STAFFING VALUATIONS WILT IN WEAK LABOR MARKET
Investors tried to rally shares of staffing companies along with the broad list following the mid-July bottoming-out process, but those riper valuations are clashing with an unaccommodating employment market. Ahead of Friday’s release of government’s monthly employment report - and following the unexpected uptick in weekly unemployment claims - investors have headed for the exits. Shares of Robert Half (RHI), for instance, have declined 5% in Thursday’s trading. Citigroup cut its rating on the staffing concern to sell ahead of the session, saying that the recent data points on labor market conditions suggested the staffing concern faced risks if economic readings remain weak domestically. It added that European labor data has deteriorated at an unexpectedly rapid pace, putting stocks with an acute exposure to that continent at risk. Shares of Manpower (MAN), which does about 75% of its sales from European clients, eased 3% Thursday.

VERIZON LIVES UP TO PROMISE TO BOOST PAYOUT
Verizon Communications (VZ) lived up to its end of the pledge it gave shareholders two months ago to increase the dividend. Now those shareholders are letting the company down, selling off the stock despite the boost in yield. Shares have fallen 4%, among the biggest declines in a session of steep declines for Dow components. Back in July, Verizon worked to stem some of the recent pessimism about its business model by promising it would increase its dividend. It’s done that Thursday, raising the payout by 3 cents each quarter, to 46 cents a share. However, investors have remained concerned about Verizon’s increased competitive profile and capital outlays to build out the FiOS optical business.

NO SIGNAL YET FROM DOW THEORY
Despite a couple sessions of steep losses, there’s still no confirmation from the classic Dow Theory that suggests stocks are poised to shudder sharply lower. But it could yet happen. According to the researchers at Dow Theory Forecasts, the Dow Jones Transportation Average has held up above the July lows, having risen about 12% from the July lows to the cycle highs in August. However, in the ensuing four weeks, the Dow transports have given up about 6%, including a nearly 3% decline Thursday. If the transports should continue to decline to the point where they’ve taken out the July lows, and the Dow industrial average retreats back to its July lows just south of 11,000 points, ”the prospects for global recession would increase,” the researchers noted. Stay tuned.

CREDIT CARD WRITE-OFFS MOUNT, ANALYST SAYS
Worries about the credit crunch and its impact on consumers can’t be considered among the freshest ideas Wall Street analysts. But Lehman Brothers lobbed another grenade at the credit card business Thursday with concerns that charge-offs among credit issuers could mount. Shares of American Express (AXP) lost 5%, heading back to $38 a share for the first time in five years. Lehman said that, while charge-offs for the industry niche could climb to 7.5% from the current reading south of 6%, the level for AmEx could swell to as much as 9%. The firm said the panoply of consumer handicaps - broad economic weakness, rising unemployment, home-price deterioration and liquidity restraint - could result in a spike in delinquencies. It cut its target on AmEx - one of the bigger losers among the Dow components Thursday - to $37 a share.

CONFERENCE BACK-OUT STIRS UST
There’s no smoke, but somebody thinks there’s a fire brewing at UST (UST). The smokeless tobacco products maker has been the subject of myriad rumors that it might be in the cross-hairs of a bigger tobacco player - Altria (MO) being the name that comes up most frequently - that would be interested in expanding beyond the traditional cigarette business. UST effectively fanned the flames Thursday. The company aburptly canceled a scheduled appearance at a Lehman Brothers conference on consumer companies. UST said the executives expected to make the presentation, including CEO Murray Kessler, had a ‘’scheduling conflict,” and then declined to elaborate. The company itself put out a release three weeks ago touting its plans to address conference attendees, and to make its presentation available - as is customary - via the web. UST shares have been up as much as 6% Thursday, though they backed off those highs intraday.

COLLECTIVE HITTING ITS STRIDE
Collective Brands (PSS) stumbled badly following its rollup of Stride Rite last summer. Shares of the footwear retailer fell 56% from the highs in June 2007, shortly before it closed on its deal to buy the shoe brand and marry it with its Payless Shoe Source operations. The company missed earnings targets in three straight quarters. Additionally, a lawsuit brought by adidas, which insisted that Payless had copped its trademark stripe design, kept something of a cloud over the company. But Collective, and its shares, have hit their stride over the last several weeks. The stock has swelled more than 60% from the July lows. It’s added to that performance Thursday, with a 13% bulge, after it recorded quarterly results that sharply exceeded Wall Street’s forecasts, while sales advanced 30%. The company described the results as a testament to the strength of its hybrid business model.

