Wachovia joins the club

By: PAUL JACKSON
September 2, 2008

Joining the ranks of other Wall Street investment banks — many of whom have already cut their Q3 earnings estimates for their colleagues — analysts at Wachovia Capital Markets decided to join the party, too, according to Reuters:

“Seasonal slow markets, reluctant investors, declining valuations in both fixed income and equity, and more marks will highlight a challenging third quarter for the industry,” analyst Douglas Sipkin wrote in a note to clients.

The analyst sees a drop in capital raises from last quarter as investors are reluctant to participate in such offerings. He pegged the fall in equity and debt offerings at 45 percent and 60 percent, respectively, from last quarter.

Morgan Stanley would report the strongest quarter in the group while Lehman the weakest, Sipkin said, while putting Lehman’s loss at an estimated $3.46 a share for the third quarter.

Everyone’s piling onto Lehman these days, so that’s no surprise. But perhaps somewhat surprising is Sipkin’s take on Goldman Sachs — he absolutely slaughtered his third-quarter earnings estimate for Goldman to $2.08 a share from $4.22. That’s gotta hurt.

Nonetheless, Goldman was at $164.81, up 0.51 along with the rest of the market, when this post was put up. Call it the Gustav bounce.