Cnb

Fischer · Jun 16, 2008

Financial s have gotten beaten down and I've been watching this stock for while. To me it looks like they've gotten unjustly beaten down, especially the regionals. I think all the bad news for this regional has been factored in and it has hit a bottom. Just take a look at all the insider buying. Anybody have any thoughts on financials, more specifically the regionals?

SpreadDestroyerr · Jun 17, 2008

I agree with you on this one. Uncle Milty is buying shares hand over fist. I like RF a lot right now also. Wells Fargo has been looking at Regions as a possible buyout candidate.

TheKinz · Jun 17, 2008

I think you guys are on to something..Almost each at 52 wk lows..going to play 1000 shares of each..GL to us

TheKinz · Jun 17, 2008

changed my mind and played RF only..$13.40..1000 shares GL Spread

TheKinz · Jun 17, 2008

bought to early dammit..down to 12.95..Oh well it will come back..

LineTamer+ · Jun 17, 2008

<TABLE id=Table1 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=HeadlineBlack vAlign=top align=left width=570>Funds Betting on Beaten-Down Regional Banks</TD><TD>

</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE id=Table2 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=10>

</TD><TD width=370>

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD><TD vAlign=top><TABLE id=Table4 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=570 border=0><TBODY></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE id=Table6 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=565 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=v10b999999 width=370 height=1>

</TD><TD width=20>

</TD><TD width=175>

</TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE id=Table7 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=567 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=PrintBylineBold vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>David Kathman | 06-17-08<!-- | <a href="javascript<b></b>

penWin('#',500,600)">

</a--> </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>

</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE id=Table8 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=570 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=printbody1 colSpan=3>As the fallout from the subprime-mortgage crisis and credit crunch has continued to spread, the latest victims have been regional banks. In the early stages of the crisis, most of the market's attention centered on mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Financial <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = MSTR /><MSTR:SECURITY>CFC</MSTR:SECURITY> and Wall Street giants such as Merrill Lynch <MSTR:SECURITY>MER</MSTR:SECURITY> and Citigroup <MSTR:SECURITY>C</MSTR:SECURITY>, which had to write down the value of billions of dollars of subprime-tainted securities on their balance sheets. Regional banks took some hits, like all financial firms, but for a while it seemed that they might be spared the worst of the damage.

In recent months, though, things have deteriorated rapidly for many regional banks, especially those with a lot of mortgage exposure in hard-hit areas of the country such as Florida and California. With housing prices in those formerly hot markets in free-fall and delinquencies and foreclosures on the rise, these banks are facing tremendous financial pressure and huge mortgage-related losses. In early May, National City <MSTR:SECURITY>NCC</MSTR:SECURITY> had to raise $7 billion in outside capital to shore up its balance sheet. On June 2, superregional bank giant Wachovia <MSTR:SECURITY>WB</MSTR:SECURITY> forced out its CEO, whose 2006 acquisition of California-based mortgage lender Golden West is a big factor behind the bank's current financial woes. The latest blow came on June 12, when KeyCorp <MSTR:SECURITY>KEY</MSTR:SECURITY> announced that it's slashing its dividend and raising $1.5 billion in capital. National City's stock is down 68% for the year to date through June 12, Wachovia is down 48%, and KeyCorp is down 47%, with many other regional banks down 20% or more.

Which mutual funds have been most affected by all this turmoil? Or, looking at it another way, which funds are making the biggest bets on a rebound in regional bank stocks? To find out, we looked at the funds with the largest combined percentage of their portfolios in seven prominent regional banks that have been particularly hard-hit in this crisis--National City, Wachovia, KeyCorp, SunTrust Banks <MSTR:SECURITY>STI</MSTR:SECURITY>, Regions Financial <MSTR:SECURITY>RF</MSTR:SECURITY>, Fifth Third Bancorp <MSTR:SECURITY>FITB</MSTR:SECURITY>, and Huntington Bancshares <MSTR:SECURITY>HBAN</MSTR:SECURITY>. Each of these banks is suffering because of significant exposure to mortgages, and each of the stocks is down more than 20% so far this year.

Not surprisingly, the funds with the biggest stakes in these beaten-down banks are financial-sector funds specializing in bank stocks. The top seven funds on the list fit this description, led by Senbanc <MSTR:SECURITY>SENBX</MSTR:SECURITY>, with 20.21% in the seven stocks, followed by Fidelity Select Banking <MSTR:SECURITY>FSRBX</MSTR:SECURITY> at 13.66% and Rydex Banking <MSTR:SECURITY>RYKAX</MSTR:SECURITY> at 12.66%. When we eliminate sector funds and look only at diversified funds, the results are a little more interesting. Here are the 10 diversified funds with the biggest combined percentage of assets in the seven stocks noted above, including each fund's category, size, and percentile rank in its category for the year to date through June 10.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=422 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=bottom align=left bgColor=#999999 colSpan=5 height=16>[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-2]Biggest Diversified Holders of Prominent Regional Banks[/SIZE][/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=bottom align=right>

</TD><TD vAlign=bottom align=right>

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left></TD><TD vAlign=top align=right>

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-2]Category[/SIZE][/FONT]

</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right>[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-2]Size[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=-2][FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]($Mil)[/FONT][/SIZE]
</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right>[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-2]Bank[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=-2][FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]%[/FONT][/SIZE]
</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right>[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-2]% Rank[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=-2][FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Cat YTD*[/FONT][/SIZE]
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right colSpan=5 height=4>

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left height=14>[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-2]Hennessy Cornerstone Value <MSTR:SECURITY>HFCVX</MSTR:SECURITY>[/SIZE][/FONT]</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right height=14>