We noted recently that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) surprised some people by talking about the effect of financial regulation on its bottom line. The tone from executives was quite pessimistic, and we suggested that they were aiming to set low expectations for the analysts, talking them down a bit. But some analysts wonder if the company took a too-bearish stance.

The New York Times quoted from analyst Dick Bove's (Richard Bove news) note to clients: "In my view it is inappropriate, and unfair to investors for management to speculate on what can go wrong at this institution and not refer to what can go right. Bank of America is not impotent. It is a very powerful financial institution with multiple tools to make money."

Bank of America said the card rules could cost the bank up to $2.3 billion, a figure that assumes a 60 to 80 percent reduction in revenue from its credit card business. An FBR analyst wrote clients: "While an impact of this magnitude was worse than we would have guessed, we believe management was not extremely clear in highlighting that this impact is an absolute worst-case scenario and that the ultimate impact should be well better than BAC outlined." In particular, the loss estimate was not balanced against revenue offsets in the form of higher fees, notably debit card fees.

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