Bear Stearns Bullish

Profit for the second quarter this year was up to $342.9m from $169.5m 12 months ago. The bank's strong performance, in sharp contrast to some of its more prestigious rivals, came off the back of good fixed income and mortgage-backed debt revenues.

The bank is also beginning to see the benefit of last year's cost-cutting exercise. In the biggest job cuts in the firm's 79 year history, headcount was reduced by 1,300 during 2001.
Not surprisingly, Bear Sterns is the best performing brokerage stock so far this year.