Topic: Growth Stocks

The Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, May 22, 2009

Article Excerpt

BANK OF AMERICA CORP., $11.07, New York symbol BAC, fell 4% this week after it announced that it had sold $13.5 billion worth of new common shares since May 8. The average price of the new shares was $10.77 each. The bank generated an additional $7.3 billion by selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank, China’s second-largest lender. This cut Bank of America’s interest to 11% from 17%. Together, these moves raised $20.8 billion, or 61% of the $33.9 billion in additional capital that Bank of America needs to satisfy government regulators. To put these figures in perspective, the bank’s market cap is $70.9 billion. Bank of America will probably make up the shortfall by selling more businesses, and contributing some cash flow from its operations over the next few months. This should let it avoid converting the U.S. government’s $45 billion worth of preferred shares into common shares, which would give the government more control over the bank. Bank of…