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Strategies & Market Trends : Galapagos Islands -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (56330)	4/9/2008 8:57:49 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57110

but I am thinking that most, if not all, of the bad news is priced into most of the stocks. It's pretty obvious that the smart money has known for some time that WM has some problems well, that's always a possibility....or it's what WS wants investors to think...i'm wondering if wamu will be the next CFC and hit single digits :) Ahead of the Bell: Washington Mutualupdated 8:35 a.m. ET April 9, 2008Font size: NEW YORK - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. slashed its price target on Washington Mutual Inc. on Wednesday, saying the national bank's recent $7 billion capital infusion does not provide enough to counter mounting credit losses. "WaMu's credit just continues to get worse at an accelerating pace," analyst Paul Miller Jr. said in a client note. He lowered his price target to $8 from $9, implying he expects the stock to drop about 32 percent over Tuesday's $11.81 close. The target cut comes the day after the nation's largest savings and loan said it secured fresh capital from private equity groups and will slash its quarterly dividend. As part of the plan, WaMu will issue 805 million shares of common stock to more than double the number of outstanding shares, Miller said. Yet despite the moves, WaMu's losses will likely grow 76 percent in the first quarter over the fourth quarter, and charge-offs in 2008 will likely hit $8 billion as the company struggles to report a profit, he said. Miller advised investors to avoid the common stock for the time being, and kept an "Underperform" rating. The company will not likely turn a profit until "sometime in 2009," he said. Miller cut his 2008 estimate to a loss of $3 per share from a loss of $1.15 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect, on average, a a loss of $1.30 for the year. Shares of the Seattle-based company fell 26 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $11.55 in premarket trading Wednesday. The stock has traded between $44.66 and $8.72 in the past 52 weeks, and is down 13.2 percent so far this year. ----------