More on Bank of America and Countrywide

July 1, 2008 – 10:17 am

The more I think about this transaction, the more it stinks. I am trying my best to give BAC’s management the benefit of the doubt since banking is their profession, after all. Then again, my profession is ferreting out profitable opportunities, and methinks a shorting is in the air if they close on this deal. Most know how bad off Countrywide is, but let’s waltz through and overview of Bank of America…

1Q-2008 4Q-2007 3Q-2007 2Q-2007 1Q-2007
Total Allowances at EOP 14,891 11,588 9,535 9,060 8,732
Gross Charge off’s as % of Loans
Residential mortgage 0.03% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01% 0.01%
Credit card - domestic 1.57% 1.25% 1.36% 1.56% 1.65%
Credit card - foreign 0.87% 0.86% 0.89% 0.88% 0.89%
Home equity 0.49% 0.16% 0.05% 0.03% 0.02%
Direct/Indirect consumer 0.89% 0.96% 0.62% 0.54% 0.57%
Other consumer 2.75% -0.96% 1.84% 1.50% 1.45%
Total consumer 0.47% 0.34% 0.30% 0.30% 0.31%
Commercial - domestic 0.05% 0.05% 0.02% 0.03% 0.13%
Commercial real estate 0.17% 0.03% 0.07% 0.01% 0.01%
Commercial lease financing 0.09% 0.09% 0.07% 0.05% 0.05%
Commercial - foreign 0.02% 0.02% 0.03% 0.03% 0.04%
Small business commercial - domestic 1.83% 1.46% 1.51% 1.35% NA
Total commercial 0.18% 0.13% 0.12% 0.11% 0.10%
Total Gross Charge offs as % of Loans 0.36% 0.26% 0.24% 0.24% 0.24%
Provision as % of Loans 0.69% 0.38% 0.25% 0.24% 0.17%
Provision as % of NPA’s 77% 56% 60% 76% 60%
Gross Charge off to Loans 0.36% 0.26% 0.24% 0.24% 0.24%
Gross Charge off to NPA’s 41% 38% 56% 75% 85%
Allowances as % of Loans 1.70% 1.32% 1.20% 1.19% 1.21%
Allowances as % of NPA’s 190% 195% 283% 379% 424%
NPA’s to Loans 0.90% 0.68% 0.42% 0.32% 0.28%
Shareholder’s equity 156,309 156,309 138,510 135,751 134,856
Goodwill 77,872 77,530 67,433 65,845 65,696
Intangible assets 9,821 10,296 9,635 8,720 9,217
Adjusted Equity 68,616 68,483 61,442 61,186 59,943
Diluted shares outstanding 4,461 4,497 4,476 4,477 4,497
BVPS 35.0 34.8 30.9 30.3 30.0
Adj BVPS 15.4 15.2 13.7 13.7 13.3
NPAs as a % of shareholders’ equity 5.0% 3.8% 2.4% 1.8% 1.5%
NPAs as a % of adjusted shareholders’ equity 11.4% 8.7% 5.5% 3.9% 3.4%
More than 11% of shareholder’s value is in non performing assets, and this is before buying the worst bankn in the country!!!
Texas Ratio 14.4% 12.1% 8.9% 7.4% 7.2%
The Texase (insolvency) ratio has doubled in the last year
Eyles Test 22,181.8 19,324.2 15,120.4 14,017.9 13,570.1
Shortfall from current reserve for loan loss 7,290.8 7,736.2 5,585.4 4,957.9 4,838.1
Shortfall as % of tangible shareholders’ equity 10.6% 11.3% 9.1% 8.1% 8.1%
The Eyles Test shows that reserves are sparse
NIM 2.73% 2.61% 2.61% 2.59% 2.61%
Leverage is increasing even as margins will freeze or reverse as the US Banks
Tier 1 leverage ratio 5.61 5.04 6.20 6.33 6.25

This what the portfolio looks like. They are heaviest in the things that are hurting the industry the most!

Loan Portfolio (March, 2008)
Loan Portfolio % of Total NPA % of Total NPA NPA/ Loans Charge-offs % of NPA % of Loans
Consumer
Residential mortgage 266,145 30.6% 2,576 35.1% 0.97% 85 3% 0.03%
Credit card – domestic 60,393 7.0% NA NA NA 950 NA
Credit card – foreign 15,518 1.8% NA NA NA 135 NA
Home equity 118,381 13.6% 1,786 24.4% 1.51% 582 33% 0.49%
Direct/Indirect consumer 80,446 9.3% 6 0.1% 0.01% 719 11983% 0.89%
Other consumer 3,746 0.4% 91 1.2% 2.43% 103 113% 2.75%
Total consumer 544,629 62.7% 4,459 60.8% 0.82% 2,574 58% 0.47%
Commercial – domestic 188,089 21.6% 996 13.6% 0.53% 102 10%
Commercial real estate 62,739 7.2% 1,627 22.2% 2.59% 108 7% 0.17%
Commercial lease financing 22,132 2.5% 44 0.6% 0.20% 21 48% 0.09%
Commercial – foreign 31,101 3.6% 54 0.7% 0.17% 7 13% 0.02%
Small business commercial – domestic 20,123 2.3% 153 2.1% 0.76% 368 241% 1.83%
Total commercial at historical cost 324,184 37.3% 2,874 39.2% 0.89% 606 21% 0.19%
Total Loans 868,813 100% 7,333 100% 0.84% 3,180 43% 0.37%