RESULTS NOTHING TO BE BLYTH ABOUT
Everybody knows the shabby condition of U.S. homes. Can’t sell ‘em. Can’t get a loan to fix ‘em up. Why, some of them even have countertops that aren’t made out of granite. But here’s some really dismal news: now, apparently, they’ve got some odd aroma. Or, at least, they don’t have the pleasant aromatic quality that comes from lighting a quality candle. That’s the take-away from the quarterly results out of Blyth (BTH), whose third-quarter proved a deep disappointment versus estimates, as consumers cut back on their purchases of its air freshening products. Shares have plunged 23% in the session, dragging the stock to an all-time low.

MASSEY VALIDATES COMMODITY WORRIES
Things have gotten bad fast at Massey Energy (MEE) - something that’s certainly been reflected in its share price, which is down 45% since the beginning of the third quarter. And now validated by the company’s own outlook. The coal producer warned that prices and production levels would likely come in at the low end of the company’s own guidance. Massey had been forecasting that it would ship 41.5 million to 43 million tons of coal at $65 to $66 a ton this year. Presuming the worst case scenario, that takes about $140 million off sales this year, or about 5% below the high-end scenario, even presuming Massey wasn’t being conservative in its original guidance. Analysts cried that the disappointment has proved more manifest because it came so shortly after the company previewed its guidance little more than a month ago. Massey shares have fallen 5%.

GOLDMAN SEES SOMETHING AWRY IN STEEL
It may amount to nothing more than Wall Street’s version of closing the barn after the horses have run off, but Goldman Sachs said it worried about the fundamentals in the steel business. It cut U.S. Steel (X) from its conviction buy list because of its concerns. The move came after a two-month decline in the stock stripped 42% off its market capitalization. Goldman cited the strength in the dollar, and the worry about declining demand in China, which have weakened prices. On the plus side, after the pullback, valuations in the sector reflect something of a doomsday scenario. U.S. Steel has fallen 5%.

TYSON NEEDS MONEY
The latest recognition of the difficulties in the meat-processing business could be found not only in the sharp discount at which shares of Tyson Foods (TSN) trade, but in the fact that, despite hovering little more than a dollar above the January lows, the company has decided to tap the capital markets for fresh funds. Tyson unveiled plans to issue 20 million shares of common stock, along with a $450 million convertible offering. The company said it would use the proceeds to repay a credit facility, and for the customary ”general corporate purposes.” Those could include acquisitions, suggesting the company had an appetite for more leverage to a difficult business environment. In a note, Wachovia said the capital initiative ”patently signals the difficulties faced across the Tyson portfolio,” but indicated it endorsed any effort to make strategic business purchases. Shares fell 6% Thursday.

WAL-MART OUTSHINES RETAIL RIVALS
The stimulus checks have been spent. The back-to-school season has been a bust. That meant back to basic blocking-and-tackling for the retail sector. Which must mean one thing: Wal-Mart (WMT) looked good. The rest of the pack … not so much. In fact, Wal-Mart came through with another month of better-than-expected quarterly results, posting a 3% rise. Yeah, not quite in the league of the June best of nearly 6%, but nevertheless outpacing forecasts of a 1.5% rise. The company itself lauded its ”improved relative performance” with helping it score market share gains. And while Wal-Mart’s numbers would look good for a average month of retailing, that ”relative performance” it spoke of looked all the glossier for the dreadful turn most of its competitors turned in. Sales at Target (TGT) - down 2.1% - didn’t fall quite as much as expected, but it turned out to be close. Shares are off 1% Thursday. Anything with a heavy back-to-school exposure did worse than forecasts. Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) posted an 11% decline, nearly double the forecasts for the dropoff. Shares have lost 5%. Nordstrom (JWN) - while not a typical back-to-school destination if you live outside the zip-code of a Microsoft executive - saw sales down 8% for the month, outpacing estimates. Saks (SKS) fell more than had been expected. In short, forecasts for a dismal August performance under-stated the extent of the declines.

