Brave analyst defends Bank of America CEO


Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) CEO Ken Lewis has very few supporters right now, with the inexplicable exception of the board of directors at his own company.

But don't worry, Ken: Analyst Richard X. Bove of Rochdale Securities is leaping to your defense.

"The politicians and the press are trying to get Ken Lewis fired for adding value to shareholders' investment," Mr. Bove wrote in an e-mail message to his clients. "In this new world where success should be punished this may be a new low point."

Dealbook has more from that e-mail note, but all of this begs the question: Is Mr. Bove on crack? At the beginning of 2007, shares of Bank of America were trading at more than $50 per share. In February of 2009, they crated to below $4 per share. With the help of government welfare that allowed one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world to avoid insolvency, the stock has rebounded to around $16 per share.

The market has brought Bank of America's stock up quite a bit from the depths it plunged to, but still, the notion that people are upset with Ken Lewis for adding value to shareholders' investment is possibly the dumbest thing I've heard in the past 24 hours. And when you follow financial news for a living, that's saying a lot.

And then there's the little matter of settling SEC charges of securities fraud with taxpayer money. There are few hard and fast rules in the world of corporate management, and I don't claim to have Mr. Lewis's expertise. But not committing securities fraud is one of them, and it's absolutely appalling that the board has allowed Lewis to stay in place with a track record of value destruction and SEC fraud charges.

It may well be that Ken Lewis is being unfairly scapegoated. But the notion that people are upset because he is adding value is absolutely insane.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+6.5112,890.46
NASDAQ+11.372,927.23
S&P 500+1.991,351.95

Last updated: February 10, 2012: 05:27 AM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

19.13-0.11(-0.57)

Alcoa

10.64-0.03(-0.28)

Apple Inc

493.17+16.49(+3.46)

Google Inc 'A'

611.46+1.61(+0.26)

Bank of America

8.18+0.05(+0.62)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.96+0.34(+0.55)

Exxon Mobil Corp

84.88-0.44(-0.52)

Ford

12.69-0.15(-1.17)

Citigroup

33.66-0.57(-1.67)

IBM

193.13+0.18(+0.09)

Yahoo

16.00+0.22(+1.39)

Starbucks

49.20+0.48(+0.99)

Microsoft

30.77+0.11(+0.36)

Home Depot

45.27+0.10(+0.22)

DailyFinance Headlines

Benzinga Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

    BioHealth Investor Headlines

    WalletPop Headlines

    DailyFinance BlackBerry App

    My Portfolios

    Track your stocks here!

    Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

    BloggingStocks Partners

    More from AOL Money & Finance

    BioHealth Investor Headlines

    Page Loaded in 1328869639780 ms.