Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Wachovia: First Look

Wachovia (WB) reported a headline grabbing $8.9 billion loss for the quarter leading to some creative personification hyperbole:

"Wachovia Blows Itself Up"

"Wachovia... just puked up its last quarter"

Beyond the headline number, the loss excluding the $6.1 billion charge for goodwill was inline with the projection the company provided on July 9 when they named their new CEO.

Notably, the company did not mention a dilutive equity offering. They plan to preserve capital by reducing their quarterly dividend from 37.5 cents to 5 cents and cutting 6,350 jobs. They will also exit the wholesale mortgage business.

The stock was down over 10% in the early pre-market session, but is now down only 5%. If the stock somehow manages to find its way into the green today we may have another "market tell" on the state of the financials. In addition to its own $9.8 billion loss, it's also fighting against disappointing earnings from Amex and Apple.

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