CRBC - Citizens Republic Bancorp

[rijk]

nice results, thanks for sharing this idea!!

 

regards

rijk

[Guest Hester]

Kraven is far too humble to pull a Harry Long gloat-fest so I'll do it for him.

 

This has basically doubled in the last 7 months since posted, and has quietly been one of the best performers of any stock idea posted on this board last year. And it's a bank!

 

So I'll channel my inner Harry Long and ask the question; So which one of you idiots bought this spectacular stock?  ;D

[PlanMaestro]

Go Michigan! The best news recently on the unemployment front. (I might include the recent Clint Eastwood ad)

 

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/chinese-manufacturing-and-the-auto-bailout/

 

The latest CRBC news are that Cathy Nash is pushing for that DTA reversal and there are rumors of negotiations to pay TARP. If those are true, a double might be just the start. Several small and medium banks in CRBC's situation.

[PlanMaestro]

Fitch Ratings praises Citizens Republic management, boosts bond rating

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/02/fitch_ratings_upgrades_citizen.html

 

Fitch Ratings says it has upgraded a long-term bond rating of Flint-based Citizens Republic Bancorp, Inc. and its principal bank subsidiaries by two notches -- from "CCC" to "B."

[PlanMaestro]

Citizens Republic Said To Seek Buyers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-03/citizens-republic-said-to-seek-buyers.html

[Kraven]

Just fyi.  First Merit (FMER) acquired CRBC a week or 2 ago.  The deal was pretty underwhelming.  It's an all stock deal - 1.37 shares of FMER for each share of CRBC.  When it was announced this was about $22.50 for each CRBC share, but the reaction hasn't been great.  FMER immediately took a dump and dropped.  As I write this, the value for each share of CRBC is a touch under $21, but has been trading at around a 4% discount since the merger was announced.

 

My views on this are mixed.  CRBC had very much telegraphed their intentions to sell out as they had no desire to go it alone under the new regulatory regime.  But the bank was doing great so the offer was a bit disappointing.  All the usual plaintiffs law firms have announced their intention to "investigate".  Given that the deal isn't supposed to close until well into 2013, from an economic basis CRBC is just a trade on FMER at this point.  Some believe a white knight will swoop in or at the very least all the pressure will force FMER to bump up the bid a little. 

 

In my view FMER is pretty strong and a nice partner for CRBC from a business standpoint.  From a stock standpoint, they are at best fairly valued and while they usually trade higher than where they are at, I can't justify the valuation.  I am holding for a bit to see what happens, but suspect that what you see is what you get.  In any case, it was a nice run from $6 or so (post reverse split) last year. 

[oddballstocks]

I love this thread, first because the idea was a triple, and second because like most value stocks it appears to have been completely neglected.

 

Kraven, nice job finding this bank, and thanks for sharing.  It's a shame we don't see more ideas like this on here, simple, actionable, and valuable!

[PlanMaestro]

This is fantastic: Nash is open about all the incidents that drived many of us mad.

 

Community Banker of the Year: Citizens Republic CEO Cathleen Nash

http://www.americanbanker.com/magazine/122_12/community-banker-of-the-year-citizens-republic-ceo-cathleen-nash-1054619-1.html