Meredith Whitney Interview on CSPAN

I saw this on TV this weekend, and I am glad to find it online (h/t Zero Hedge). If you read The Big Short, you will recognize her name (or if you spend any time watching CNBC). Whitney is one of the best bank analysts in the game today. I think she got that way because she actually analyzes the companies. That may sound silly that an analyst is good for analyzing a company. After all, isn’t that what analysts do? Actually, no. Most Wall Street analysts fail to accurately depict the companies they cover due to pressure. The firm may have a banking relationship with a company so the analysts are pressured to spin data in a positive way. Or, as Whitney explains in this clip, analysts may argue a company is too hard to figure out as many analysts following Citibank thought. This was due to the high number of acquisitions Citi did over the previous decade. Anyway, this is a good interview and provides some nice historical context about what happened in 2008.