So, we found out what was going on with MBT Financial (MBTF) last week. Yesterday (Wednesday) they announce an all stock buyout from First Merchants. The stock was up again over 6% on the day. I have sold all my stock in MBTF. While First Merchants is a fine bank, it’s not small and trades at a high price-to-book. MBTF was a great stock for me and I’m almost sad to see it go. In addition to the stock’s price appreciation, they paid out enormous dividends in the time I’ve owned it.
As a reminder, the “deal” with small banks stocks is that they are “deep value” stocks. They tend to do well, but rarely spectacular, AND they are generally much safer than average stocks. Slow but steady growth. Oh, and with the market volatility we’ve seen in recent weeks, they tend to outperform. In other words, they do very well in bear markets.
I’ll be doing a little piece later, probably this weekend on a few truly small stocks I’ve bought recently. All of these are cheap and can still be bought.
Scattered Showers and Quicksand 