"Although bankruptcy reform has died more times than Kenny on South Park, we have no doubt it will, like Kenny, be back."-- Alex Roever , head of asset-backed research at Banc One Capital Markets , on the likelihood of bankruptcy reform becoming an issue this year (1/6).
"[They] have already been realized and are baked into trading levels. It makes sense to ride another wave into the shore."-- Susannah Gray , analyst at CIBC World Markets , on the spread tightening prospects of Amerisource Bergen Corporation (2/3).
"A lot of us are running around thinking, 'Gee! Why didn't [the Financial Accounting Standards Board ] at least proofread it before they issued it?'"-- Phoebe Moreo , partner at Deloitte & Touche , on the confusion surrounding the group's new consolidation directive (2/10).
"We are not trying to be a stupid European bank."-- A senior ABN AMRO fixed income official on how his firm is planning to use the Street's grim employment situation to help staff a U.S. asset-backed initiative (2/24).
"Typical New York parochialism."-- Alyson Allen , an attorney at Ropes & Gray , a Boston-based law firm, replying to a new York-based investment banker's dismissal of the breadth of her law firm's practice (3/17).
"The cfo could never get a word in. They would say they were putting the numbers together, and now we know that's because they were really putting the numbers together, not because the computers were slow."-- Premila Peters , analyst at KDP Investment Advisors , on HealthSouth 's pre-scandal earnings calls (3/31).
"It's like a bottle of wine: you know where the grape came from, but if the guy who put that in the bottle doesn't tell you everything, you don't know it."-- Ron D'Vari , head of structured finance at State Street Research & Management , on vintage risk within ABS (5/5).
"My mom thinks he's hot."-- Bear Stearns' Russ Middleton , on the newly shorn, not-quite-Hollywood looks of his boss, Tom Marano , who had his head shaved to raise money for the widows of U.S. soldiers killed abroad (6/23).
"Clearly, we had the wrong bias on during a bull market."-- Kurt Soukup , portfolio manager of Bear Stearns Asset Management 's Priton Capital L.P. hedge fund, in a letter to investors on why the fund declined 7.7% in May (6/16).
"Sometimes identifying good versus bad securities is like trying to find Joe Millionaire rather than the guy making $60 a week."-- Michelle Russell-Dowe , a director at Hyperion Capital Management in New York, nothing the state of investing in today's market (7/28).
"MBS is very tightly priced: if you want to get a little bit of spread pick up you need to get into some funky structures that we are not comfortable with."-- Guillermo Carrascosa , portfolio manager with Spain's InverCaixa , on where he sees relative value (8/11).
"You don't just run out and open a hospital franchise."-- Wayne Wilbanks , portfolio manager at Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas Asset Management , on why he expects a turnaround at Tenet Heathcare and eventual upgrades for its bonds (9/29).
"It will be very tough for gaming to outperform the index in this hot market, but if it starts to weaken, gaming issues will be the last things portfolio managers want to part with."-- John Mulkey , analyst at Bear Stearns , on the safe-haven attributes of the gaming sector (10/27).
"It's certainly a factor that makes us lean one way or the other if we're on the fence already."-- Bruce Walbridge , head of roughly $700 million in high-yield bonds at State Street Global Advisors in Boston, on the track record of investment banks and its impact on whether he participates in a transaction (11/24).
"The Supreme Court ruling was not very favorable but there has been a very quick reaction from the government, which gives a sign there is a willingness to solve the problem. This should give comfort to investors."-- Silvio Angius , head of Southern European securitization at Lehman Brothers in London, on why the bank is back in the market with an asset-backed deal (12/1).
"You're either stupid or you lied."-- Tom LaPointe , portfolio manager at Columbia Management Group , voicing his opinion on companies that lower earnings guidance shortly after selling debt (8/18).
