For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL - April 19, 2012 - Zacks.com announces the list of
stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity
Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting
stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the
blog include
Bank of America Corporation
(
BAC
),
UBS AG
(
UBS
),
Deutsche Bank AG
(
DB
),
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
(
JPM
) and
Wells Fargo & Company
(
WFC
).
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free Profit from the Pros newsletter:
http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513
Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst
Blog:
BofA Looks to Sell More Assets
Reuters
reported that
Bank of America Corporation
(
BAC
) is again preparing to divest its international units in a bid to
further streamline its operations and focus on its core businesses.
This time, BofA intends to sell its international wealth management
units in anticipation of receiving about $3 billion.
The units on sale, which were mostly obtained by BofA from its
Merrill Lynch acquisition in 2009, comprise nearly $90 billion
worth of assets under management. However, this division of BofA
has been procuring mediocre results due to inadequate business
scale.
The Prospective Buyers
The potential bidders have been asked to present their tenders
this week for the first round of bidding. However, the sale offer
may not seem attractive to many buyers as the wealth management
businesses normally do not contribute in equity capital.
On the other hand, the eventual buyer will be rewarded with
BofA's goodwill attached with the business on sale. Companies such
as
UBS AG
(
UBS
),
Deutsche Bank AG
(
DB
),
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
(
JPM
) and
Wells Fargo & Company
(
WFC
) are expected to be the possible bidders, among others.
Conclusion
BofA has been actively participating in divestiture of its
international units since last two years. The company has been
doing so in order to recover from its sour acquisition of
Countrywide Financial in 2008, which resulted in losses and
lawsuits, and to further enhance its capital level.
BofA is mainly concentrating on its core business by narrowing
down its global business at large to match with the much faster
resurgence pace of its peers.
Having cleared the stress test authenticated BofA's strong
capital position and its ability to successfully overcome another
severe economic downturn. Though BofA has been battling with a
swelling cost structure and a stressed run-off portfolio, the
company's repeated attempts to improve its balance sheet and
capital ratios, in spite of passing the stress test, is
commendable.
Currently, BofA retains its Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into
a short-term Hold rating. Also, considering the fundamentals, we
maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.
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BANK OF AMER CP (
BAC
): Free Stock Analysis Report
DEUTSCHE BK AG (
DB
): Free Stock Analysis Report
JPMORGAN CHASE (
JPM
): Free Stock Analysis Report
UBS AG (
UBS
): Free Stock Analysis Report
WELLS FARGO-NEW (
WFC
): Free Stock Analysis Report
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