On 04 Mar 2022, Turd Ferguson <fergy@inbox1.com> posted some
news:svuadm$24htq$60@news.freedyn.de:

> Thank Kathy Hochul.

Shares of little-followed financial stock New York Community Bancorp
(NYSE: NYCB) collapsed 36.8% in January, according to data from S&P Global
Market Intelligence. Investors are getting nervous about the bank. New
York Community Bancorp bought the failed Signature Bank's assets last
Spring after it cut its dividend and wrote down some more of its loans.
Shares of the bank have struggled for years and are now off over 70% from
all-time highs set 10 years ago.

Here's why the stock fell in January.

Commercial real estate troubles
After taking on Signature Bank's assets in 2023, it looks like New York
Community Bancorp is having trouble absorbing its troubled real estate
loans. With commercial office vacancies rising to record highs, developers
and landlords are having trouble paying back loans. Well, New York
Community Bancorp owns a lot of these loans.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the company had a $552 million provision
for credit losses, significantly higher than the $62 million provision
from the same quarter a year ago. This was due to growing net charge-offs,
deterioration in the office real estate space, and its multifamily real
estate portfolio, according to management. Higher credit losses led to a
$260 million net loss in Q4.

On top of this, New York Community Bancorp reduced its quarterly dividend
per share to $0.05, or $0.20 annualized. This is compared to $0.68 over
the last 12 months. Management performed this in order to keep the company
well-capitalized after passing the $100 billion asset threshold. Bank
stock investors love dividends, so a major cut like this likely led a lot
of shareholders to sell their positions. Dividend cuts at banks can also
be signs of major liquidity issues, which plagued the banks that failed
last year, such as Silicon Valley Bank.

Is the stock a buy?
After falling so far, New York Community Bancorp trades at a price-to-book
value (P/B) below 0.5. P/B is the best way to value a bank stock, with a
ratio below 1.0 indicating a stock trades below the net value of the
assets on its balance sheet. However, with all of its write-downs, New
York Bancorp's book value per share has started to decline in recent
quarters.

Niche banking stocks are for experienced investors. New York Bancorp is a
troubled financial institution with a complicated balance sheet and major
exposure to the commercial real estate sector. Unless you are confident in
the health of its loan book, it's best to avoid this stock for now. Buy
some simpler blue chips instead.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-york-community-bancorp-stock-
231200391.html