Level 3 Assets are present in a decent amount

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Nettings Assets/Liabilities at Fair Value
Federal funds sold and securities purchased under agreements to resell 0 2,661 0 0 2,661
Trading account assets 54,062 106,109 5,522 0 165,693
Derivative assets 1,082 782,438 10,834 (743,429) 50,925
Available-for-sale debt securities 2,221 209,981 9,658 0 221,860
Loans and leases(2) 0 0 5,057 0 5,057
Mortgage servicing rights 0 0 3,163 0 3,163
Other assets(3) 19,019 12,411 5,496 0 36,926
Total 76,384 1,113,600 39,730 (743,429) 486,285

Check out Geographic Concentrations amongst troubled lending products!

1Q-2008 4Q-2007
Consumer Loan State Concentration – Managed Basis
Residential Mortgage
California 87,815 88,703
Florida 16,588 16,497
New York 16,889 15,333
Texas 12,990 13,193
New Jersey 10,184 10,346
Virginia 11,355 11,535
Other U.S./Foreign 113,904 123,126
Total 269,725 278,733
Credit Card
California 22,645 22,231
Florida 12,639 12,503
New York 9,368 9,420
Texas 10,032 10,098
New Jersey 5,952 5,937
Virginia 4,605 4,669
Other U.S./Foreign 118,517 118,833
Total 183,758 183,691
Home Equity
California 31,646 29,891
Florida 16,035 15,442
New York 7,666 7,439
Texas 2,269 2,231
New Jersey 7,921 7,779
Virginia 4,007 3,861
Other U.S./Foreign 48,961 48,352
Total 118,505 114,995
Direct/Indirect
California 10,180 9,743
Florida 6,627 6,244
New York 4,483 3,275
Texas 6,334 6,050
New Jersey 2,116 1,911
Virginia 1,932 1,784
Other U.S./Foreign 50,014 49,571
Total 81,686 78,578
Other
California 115 121
Florida 195 203
New York 63 67
Texas 224 231
New Jersey 12 13
Virginia 51 54
Other U.S./Foreign 3,086 3,161
Total 3,746 3,850
Commercial real estate loan concentration
California 10,073 9,369
Northeast 9,113 8,951
Midwest 8,230 7,832
Illinois 6,830 6,731
Southeast 6,756 6,472
Southwest 5,798 5,400
Florida 4,828 4,870
Midsouth 3,014 2,843
Northwest 2,755 2,417
Other 1,932 3,370
Geographically diversified 2,357 2,282
Non-U.S. 1,293 1,065
Total 62,979 61,602

Now if I were to overlay a similar chart of Countrywide on top of this, it would stop your heart. Can I hold myself back from a long term bearish play on this company if they buy CFC without subsidies? Does BAC management know something that I don’t? I’d like to hear from readers who know more about this deal and the players than I do.

  1. 3 Responses to “More on Bank of America and Countrywide”

  2. Don’t tell me this took you all by suprise.

    45% of all non conforming ( non fannie, freddie, fha, va ) loans are originated in California. Florida accounts for 17%.

    Two states with 60% of the Alt A Loans. Duh.

    According to the home affordability index in 2004 only 19% of the population ( median house hold ) could afford the median priced home in California. WHAT DID YOU ALL THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

    By CRASH - MIDWEST on Jul 2, 2008

  3. One as to wonder what liability shields BofA was able to put in place related to the onslaught of coming lawsuits. I believe countrywide was put into a holding company. That might help. Also, in some of these deals, there are incredible tax benefits that are conveyed to the acquirer. Not the BofA needs more write downs, but a huge tax benefit can not hurt. At the end of the day, countrywide cost them nothing. The questions is, how much less than nothing is countrywide worth?

    Overall, bad move by bofa. Could cost Lewis his job and immortality.

    By AAS1957 on Jul 6, 2008

  4. I gotta give you credit Reggie - I agree with what you’re saying here, but even taking that into consideration, I highly regret not buying Bank of America stock when it fell to the high teens a few weeks ago. I don’t know why I didn’t pull the trigger to buy, I guess because it would have been on margin and I figured I had time to sell my other holding I wanted to dump and I could buy BAC with cash… well I was wrong. Do you think it will dip back down again?

    By Michael - Credit Card Forum on Aug 11, 2008

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