This is how analyst Meredith Whitney treats the media â the industry that helped turn her into the renowned bankslayer she is today: While clients get the full Goldman note, journalists are left to psychically read Whitneyâs thoughts. Huff. Other media outlets, we should note, are just as clueless as we are. Hereâs Bloomberg for instance: Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) â Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the biggest U.S. securities firm before converting to a bank last year, was cut to âneutralâ by Meredith Whitney, as the analyst dropped her only âbuyâ recommendation. Whitney, who correctly predicted in 2007 that Citigroup Inc. would cut its dividend, didnât update her price estimate on the shares in a summary note distributed to investors today. Further details on the downgrade werenât immediately available. While we have no idea about Whitneyâs reasoning, we can note that her last action on Goldman was an upgrade (also expurgated for the media) from `neutralâ to `buyâ right before the bank released its record second-quarter results. That upgrade, incidentally, sent GS shares â and the whole of the US equity market â rallying. Goldman Sachs is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/10/13/77401/mystery-meredith-whitney-goldman-downgrade/
Have you seen how hot she is? She can move my market any day. She can downgrade me any day of the week. She can... Serioiusly, I don't want to be sexist but a woman that hot gets what she wants to know. Days before she knows to upgrade it and now days before she knows to downgrade? And the stock instantly trades down on it? UBS downgraded WFC with a $20 price target a few days ago and WFC didn't even tank. She's connected I'm telling you. She has to be because she runs an independent firm built on her name only. No time for BS calls for special interests or permabull cheerleading.
It was sometime back in May or so that she went on CNBC and stated, rather plainly, that she thought all the banks were zombies, but because they government was backstopping them all with massive amounts of liquidity, she had no choice but to raise their outlook in the short term, because going against the government was foolhardy. She also said, if I recall, that this wasn't a solution, and that eventually this piper would have to be paid.
She sounds like a brilliant woman, I'll definitely have to start following her!. It's about time somebody downgraded GS. The way I see it, what they've done is just more "old-boy cronyism". With the only difference that Obama is either to dumb to realize it (not likely) or that he's really just trying to make sure that he "gets his".
My guess here is she is covering her behind. I would take this to mean that her clients who were long and and up 30-40% should take profits before GS reports.
Uhm, she is old, wears a ton of makeup and still looks worn out & beat up. WTF is so hot about her? The bleached hair? And her analysis is so-so at best.