It's a dismal day on Wall Street for financial stocks, and Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is no exception. The Alabama-based bank today reported an eye-popping quarterly loss of $6.22 billion, or $9.01 per share, as results were pressured by a $6 billion writedown in its banking and Treasury operations.

On an operating basis, Regions' loss of 35 cents per share exceeded the consensus estimate for a loss of 20 cents per share. Net charge-offs for the quarter soared to $796 million, compared to $107.5 million in the year-ago period. Additionally, the company confessed to "emerging stress" in its Florida-based real estate and mortgage businesses.

"Although we're encouraged by steps the government has taken to stabilize the housing market and revitalize the economy, there is no quick fix for credit quality issues currently plaguing the financial services industry," commented Dowd Ritter, RF's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Ritter added that he doesn't expect unemployment to peak or real estate values to bottom in 2009, and he warned that bank earnings won't improve until such a trough is reached. He doesn't foresee the need to seek new capital from the government, though Regions will look for opportunities to shore up its capital position as market conditions allow.

Continue reading Regions Financial swallows huge quarterly loss, hits 24-year low

Regions Financial swallows huge quarterly loss, hits 24-year low originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Morgan Keegan fires analyst in wake of Fairfax fiasco originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The analyst, Robert Patten, who rates Wachovia at Underperform, made the profit-taking call this morning. In his opinion nothing has fundamentally changed to warrant last week's price appreciation. He attributes the gains to short-covering. Wachovia is still facing more credit losses as its option adjustable-rate mortgages (option-ARMs) and commercial real estate (CRE) loans are likely to continue defaulting at an increasing rate.

The analyst also noted that he has already seen this pattern of shares running ahead of fundamentals due to CEO changes. And as long as Wachovia needs to restructure its balance sheet, the stock price hike was premature.

Makes sense to me. With investors' approval of Steel, has Wachovia's balance sheet magically improved? And what can he do to improve it so soon after taking the top job? And even though he said he wouldn't, could that include raising more capital by issuing more common shares (diluting shareholders)?

Wachovia shares down 8% as analyst calls for profit-taking originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) is recently up $9.14 to $109.64.

• Morgan Keegan says: "Trends still very strong; raising fiscal 2009E EPS to $2.98."
  
• RIMM is expected to report EPS after the close tonight.
  
• RIMM total option volume is heavy on 191,243 contracts trading. RIMM October option implied volatility of 49 is below a level of 87 from last night prior to EPS. RIMM average option implied volatility over the last 26-weeks is 44 according to Track Data.

SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) a supplier of flash data storage card products, is recently down $0.76 to $52.43.

• SNDK is expected to report EPS on 10/18.
  
• Smith Barney-SBSH has a $71 price target on SNDK. SBSH said on 10/4 "contract pricing a negative, new products a partial offset."
  
• SNDK October option implied volatility is at 64, November is at 52, above its 26-week average of 44 according to Track Data, suggesting larger near term price risks.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update: Research in Motion (RIMM) volatility collapses as shares rally originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Morgan Keegan upgraded Natural Gas Services Group Inc (AMEX: NGS), Basic Energy Services Inc (NYSE: BAS) and Complete Production Services Inc (NYSE: CPX) to Outperform from Market Perform and Patterson-UTI Energy Inc (NASDAQ: PTEN) to Market Perform from Underperform, as the firm has a bullish outlook for drilling activity in the back half of 2007 and into 2008.
• JP Morgan upgraded shares of both Compania de Minas Buenaventu (NYSE: BVN) and Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG) to Overweight from Neutral on valuation.
• Moody's was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, citing increased confidence in revenue outlook and growth drivers.

• Inverness Medical Innovations Inc (AMEX: IMA) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Credit Suisse upgraded shares of Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE: JCI) to Outperform from Neutral, citing growth outlook in the company's building efficiency business.
• Allianz SE (NYSE: AZ) was upgraded to Buy from Add at WestLB on valuation and the company's strong Q1 results.

Analyst upgrades 6-06-07: MCO, NGS; BAS and CPX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.