STILL WAITING ON THAT LEHMAN BIDDER
If there’s an Asian bank out there waiting to pull the trigger on a bid for Lehman Brothers (LEH), it’s keeping its identity a state secret. Despite widespread rumors that the U.S. brokerage is about to become subject of a capital infusion from an overseas financial concern, no buyer has stepped forward with a firm bid for Lehman. And investors are starting to show a bit of impatience. Shares have eased about 2% Thursday, after several days of rampant speculation about a prospective buyer. Adding to the pressure on the shares: the New York Post said that the bids to lure an investor might be hurting the presumptive efforts to sell the asset-management business.

TOLL TELLS TALE OF LOWER CANCEL RATE
Look, home sales continued to fall in the fiscal third quarter for most homebuilders. Single-family home starts sank to a 17-year low. Homebuilders continued to take write-downs on land purchases that now look a lot less attractive. All these are givens. The one bright spot that Toll Brothers (TOL) identified in its third-quarter results Thursday: cancellation rates might have - maybe - topped out. Granted: still at alarmingly high levels, by any historic comparison. But just maybe topped out. Cancellation rates proved the lowest for a quarter in two years, the homebuilder said. Other than that …. Losses mounted, though not as much as expected. Take out the charge-offs, and the putative profit proved a little stronger than forecast. Still, August sales fell 34% versus a pretty ugly third-quarter 2007. Shares have eased 2% Thursday.

HOVNANIAN, TOLL 3Q POINT UP DREARY SECTOR
Time was - and weren’t that long ago, just over a year ago, according to the calendar - the release of quarterly results out of key homebuilders represented something equity investors anticipated. They wanted signs that the swift slide in the housing market had bottomed out. They wanted homebuilder management to talk about a hard landing and a quick bounce. And, for the most part, homebuilders obliged, as management delivered pioneer-frank assessments of the current state of their business. It may not have made for interesting investment opportunities - in fact, it made for downright sad investments - but, darn, it sure made for some pretty good theater. Now, when homebuilders deliver their third-quarter results, investors might be happier if management would just take the fifth. Let the numbers - dreary as they figure to be - speak for themselves. Hovnanian (HOV), out after the close Wednesday, is expected to record a steep loss for the period, which would represent its eighth straight such disappointment. How much of a loss depends on which analysis you’ve paid attention to: estimates range from down 70 cents to down $2.93. At the mid-point of about $1.57, losses would amount to 20% greater than the year-earlier period. Sales are expected down 40%. Meanwhile, Toll Brothers (TOL) is slated to hit the tape ahead of trading Thursday. At the height of homebuilders’ loquaciousness, nobody matched Toll Brothers for its blunt assessment of the market conditions. At the time, some investors wrote some of the comments off as antic hyperbole. Turned out, it wasn’t. Toll is expected to record a loss of 36 cents on its third quarter, though if you strip out the impairments, it could record earnings of 24 cents a share. Probably the best thing that could be said about the sector: the bottoms they hit at the depths of the January selloff have held, although - at least in some cases - those bottoms strayed so close to zero that there wasn’t much more downside available.

COKE PAYS PRICE FOR PUSH INTO CHINA
There’s a lot to like, and a lot to not, about the aggressive push Coca-Cola (KO) has made with its forray into China. And the conflicting responses have shown up in the stock, which is trading essentially flat in spite of news of a significant M&A initiative. The facts: Coke agreed to buy Huiyuan Juice Group, China’s largest maker of juices and nectars, for $2.4 billion. The interpretation: the American soft-drink giant is making a move that could turn it into the leading purveyor of a growing product line in an expanding global market. Coke, in fact, could end up with 20% of the beverage business in China, which would make it not only the market leader there, but nearly three times the size of the prospective number two. There also could be some synergies to be realized in procurement, manufacturing and distribution over the next several years, according to Bill Pecoriello at Morgan Stanley. The downside: Coca-Cola paid a rich price for the acquisition, at nearly 7 times last year’s revenue, and 45 times cash-flow. The most generous interpretation is that this is the cost of doing business in the M&A market in China. Shares of Coke are trading flat on the session.

AN ARGUMENT FOR CONTINENTAL AT $45
Airline stocks have been trading the last several weeks as the offset to energy prices. Crude goes down, airlines go up. And vice versa. It’s been a simplistic trade for investors to make. Which begs the question: is there really a fundamental case to be made for buying into the airline business? Credit Suisse argued Wednesday that if crude stays at $100 deep into 2009, the market cap of Continental Airlines (CAL) could swell to $45 a share, which would be nine times where it traded at the July lows, and three times where it was as recently as Friday. Now, given the uncertainty about crude prices, and the volatility in the airline sector this year, Credit Suisse, which downgraded most names in the sector in July, hasn’t abandoned its cautiousness about the group. But since air carriers appeared determined to move ahead with capacity cuts as they move into the fourth quarter of the year, the fundamentals have improved. Continental shares have added 5% Wednesday.

