"Capital Markets Have Been Very Strong and have Contributed Extensively to Earnings", According to Industry Expert

• On 4:57 pm EDT, Wednesday August 26, 2009

67 WALL STREET, New York - August 26, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its TWST Investing Strategies Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 53 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Banking Industry -- Capital Markets -- Weakness in Construction and Real Estate Lending -- Investing in REITs and ETFs -- Federal Regulation -- Health Care System -- Market Recovery -- Portfolio Diversification - Government Stimulus -- Marketplace Valuation -- Deleveraging -- Relative Earnings Growth -- Fast Growing Companies -- Cutting Costs -- Buying Trends -- Shape of the Recovery -- Stabilization -- Opportunities in Oil -- International Markets -- What to Look for in Companies -- Investing in Emerging Markets

Companies include: JPMorgan Chase (JPM); People's United (PBCT); Annaly (NLY); Capstead Mortgage (CMO); Redwood Trust (RWT); Chimera (CIM); JPMorgan Chase (JPM); Apple (AAPL); Google (GOOG); MasterCard (MA); IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX); PetSmart (PETM); Best Buy (BBY); Bristol-Myers (BMY); Agnico-Eagle (AEM); Goldcorp (GG); The Mosaic Company (MOS); Shaw Group (SGR); AGCO (AGCO); Kimberly-Clark (KMB); Adobe Systems (ADBE); Oracle (ORCL); ITT Educational Services (ESI); Wal-Mart Stores (WMT); Walgreen (WAG); Century Casinos (CNTY); Broadpoint Gleacher (BPSG); Veeco (VECO)

In the following brief excerpt from the 53 page report, Anton V. Schutz, President and Chief Investment Officer of Mendon Capital Advisors Corp., discusses the outlook for the sector and for investors.

TWST: Anton, would you start with a brief overview of your firm and your responsibilities there?

Mr. Schutz: As the President of Mendon Capital Advisors, I subadvise two mutual funds for Burnham. So I am the portfolio manager of the Burnham Financial Industries Fund and the Burnham Financial Services Fund.

TWST: Would you take us through last year and tell us how you have been coping with the turmoil in the markets?

Mr. Schutz: The turmoil has created its own challenges, but it has created a lot of opportunities as well. I was sort of shocked to wake up in early July to find out that the Industries Fund was the best performing of all domestic equity funds over the last 12 months. I was surprised because I just keep my head down and worry about trying not to lose money or trying to make money, but the volatility has created a lot of opportunity to make money, both short and long, as well as to benefit from actions taken by government agencies or the Fed. It has been an interesting time and our investors have been rewarded for staying with the Fund.One of the things that I have to my advantage as a portfolio manager is that I spent 10 years at Chase Manhattan Bank and I traveled a lot of the country and had seen problems in places like Florida before. I had seen problems in places like Arizona before. Markets like that go through cycles and that certainly helped me stay out of trouble as well as recognize opportunities potentially on the short side.

TWST: That sounds like what a bank should do.

Mr. Schutz: Exactly. It was sort of the early day Amazon model: let me do more and lose more money on it - make it up on volume. But obviously there are a lot fewer firms around today to talk about it.

TWST: What are the criteria that you use to measure potential holdings, and do those criteria have to change somewhat during these difficult times?

Mr. Schutz: First we start with a macro perspective. We take a look at interest rates, interest rate policy, the shape of the yield curve. Then we look at the capital markets and the health of those. We also look at various lending products and the credit environment and then on top of that you can layer geography. None of that really has changed. We really stuck to our knitting. The Funds didn't perform as well as some other financial services funds during some of the go-go years several years ago because we refused to take on the risk of owning insane mortgage lenders or investment banks doing bad things because we were terrified of the risk that we saw. So I definitely haven't changed my stripes at all throughout this whole process.

TWST: You've given a pretty positive outlook selectively for stocks going forward, but are there any potential headwinds that investors should be wary of now?

Mr. Schutz: First of all, I think my outlook is positive on my ability to create return. I don't need the market to go straight up to make money because I think the stock selection allows you to do it. There are still plenty of headwinds in there and I think that some of the headwinds can be self-imposed. As we are trying to creep out of this recession, I think both federal policy as well as policy by the government and Federal Reserve can create lots of headwinds. They may hurt the very recovery that they're supposed to help. For example, if you create too much of a tax burden on small businesses, you may have layoffs happening exactly when you want people to start hiring. If you create too expensive a healthcare plan, which forces people to spend too much money, they are going to lay off people, not hire them. If you tax business owners on the personal level too much, they're going to have to take more out of their business rather than less to maintain the same lifestyle. So again, I think those policies, they've got to handle them very carefully and not cut off the very growth that may be starting to show up here. So I think the actions of the government have probably never been as critical to the economy as now, going back to the Great Depression.

TWST: Is there anything that you'd like to add?

Mr. Schutz: We didn't touch on the fact that I live in Rochester versus one of the big cities.

TWST: Does that give you a better perspective?

Mr. Schutz: Sometimes it does, because, yes, I'm friendly with a lot of the other PMs, but we march to our own drummer. And the great thing is that I don't waste a lot of my day commuting. It's not very far for me to get home. It's not very far for me to get to my kids' baseball game or basketball game. So I think I have more time to devote both to work and family.

TWST: Thank you. (PS)

Note: Opinions and recommendations are as of 8/13/09.

ANTON V. SCHUTZ Mendon Capital Advisors Corp. 150 Allens Creek Road Rochester, NY 14618 (585) 624-2352

The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 53 page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

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