this is what we know right now, sources tell the fox business network meredith whitney is no longer consideringgs agency. these are people close to whitney pointing out. she has not returned my call for comment and last two years since i have been reporting on her muni call. one way to check it is with the sec in order to become a nationally recognized rating agency you have to make an application to the securities & exchange commission. she has not done that this is three years after she made that statement, i believe it was to "the financial times" first, she said she was going to do with. what we're hear essentially meredith whitney advisors is not going this way. here is the bigger question. this firm that she has, supposed to do bank ratings, the question is how much longer will this be a significant firm, analytical firm? i can't tell you that. there is lots of rumors about this thing potentially going out of business or meredith whitney teaming up with somebody else. that the staff has shrunk into fairly insignificant size. it is kind of an interesting story. this was, we should point ou

joining me right now in a cnbc exclusive to talk more about that is meredith whitney of meredith whitneyer group. good to see you. let's talk about your call on bank of america. obviously b of a came out the winner in the stress tests last week. >> one of the most undervalued stocks going into the stress test. what's amazing about this is very rarely do these big banks have both value, catalyst and momentum. and bank of america had all of that. so up 20% just in the last three months. and probably another 20% from here. and it will continue having momentum. this catalyst, when i say it's a stock to own, the stress test was a huge catalyst for this name. it's been this stealth, you know, stealth operator stock -- they announced cost cutting measures back in 2010. no bank has announced the kind of cost cutting measures that bank of america did. it takes two years. two, three years. anybody who's following bank of america is following by a, you know, a big amount. >> the stock's at $12.56 a share. how much higher can this stock go? >> easily 15. easily 15. >> that's in the near term. >> ove

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>> i think that wayne rogers was on earlier and he represents a view like meredith whitney that thereay coming. i do not agree with that. other pockets of this? yes. >> these are still pretty safe. i'm telling you, these are the least state of communities. but there is a trade here. and you have to be smart. if you think the stock market is getting too ahead of itself, nothing in cash and bonds. this is a market here for everything at a certain price. it is a risk. there are good trade here. connell: that is very interesting. >> he was phenomenal. it very right. you don't want to add to the debt. neither does spain. neither does europe. he made money. honestly, you have to be more capitalized. if you are a small firm like mf global, you could be considered insolvent. >> good to see you as always. thank you for joining us. charlie gasparino. how is your bracket doing? a harvard win over new mexico. but don't worry, we have a bracket for you. make the right picks on the ipos and keep it right here. connell: counting down on a friday. looking at stocks in the tech sector with sandra smit

i didn't like that meredith whitney widely known as a bear on the banks came on air and said she liked them very much. a couple of people who went negative on our air admitted they were wrong and got more positive after a big move up. not what you want to see. look, let's accept the fact that all these are about investing with irony, the idea that the wrong people getting positive might mean that the right people should skedaddle. not very scientific. more anecdotal. last night i said ben bernanke should stay easy because he didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the 1937 after we had nearly worked our way out of the great depression. he seemed more concerned than most that things could go very wrong. i thought when i left the office yesterday that he might have just said that to placate the bears, who are demanding he tighten because housing is coming back so hard and so fast. what happens if it turns out he is not just throwing a sop to the bears? what is keeping bernanke up at night? i've got a laundry list of worries worth keeping in the mix. they could shift the preponderance of ev

. >>> and meredith whitney is here. very bullish on one of our u.s. banks. around to find out which one. >>> rumors have been swirl for months that cit group is for sale. chairman and ceo john thain responds to that speculation coming up. >>> he's back at it again. this time he's targeting smokers. he wants retail shops to hide all tobacco products be hind the counter or behind a curtain. if the proposed legislation passes new york will be the first u.s. city to have such a ban. >>> untightive surgical stock is up 4% after positive analyst comments. herb greenberg is here with more on the couldn't tro controversy surrounding the company's prob t robotic surgical device. >> stocks performance can be attributed to several factors. revolutionary technology allows him to use the robot's arms from as far as ten feet away. creative and what some might say and would say, critics say, is an aggressive campaign that has made the da vinci a must have tool for all hospitals. it has spread why spread acceptance, hysterectomy, and today even gallbladder surgery. but as c

steve, do you at this point, i saw some, meredith whitney has never been this bullish.ti-year run here? >> god, i hope not. >> why? because you want to be special in picking stocks. you don't want the market to go up in general? >> we think of ourselves as value investors, doing work on companies. and what's different about what we do on average is the fund that we manage is a go anywhere fund. one could say there's more places we can lose money. >> yeah. >> but be that as it may, we're buying common stocks, preferred stocks, convertible debt, and bank debt. >> you're having trouble with valuation. >> finding ideas, investments that have a margin of safety that meet our own risk reward. it's not a cash isn't a top down decision for us, but if we don't find things that meet our risk reward. >> how much of a pullback would you need to deploy a lot more? >> the s&p 500 doesn't have to decline at all, remains flat and the specific industry group breaks down and we can put a lot of capital to work. >> i see what you hope for. as an investor, you like things to be cheaper. wh

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