Washington Mutual, Inc. (WAMUQ.PK)

joker245 (98.05) Submitted: 6/23/2008 4:03:35 PM : Start Price: $9.34 WAMUQ.PK Score: +73.35

WaMu is the poster child for the mortgage mess, but not big enough to get bailed out by the government. A few years back they were expanding their retail operations thinking the profits from mortgage underwriting would pay for it. Hmmm, how'd that work out? Last I checked they were closing branches right and left.

If this company had any intrinsic value I'd say it was a candidate for a takeover, but what would the buyer be getting? A ton of mortgage exposure, an insignificant credit card operation and and equally insignificant retail bank. The fact is this company will be found to have negative book value when all of the dust settles. This ship isn't sinking, it's sunk. Everyone just hasn't drowned yet.