BofA (BAC) is Worst Performing Financial Stock in 2011

December 30, 2011 8:03 AM EST
"Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est." - L. van Beethoven. (translation: Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over.)

Not for Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), it isn't. But at least not much more damage can be done for 2011.

BofA will hold the title of being the worst Dow Jones performer for the year. And there's not even close competition: the was about 15 percent lower than the next-worst performer Alcoa (NYSE: AA). As a Bloomberg article points out, BofA will also likely end the year at the bottom of the S&P 500 Financials Index and the KBW Bank Index (NYSE: KBE).

After starting the year at $13.28, shares have dropped 59 percent to $5.44. Adding salt to the wound, BofA's low of the year at $4.92 came just days ago on December 19th.

The drop this year erased about $80 billion in market value.

For comparison, the Dow rose 6.1 percent in 2011, the S&P Financials fell 18 percent, and the KBW Bank Index dropped 24 percent.

Is it really fair to point out BofA's troubles? After all, not every financial had an illustrious year. JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) slipped 20 percent, American Int'l Group (NYSE: AIG) is down 52 percent, Citi (NYSE: C) is off 43 percent, and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) fell 46 percent.

With its $8.5 billion mortgage-bond settlement still being scrutinized, Fannie Mae pressuring for the repurchase of defective loans, tighter capital requirements coming up, and a slew of other issues (Countrywide, anyone?), the comedy -- or tragedy -- might just be beginning.

And that's a three-ring circus investors are likely to pass on.

Shares of BofA are down nearly 0.4 percent at last check Friday morning.


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