What do you guys think about Wellsfargo Bank?

[FoolFromAZ]

When pretty much all the banks are close to their all time low (I mean the stock price), this bank has been doing well and close to all time high. Anybody here knows the reason behind that?

[tripods68]

Wells is by far the better bank in all financials IMO.

[boosami]

Wells is very secure, as they didn't participate in the sub-prime lending trend that (at least partially) led to all these problems. They are a conservative bank and hold new accounts to higher standards than other lenders. As other institutions teter and fail, Wells will probably pick up more and more of those clients as they move the accounts to more stable banks. Same goes for Citibank, JP Morgan, and Bank of America.

[osadg]

My only thoughts might be that WellsFargo managed to stay ahead of the curve. I read about a year ago that they had been unloading their negative debts preparing for the trend we seem to be in now, and were scaling back their offices and did a lot of employee cut backs. I've also read that they were being much more conservative with their loans. Beyond that I don't know anything more.

[Broken Arrow]

I basically agree with the above responses.

In short, very conservative management. Enough so that they didn't touch anything that involved risky but profitable-at-the-time debts. At least not at the level the other banks did. Add this to the fact that the field has narrowed considerably in terms of strong major players still left on the field. Wells is among the strongest, if not arguably the strongest, and in times like these, people flock towards strength for shelter.

I've been staring at this stock for months. As I've said in other discussions, when strong banks like this starts to near collapse, then I'll start panicking. Otherwise, one should take comfort in knowing that banks like Wells serve as a shining example of how America's financials remain strong. It's the weak ones that are being weeded out right now.