Wells Fargo: Financial Winners & Losers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of nearly all financial stocks were lower Monday morning, but Wells Fargo(WFC) was one of the biggest decliners among large-cap names, continuing a trend of underperformance over the last several weeks.

Wells Fargo shares were down 2.21% to $23.47 in Monday morning trading, while shares of Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs(GS) were both lower by less than 1%. Bank of America (BAC) shares, meanwhile, were down by 1.31% to $12.48, JPMorgan Chase (JPM)saw its stock down by 1.09% to $36.20 and Morgan Stanley (MS) shares were off by 1.28% to $24.71.

Wells Fargo shares have been beaten up in recent weeks and the stock is 11.47% below its 50-day moving average. The above-mentioned peers show single digit percentage declines by the same measure.

The cause for Monday's decline was not immediately apparent. Wells Fargo has not made any big headlines in recent days, though Reuters reported last week it is beefing up its investment banking business in an effort to reduce its dependence on the weak U.S. consumer. Wells Fargo has long been critical of Wall Street, and it made major cuts to Wachovia's investment bank after acquiring the failing Charlotte, N.C.-based institution from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2008.

Bond insurer MBIA(MBI) was one of the few financial stocks to show meaningful gains on Monday, with its shares up 2.02%, to $9.59. MBIA shares have been on a roll since it posted gains of $6.32 per share earlier this month when most analysts had been predicting a loss.

Superstar investor Bruce Berkowitz of the Fairholme Fund has been buying up MBIA shares as part of what appears to be a widespread bet on beaten-down financial stocks. Berkowitz has also been virtually alone among well-known investors in betting on insurer and bailout poster child AIG(AIG). Fairholme is also one of the largest mutual fund investors in Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America, according to Yahoo! Finance.

-- Written by Dan Freed in New York.

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