ARGUMENT FOR VF: M&A, GLOBAL GROWTH
Who wouldn’t want to buy Nike circa early 1990s. When the athletic footwear maker was a dynamic brand with a huge global footprint. Unfortunately, that train left the station, and hasn’t circled the global entirely as yet. The next best thing, according to Credit Suisse: VF Corp. (VFC). The apparel maker has generated 28% of its sales from international markets, and its global businesses have been growing at a high-teens rate. It’s also proved one of the most-accomplished consolidators in the apparel business: in an era when other notable apparel companies have unwound earlier buyout missteps, VF has executed on its acquisition strategy, delivering 24% returns on its last six deals. Shares gain 5% on what Credit Suisse called ”the next great global consumer company.”

I-PAPER RALLIES AFTER BET ON HIGHER PRICES
Let’s face it: International Paper (IP) hasn’t been anybody’s dream play in the paper and packaging sector. Most followers didn’t like its purchase of the containerboard assets it bought from Weyerhaeuser (WY). I-Paper shares remain 35% below last July’s highs. Over the last five years, a period when the average paper and packaging stock has gained 26%, IP has lost a third of its market cap. Lately, the market seemed to be placing bets that I-Paper’s anticipated price-hike plans have been doomed to failure. Not only is the company not going to force a price increase on the market, the industry has bet prices are going to decline. IP’s trump card, however, would appear to be the current state of containerboard inventories: they’re at their lowest level since 1980 domestically. With 32% of the U.S. market for containerboard, IP might have the wherewithal to get its way. The company announced that, effective Oct. 1, it’s raising prices on 42-pound containerboard to a record $670 a ton. If it can make those price points stick - still an open question - forecasts for next year could soar to as high as $3.80 a share from the current $2.70, analysts said. Other names in the sector, such as Smurfit-Stone Container (SSCC) also could see its earnings rise in an improved pricing environment. Shares of IP have increased 5% Wednesday, while SSCC has climbed 20% in the session.

SCHOLASTIC HOPES FOR NEW ‘HARRY’ FRANCHISE
How do you replace a legend? If you’re the producers of the James Bond films, you do it all the time. But if you’re trying to fill the enormous void that the departure of the ”Harry Potter” series left on store bookshelves, that’s a challenge that’s stunningly daunting. Scholastic (SCHL), however, has nurtured high hopes that it’s done the darn-near impossible: it’s assembled an all-star team of authors, created a multi-media accessories package, and already struck a film deal that’s gotten Steven Spielberg’s name attached as director. All for its soon-to-debut project: ”39 Clues.” The first title in the multi-volume saga of the world’s most powerful family hits shelves Tuesday, Sept. 9. Will it succeed? That depends on how you define ‘’success.” Citigroup has called the project ”a nice add-on property” for Scholastic, but described it as ”unproven” as a blockbuster - especially in a crowded market for pre-teen entertainment. If each volume were to sell 1 million copies - perhaps something of a stretch - it would add about $20 million in 2009 revenue. In short, Citi said: it doesn’t see the product as the game-changer that Harry proved to be. Scholastic shares have eased 1% Wednesday.

FIRST HORIZON CLOSES DEAL, SWELLS LOSSES
Exposure to the mortgage market has continued to serve as a moving target for a number of regional banks. Many of them have regularly redrawn their balance sheets in order to get the funkiest stuff off their books, and try to focus on their core competencies. First Horizon (FHN), the parent company of First Tennessee, the largest banking franchise in Memphis, executed on both initiatives. The banking concern closed its deal to sell its out-of-footprint mortgage operations to a unit of MetLife (MET). And it took that opportunity to expand its charge-offs for bad loans. The bank had been saying it expected to see another $385 million to $485 million in such charge-offs; those numbers increase by $100 million. Though analysts have expanded their forecasts of losses for the quarter, as well as the balance of the year, the bank has gotten some kudos for moving more aggressively to get the junk off its balance sheet. Shares have declined 6% in Wednesday’s trading.

