around the traps ... with the ferret

The MACQUARIE BANK (MBL) money-making caravan just keeps on
rolling (no, careering) along.
What a dilemma for wannabe shareholders.
The high price of the shares makes it too dear to jump on for
the ride but the ride is so good an investor just has to jump on.
Macquarie's latest boosters came from, first, the Dyno Nobel
purchase and, second, yesterday's investor presentation.
The shares were $66 when the Dyno deal was announced last
Monday.
They rose sharply in the following days, particularly on Friday
afternoon when the shares shot up from an opening $69.30 to close up 77c
at an all-time record $70.07.
In fact, given yesterday's second booster, one could be forgiven
for thinking the Friday rush may have had more to do with someone's
knowledge of the upcoming announcement than the Dyno deal five days
earlier.
Anyway, Macquarie opened at $70,80 yesterday and soared the
whole day through to a new record $74.09, up $4.02.
The headlong rush followed an announcement by deputy managing
director Richard Sheppard that the bank was becoming confident of
matching last year's record full-year profit.
"Subject to a continuation of reasonable market conditions, we
are becoming confident that we can at least match last year's record
result of $823 million, despite the fact that last year's result
included a one-off gain from the formation of the Macquarie Goodman
Group," he said.
"There is possible upside to the full-year result from
specialist fund initiatives and asset realisations."
If the bank is headed for the same profit as last year the
shares are on a prospective p/e of 20, which is not expensive for such a
growth stock.