Through TheFLY's Eyes: Bear Stearns

from Theflyonthewall.com











Bear Stearns Makes It 3-For-3 For Wall Street

Wall Street dented the “sluggish growth” thesis slightly Thursday when Bear Stearns (BSC) became the third 'Big Gun' Wall Street firm - after Goldman Sachs (GS) and Lehman Brothers (LEH) - to meet or exceed the consensus EPS estimate.

Bear Thursday reported Q3 EPS of $3.02 versus the Reuters consensus estimate of $2.87. Further, Q3 revenue rose to $2.1B compared to the Reuters consensus estimate of $2.05B. Bear registered solid revenue growth in equity sales and trading, up 31%; investment banking fees, up 23%; and fixed-income revenue (which includes bond trading), up 19%.

Bear’s shares rose 84c on the news to $137.06 in early Thursday afternoon trading.

Bear is in a bit of a race to catch-up with it peers in investment banking, with the best tactics being better performance and appropriate acquisitions. Some analysts argued that the performance dimension would be an upstream swim near-term, given projections for a slowing global economy. However, Bear’s Q3 report underscores that the swim is going just fine, so far.