Q: Any financials look interesting?

Cooperman: One is Sallie Mae [SLM]. Probably 95% of its loans are government-guaranteed and the stock sells at 10 times earnings. A year ago, a private-equity firm wanted to buy Sallie for 60 bucks. You can buy it now at 18.

Sallie Mae (SLM) was downgraded to Underweight, Morgan Stanley said. $13 price target. Estimates also cut, as earnings will be hit by both lower government subsidies and the current credit crunch.

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The stock drooped from $55, and it has strong government back.

Seymour said that Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Sallie Mae (SLM) are likely to grow from here.

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Sallie Mae's business is changing, Cramer said, with more students opting for grants instead of loans and more graduates defaulting on the few loans they have. Business is so bad, Cramer inducted CEO Albert Lord to the top spot on his "Wall of Shame."

Market Perform -- Price 28.87 on Dec. 19
by Friedman Billings Ramsey

SLM was created by Congress [in a] reorganization of the Student Loan Marketing Association. To account for the likely dilution related to raising capital, we are lowering our 2008 and 2009 estimates by 11 cents and 2 cents to $2.58 and to $3.20, respectively. To the extent that the funding market improves, we believe there is significant upside to our estimates, but the dilution related to the capital raise is still undetermined at this time. Lowering our 12-month target by $12, to 26 a share. Market-cap: $11.95 billion.

Breaking Down Sallie Mae CEO's Sailor Talk
TheStreet.com Senior Writer Mark DeCambre talks about the cursing on the Sallie Mae conference call.

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Real Story Wrap: December 19, 2007
Stocks endured another wobbly session Wednesday before ending little changed, as traders weighed a strong outcome from the Federal Reserve's first loan auction against a lowered ratings outlook for two big bond insurers.

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hubris power of 2

"Three big deals that still look dicey are SLM (SLM), the student lender; Tribune (TRB), the newspaper and TV company, and Harmon International (HAR), a maker of audio products."