Dear CJ: I blinked my eyes to make sure I was reading correctly. FTU? Boy oh boy, I never expected to read that anyone here had bought (or was considering for purchase) FTU.
In my [self appointed] capacity as Chairman of the Give Me Back My CoreStates Shares Committee, I sure hope FTU does not disappoint you. FTU is hopeless, mostly if not completely due to *upper* management bumbling. Over the past few years analysts have written from time to time that, "The worst is behind them," and that they should be getting back on track. A number of the big houses, including ML, have named FTU as one of a few bank stocks that should perform better than the industry average over the coming year. Shareholders would get their hopes up but the stock would continue to drift down--because FTU had not gotten it's act together; the analysts had been bamboozled or FTU had pulled another, new, stupid move.
Now that you are a shareholder, you might want to keep an eye on the RB message board, which is more active that the FTU thread here at SI:
ragingbull.altavista.com
Besides regular shareholders, including a few of us who came to FTU via the CFL take-out, a number of FTU mid-level management people occasionally post. I would appreciate any comments you have on FTU's announcement last week that they had purchased JWGenesis, a move I have stated [on RB--I'm "soup" because "Lynn" was already taken] does not look too smart to me--I'm literally praying this is not a Money Store repeat [a disaster for FTU].
My dream scenario for FTU right now is for someone like MER to take them out, although I'm not sure if FTU's purchase of JWGenesis makes them look less attractive to quality brokerage houses.
Regards,
Lynn, one (of many) very unhappy FTU shareholder |
