Oppenheimer Reiterates Perform Rating on Jefferies

Oppenheimer is out with a research report this afternoon, where it reiterates its Perform rating on Jefferies JEF; it does not have a price target on the stock. The Oppenheimer analysts cited the company's recent movement in the stock stemming from the fragile nature of the markets in the wake of the collapse of MF Global MF. Following a monumental display of bad judgment by MF's management, some believe that this will generate "contagion" to Jefferies, which the analysts generally view as a “very conservatively-run firm where management has enormous skin in the game." The analysts continue to be on the sidelines, though. As for leverage, the analysts remarked, “MF was 34X levered on its $1.2B of TCE against only 14X for JEF's $3.1B. Next, term funding: JEF has $4.6B of long-term debt in its funding versus just $0.9B for MF On the asset side, JEF had $2.0B in unrestricted cash vs. $0.6B for MF,”