When I last wrote about boutique investment bank Evercore Partners
According to yesterday's Q1 report, Evercore's revenue increased 49% to $65.9 million, but it posted a net loss of $44.2 million, or $4.68 per share. However, that net loss did include an unusual vesting of $126 million of employee stock rewards following last year's IPO.
The firm has also plowed dollars into its European operations, and it's been aggressively hiring high-priced, top-notch rainmakers. Stephen P. Schaible was the managing director and head of Global Energy Investment Banking at Citigroup
In other words, Evercore's hardly acting like a firm that believes M&A is evaporating. But what about the credit crunch that's currently squeezing private equity deals? On the conference call, Evercore's co-CEO Roger Altman said it's "too early to judge." He added the pipeline was healthy, and that the firm has had a strong start to Q3.
Evercore is still a big player in private equity. Some of its pending deals include First Data
That said, even a few failed deals will likely hurt Evercore significantly. That may be why abundant skepticism swirls around its stock. While shares are far cheaper now, I think this is still a risky bet for Foolish investors. It's probably best to wait until the market environment gets clearer.
We've acquired further Foolishness:
Fool contributor Tom Taulli, author of The Complete M&A Handbook, does not own shares mentioned in this article. He is currently ranked 4,156 out of more than 60,000 total participants in CAPS. The Fool's disclosure policy is merger-proof.