Bank analyst Richard Bove, sued but unbowed, strikes again

Veteran Wall Street analyst Richard Bove caused quite a stir among bankers last summer with a research note that called out 24 mostly small and midsize financial institutions. Bove said they were endangered by rising levels of delinquent mortgages and other toxic assets.

The decision to publish that research has cost Bove plenty. One of the banks he identified as troubled sued him last July. To protect his firm, he quit and joined another company, and he has since been shouldering a monthly legal bill of some $50,000, he says. But he's not backing down. Indeed, in a new report sent to clients Wednesday, he sought to show that most of the banks he criticized more than a year ago haven't fared well since.