Second-quarter earnings still a question mark

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Goldman Sachs analyst William Tanona has reduced his second-quarter earnings estimates at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley, notes the AP. For the second-quarter, the sources of reduced earnings growth likely will shift. The key contributors this time will not be writedowns from troubled securities, CDOs and leveraged loans. Rather, it will come from weakness in core business lines, such as investment banking and principal and proprietary trading. As noted previously, losses from credit spreads on their own debt (a fair value issue) will lead to losses, even though there might be write-ups from other securities (see previous item). All in all, he also believes that on a valuation basis, top banks are now a good buy.

For more:
- here's the AP article