Citigroup anlayst gets it wrong--really wrong
Shannon Cowherd, bank analyst at Citigroup, raised eyebrows last week when she put out a note to clients estimating that the Royal Bank of Canada faced a whopping $10.2 billion in writedowns. Whew! The Globe and Mail noted that no other analysts was expecting more than $800 million. The bank issued a release saying the analyst had her facts wrong. The next note to clients had a revised estimate, $1.8 billion, based in part on "incremental information." Still high, but in the ballpark. Analysts are still influential, even in this post-Spitzer era. These sorts of gaffes are rare, but they do happen. The sad part is that some IR employee likely took the blame internally.
For more:
- here's the Globe and Mail article
Related Articles:
Can everyone be wrong?
Analyst's prescient call draws raves
Comments (1) | Post a comment Rate it:
More stories about Citigroup Shannon Cowherd Royal Bank of Canada writedowns incremental information analysts Eliot Spitzer IR
Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 10:11am | May 8, 2008
There are too many gaffes by analysts. The problem is that execs like Shannon Cowherd, who as managers are supposed to be vetting such reports, are derelict in their duties and staffers get the stick for following her directions. For the ones that are not so blatantly obvious, the investing public suffers. An example should be made of such incompetence!