove’s report, following IndyMac’s failure on July 11. Today, Mr. Levan reiterated some of the language of the complaint. “Despite the noise in some quarters driven by misinformation, bad information, and simply irresponsible reporting disconnected from fact, BankAtlantic, with its strong core of retail customers, is well positioned to emerge from the current economic downturn,” he wrote. Mr. Bove’s analyst colleagues, who answer to shareholders, seemed to accept BankAtlantic Bancorp’s reasoning, but they took a careful look at both sides of the equation. “It depends on who your audience is,” said Terry McEvoy, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. “If your audience is customers, it’s important to highlight the safety of the bank. If you’re talking to investors, your focus will be on BankAtlantic Bancorp. It’s a question of how they present the data.” Joseph Fenech, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill, wrote in a note, “We tend to look more to the combined metrics as a means to better evaluate the company’s overall fundamental prospects, which is the primary factor driving our view of the stock.” Most sell-side analysts tracked by Bloomberg rate BankAtlantic Bancorp stock a “hold.” The market reacted poorly to today’s news. BankAtlantic’s shares fell about 20%, to $1.30, this afternoon, the steepest drop since July 14, the day after Mr. Bove’s report was published. Since the time of Mr. Bove’s note, two closely held banks owned by a privately held banking company have failed, bringing the total for the year to seven.
|
|
|
|
CRAIN'S BENEFITS OUTLOOK 2009
SPECIAL REPORT
MOST POPULAR
|
MORE ANALYSIS
Crain Financial Group:
InvestmentNews |
Pensions & Investments |
Workforce Management
Copyright ©2009 Crain Communications Inc
All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy |
Terms & Conditions