Remember that many of them had broken down to the levels where their secondaries had been put on or below them, with BB&T (BBT) and Wells Fargo (WFC) hanging by a thread and PNC (PNC) really breaking down. Not only that, we had Capital One (COF) getting crushed.

U.S. Bancorp (USB) and PNC (PNC) "are both very fine banks," said Cramer. He said that people worry about the banks' having to raise more money, and "it's putting a lid" on them. (Cramer's "Stop Trading!" 6-3-09)

Underperform/High Risk - Price 53.08 on May 11
by Boenning & Scattergood

We are downgrading shares of PNC from Neutral to Underperform, and initiating a 43 target. In our opinion, the recent rise of share price has resulted in an unjustifiably high P/E multiple [near 18] for a bank of PNC's size, even in the best of times. The overall market's positive reaction to the apparent health of the nation's banking system lacks any degree of healthy skepticism. A list of institutions that passed stress tests in the past includes: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG. We believe the market is overlooking (not looking past) a second wave of increasing foreclosures to come in 2H09 through 2010. With regard to PNC specifically, earnings should remain under pressure from problems with commercial-real-estate lending and exposure to markets heavily influenced by the auto industry. Market cap: $23.6 billion.

I am agnostic right here. We are still overbought, we have some gloom, but not enough to kill the secondary supply movement, and we all can read the list of TARP takers and know that there are more ahead. So why not be just negative? Because of the propensity to miss the BB&T (BBT) and to miss the opening in a PNC (PNC), and because the tech article in today's Journal -- positive!

Those potential profits, however, are subject to a host of variables, including the economy, interest rates, bank capital requirements and asset returns. McDonald favors some of the stronger banks, including JPMorgan Chase and PNC. JPMorgan, which rose 20% to $38.94 last week, now is valued at around seven times normalized earnings of more than $5 a share.

Cramer: Buy FirstMerit: Jim Cramer says this regional bank could double as it gobbles up good assets from failing banks. Real Money TV viewers get Cramer's videos first and commercial free!
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Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial, which used the $7.6 billion it got from TARP last October to buy National City Corp., chopped 85% from its quarterly common payout, to 10 cents a share from 66 cents. Said CEO James Rohr: "We are taking this proactive step to build capital [and] further strengthen our balance sheet." The $1 billion a year saved by the dividend cut will help PNC repay the TARP loan.

Outperform - Price 23.23 on Feb. 24
by Baird Securities

We [recently] met with senior management at their offices, along with institutional clients...The NCC deal appears on track, and we look for PNC to rebuild TCE [tangible common equity] as the year progresses. 2009 and 2010 E-EPS estimates remain unchanged at $3.20 (operating) and $5, respectively. Market cap: $10.3 billion.

So, the endless attempts to break common stocks seems, at this point, to be misplaced, because all you are really breaking with the UltraShort Financials is Wells Fargo, and maybe PNC(PNC). That's really about it.

On the bad "bank" list, Cramer included just about every publicly traded bank. He said the banks all need money to survive and are prone to cuts in their dividends. He singled out Citigroup (C), PNC (PNC) and Suntrust (STI) as three recent examples of stocks getting hammered.

banking

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