KOREAN INVESTMENT STILL ALIVE FOR LEHMAN
There’s been some progress - or, perhaps, there hasn’t - on the efforts by Asian banks to take a stake in Lehman Brothers (LEH). No deal has been struck. No consortium has been formed. No prices have been agreed to. But there have been signs of continued determination on the part of Korea Development Bank, which turned Lehman down cold earlier this summer, to take a stake in the U.S. investment bank, even though Korea’s bank regulators have voiced some hesitation about having a state bank take a stake in a Wall Street brokerage. Nevertheless, there are stirrings that KDB may have company. According to media reports, other banks - prospectively including HSBC, as well as Korea’s military pension fund - may be interested in participating in an investment in a majority stake of Lehman. We should get some more details after the close, when Lehman management is expected to address its own investment management operation about what lies ahead. However, that investment management operation suddenly took on the look of a liability instead of an asset, after the Wall Street Journal reported that Ospraie Management said it shut its Ospraie Fund after the fund lost 27% in August on misplaced bets on the direction of oil and natural gas prices. (Of course, the chicken-and-the-egg question arose - as in, did having to cover wrong-way bets exacerbate the slide that went against the fund’s strategy?) Lehman bought 20% of Ospraie for an undisclosed sum in 2005, the Journal noted. Nevertheless, Lehman shares have overcome some early hesitation, trading about 3% higher Wednesday.

JURY STILL OUT ON KRAFT TURN; CONAGRA WARNS
The multi-year effort to turn the flagging business at Kraft (KFT) has, by the company’s own accounts, gained some traction. Cost savings from its restructuring have amounted to $200 million more than Kraft itself was projecting, the company said ahead of an appearance at the Lehman Brothers food analysts conference. Nevertheless, the restructuring efforts, which included initiatives such as off-loading its Post cereals business, have taken a few cents off the headline numbers the company offered as a forecast. So even if the underlying business is improving, the outlook is enough to look weak compared to estimates. Kraft projected at least $1.88 for fiscal year 2008, versus estimates of $1.93; some three cents of the shortfall comes out of the cereal disposition. It offered ”at least” $2 for fiscal ‘09 - again, shy of estimates, which stood at $2.06. The company projected organic net revenue growth of 4%, and insisted its ‘’strategy is working,” and ”the best is yet to come.” Investors have taken a show-me approach, bidding the stock down just 1% in premarket.

There’s no quarrelling with the outlook from ConAgra (CAG): it’s a flat-out disappointment. Shares have declined 8% in premarket trading, with the stock verging on testing the late-June low of $18 a share. The food maker said it expected to see its first quarter come in ‘’slightly below” its guidance of 26 to 28 cents a share, or - more significantly - below the 29 cents that analysts have projected. The company blamed weak performance in its consumer business, where volumes proved flat, and it faced higher inflation. JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch weighed in immediately with downgrades.

AMBAK SCORES OKAY TO RESTART SOME MUNI BOND BIZ
It may not serve as a classic test of the economic theory of a reversion to the mean, but after a couple years of playing in - and sinking under - the mortgage-securities pool, bond insurer Ambac (ABK) said it wanted to return to its roots. After a fashion, anyway. The ailing financial guaranty concern secured permission from Wisconsin insurance regulators to restart its Connie Lee financial guaranty business. Though you won’t see the appellation ”Connie Lee” thrown around anywhere near the business - Ambac plans a new, here-to undisclosed moniker for the operation - it planned to inject $850 million into the business, and return to the business of public finance. Once it gets back a platinum credit rating from one of the rating agencies, that is. Ambac shares jumped 11% in premarket. The rest of the bond insurance world has moved narrowly higher.

MERCK, SCHERING FALL ON - WHAT ELSE? - VYTORIN
Another round of data has done nothing to ease worries about the safety and efficacy of Vytorin, deepening worries about a sales slide in the drug, and putting more pressure on manufacturers Merck (MRK) and Schering-Plough (SGP). A newly released study intended to quell concerns about a link between the cholesterol treatment and cancer instead has fanned the controversy without reaching any firm conclusions. That’s exacerbated the worries that more patients will ask their physicians to take them off the medication, or simply stop filling their prescriptions on their own. Vytorin sales fell 9% in the second quarter of the year, contributing to weakness in the drug makers’ performance, and another 239,000 patients stopped taking the drug in the most recent month that’s been measured, according to media reports. Two Congressmen have entered the fray, asking the drug makers to provide more information about the safety and efficacy of the treatment.

