| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MAY 24, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| COVER STORY
Inside Wall Street: Wells Fargo Online Although Wells Fargo WFC stock is trading close to its 52-week high of 44 7/8, it's trailing behind the other big banks. So far this year, Wells Fargo has risen a paltry 8%--vs. mighty gains of 41% at Citigroup, 28% at J.P. Morgan, and 17% at BankAmerica (formerly NationsBank). But that disparity is very likely to vanish soon, argues money manager David Post. ''The Street has yet to focus on Wells Fargo's fast-growing Internet banking business,'' says Post, a partner at San Francisco investment firm Harris Bretall Sullivan & Smith, which manages more than $4 billion. Wells Fargo, he notes, has more online banking customers than any other bank, including the stand-alone Internet banks. A San Francisco-based bank holding company with 5,800 branches worldwide, Wells Fargo has assets of more than $200 billion--and nearly 1 million online customers, twice as many as just a year ago. That represents 6.7% of Wells Fargo's 15 million retail customers. Its online customers hold assets of $8 billion, estimates Post, and that figure is sure to mushroom quickly. Post puts Wells Fargo's online business at $20 billion, or $12 per share in Wells Fargo stock. He believes the price of the stock, now 43, doesn't reflect the value of the online business. ''Once investors wake up to Wells Fargo's growing base of online customers, the stock will sizzle like many other Internet stocks,'' argues Post. He expects Wells Fargo will eventually issue a tracking stock for its Internet operations to capture the online banking's true worth. Post figures that, based on Wells Fargo's steadily rising earnings and its expanding online business, the stock should fetch 55 a share. BY GENE G. MARCIAL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 Your Guide to Online Investing COVER IMAGE: Our Guide to Online Investing CHART: The Biggest Online Brokers TABLE: Broker Scoreboards TABLE: Online Brokers That Meet Your Needs Gotta Do the Legwork ``A Diversity of Thought'' Testing the Waters Commentary: Why Old-Line Firms Need New Online Tricks TABLE: Full-Service Dream The Right Tools for the Right Trades Street.Cop TABLE: Smart Investing on the Web TABLE: Web Resources for Online Investors Rocket Science Made Simple TABLE: Quant for a Day How to Seal a Great Bond Deal TABLE: Where to Buy...And Get Info What to Read: The Good, the Bad, and the Terrible TABLE: Wired-Up Investing Books Investor Beware of Web Talk TABLE: Separating Fact from Fiction TABLE: Cross Checkers Smells Fishy? Tell the SEC This EDGAR Is a Real Know-It-All TABLE: Searching the SEC Commentary: Analyst Calls: Let Investors Listen TABLE: Calling All Netizens The Barker Portfolio: A Battle Plan for Accidental Investors Inside Wall Street: Wells Fargo Online CHART: The Rise Trails Other Banks Inside Wall Street: Bidding for 3COM? CHART: Prior Takeovers Fizzled Out Inside Wall Street: A TV-To-Net Linkup CHART: ACTV's Rise Is Due to E-Commerce INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
