BSC's dividend yield is lower than other banking institutions but the P/E ratio is quite reasonable.

• Dividend Yield: 0.83%
• Price-to-earnings ratio - P/E: 10.33

The P/S, P/B and P/CF are very solid. Something I can't resist reminding readers - I think quite Buffett-esque! (Warren, correct me if I'm wrong.)

• Price-to-sales ratio P/S: 1.35
• Price-to-book ratio - P/B: 1.75
• Price-to-cash-flow - P/CF: 7.12

The return-on-equity (ROE) of 16.43 is good and shows shareholder value is there, however at what price? And here is the one number that I frown at - the long term debt-to-equity ratio of 13 is too high. Now that is some leverage, but not unlike the other investment banks. Banks are using other people's money to make their fortunes. BSC has a 52-week high of $172.61, so you are buying at a discount. And in case no one has noticed, there has been insider buying by board members, so you are buying a first class company - in good company.

One other point about opportunity. Bear Stears is capitalized at about $18 billion compared to Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) at $80 billion or Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) at $88 billion. While I have heard no rumors and read nothing about being a possible take-over target, this is certainly possible. In addition, BSC has been expanding overseas and all of the leading investment banks should see significant growth, having advantages over many parts of the world which have only introduced western style capital markets into their economies during the last 10 to 15 years.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.