GM LOOKS TO DODGE 15-YEAR LOW IN AUTO SALES
U.S. auto makers are expected to share their latest monthly sales figures during Wednesday’s trading. And after nine consecutive months of declines, and the prospect of a decline to a 15-year low in sales, safe to say the numbers are not expected to do much to change up the dreary dynamic in the U.S. auto sales business. About the only factor that could avoid setting a new multi-year low for futility: the aggressive promotions that U.S. auto makers resorted to last month, as Ford Motor (F) and, especially, General Motors (GM) once again put cash on the hood to lure prospective buyers into showrooms. Ford is expected to show a 21% decline in sales, with GM seen posting a 29% pullback, as a continued reliance on out-of-favor light trucks, combined with aggressive market-share grabs by foreign auto makers, take a chunk out of the domestic makers’ business. Nevertheless, with crude prices pulling back sharply in Tuesday’s trading, both car makers have moved higher, with GM higher by 6% and Ford up 1%.

DINING, RETAILERS SET SOME MILESTONES
The scattering of names etched among the list of new highs includes some surprising categories Tuesday, given a strong representation of some dining and retailing issues. Worries about consumer spending had limited Wall Street’s optimism about both sectors. Bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Gustav only gave investors one more factor to consider in any skepticism about the group. Still, shares of Panera (PNRA) reached an all-time high in Tuesday’s trading, before finding itself subject to a light bout of profit-taking. Shares of fast-food operators McDonald’s (MCD) and Burger King (BKC) moved up about 2%, after analysts concluded that any fallout from the hurricane would have a minimal impact on fast-food businesses, even in the areas directly stricken by the storm. In fact, there could be a pickup in some franchisees’ operations, as consumers forced into temporary housing resort to take-out food; however, any gains would likely be offset by the impact of just as many consumers essentially locked down in their homes. Meanwhile, several retailers - including Buckle (BKE), which added 4%, and Urban Outfitters (URBN) which likewise moved higher by 4% - both reached new highs.

OIL DRILLERS HIT AGAIN DESPITE MILD GUSTAV
Slackening prices for crude oil and the shut-in of virtually all the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico have combined to extend the weakness that has gripped oil drillers since commodities topped out at the close of the second quarter. Several of the drilling services and equipment providers have given updates on how their operations fared in the face of Gustav’s assault on the Gulf. Most of those damage reports have been of a kind like the other material impact that people and facilities in the afflicted areas experienced: while it would have been better if Gustav never developed, the worst fears sparked by the lingering memories of Katrina/Rita three years ago didn’t come close to being realized. Diamond Offshore (DO), for example, the second-largest offshore driller by market value, said six drill rigs in the Gulf region came through the storm ”in pretty good shape.” Nevertheless, the stock has fallen 4% in Tuesday’s action. Halliburton (HAL) said it expected to keep its Gulf operations shuttered a few more days. That stock declined 3%. Among other names in the sector - all of which have been shaved of market value since the start of the third quarter - also traded lower Tuesday. Noble Energy (NE), one of the hardest-hit names in the sector, having relinquished as much as one third of its market value since the beginning of the third quarter, has declined 6%. Pride International (PDE), about 25% lighter in market cap than at the start of the quarter, has lost 4% Tuesday. Rowan Cos. (RDC), down 28% since its June highs, has fallen 6% Tuesday. Ensco International (ESV) has lost 8%, after a downgrade from JPMorgan, which said that the company faced a persistent decline in the rates it can command for jackup drill rights.

BANK OF INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY, GOLDMAN SAYS
Bank of America (BAC) has been regarded as one of the high-quality names among banking stocks. Shares have climbed 80% off the July 15 lows, outpacing the recovery in many other banks. Goldman Sachs said Tuesday that the bounce not only has been validated by the bank’s fundamentals, but that the stock still have some more upside for fresh money. Goldman said it projected a 28% projected return from current valuation - provided the bank avoid undertaking a dilutive effort to use common equity to raise capital. The firm argued that Bank of America has other avenues to raise fresh capital, and that in an environment where investors are going to prize high-quality names among financials, BAC has an opportunity to stand out. Shares have risen 5% Tuesday.