Today, Standard and Poor upgraded Countrywide Financial (CFC) from Strong sell to Sell. What kind of game are these analysts trying to play with us? Does it make sense that something which is so unattractive be worth deeming it less dead that previously noted.
This kind of manipulation by analysts raises my suspicions. Are the analysts fearful that, by painting a negative, but accurate picture, it is going to become a self-fulfilling prophsey? Does Standard and Poor have a vested interested in CFC? The justification given by Standard and Poor analyst Stuart Plesser for raising Countrywide from the dead to near dead is that it has been hammered so much that it couldn't possibly go any lower. Come on!!!!
This leads to unjustified optimism without the necessary proof that things have turned around. We need evidence not an analyst's assurance that it can't possibly get worse. This seems all the more outrages when you consider that some 21 companies in the subprime lending industry have filed bankruptcy at or near a perceived top in the real estate financing market (as opposed to the valuation of real estate itself.)
Continue to wait for the proof before considering this company as worth investing in. Countrywide is still a STRONG SELL.
Countrywide Financial (CFC)
Ups from 1 STAR (strong sell) to 2 STARS (sell)
Analyst: Stuart Plesser
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/feb2007/pi20070227_897788.htm?campaign_id=yhoo
