Outperform - Price 19.78 on June 18
by Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Weller

NYB [notes] that the competitive environment for loans has improved as irrational competitors have left the market due to funding issues. Current yields on multifamily loans have increased about 50 basis points (5.75% to 6.25% currently, versus 5.25% to 5.50% in the portfolio)...[NYB focuses on loans secured by rent-controlled and -stabilized buildings.].... NYB expects recent capital raise will help accelerate net interest margin expansion, as $4 billion in high-cost wholesale borrowings are [refinanced] at about 200 bps in savings....NYB believes its relatively pristine credit quality will allow it to participate in highly accretive deals down the road...[but] noted that recent deal activity has been muted due to concerns about the pricing of assets to be disposed. Target: 21. Market cap: $6.7 billion.

Outperform - Price 19.69 on May 20
by Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller

NYB priced 15.54 million shares (with an additional 2.33 million over allotment option) at ... $19.35/share. Assuming the entire overallotment, we estimate net proceeds to NYB of about $342 million and about 5% ownership dilution. NYB expects to refinance about $4 billion in wholesale borrowings at about 200 basis points in savings and use the newly issued capital to offset prepayment penalty....Our new 2008E EPS is $1.07, versus $1; our new 2009E EPS is $1.30, versus $1.20. Increasing target to 21 from 20 (16.2 times our 2009E). Market cap: $6.4 billion.

B- 5.16%

Sell - Price 18.95 on Sept. 25
by Sterne Agee
NYB shares have rallied nearly 20% from their early August lows, pushing valuations to excessively high levels, in our view; reiterate Sell....While a quick screen suggests it might benefit from lower wholesale-funding costs as the Fed eases...the company is still aggressively promoting [certificate of deposit] offers at interest rates that are not different than those on its existing balance sheet....The stock now sells at a substantial premium to peers at 19 times our 2008 EPS estimate of 98 cents, a 30% deposit premium and 375% of tangible book value. As one measure of how rich this premium is, we remind investors that Capital One bought North Fork for prices below these levels, and North Fork was much more profitable.

good div

buy

bk. play-income

long time holding did some trading
good dividend

takeover target

Upgraded by Friedman Billings from Underperform to Mkt Perform