Can Ally Financial Still Go Public?

The White House's restructuring of the U.S. auto industry appears to have worked – for now. If you saw yesterday's Super Bowl you witnessed an awe inspiring commercial from Chrysler featuring everyone's favorite 'punk' killer Harry Callahan, a.k.a. Walt Kowalski, a.k.a. Clint Eastwood. (Note: Eastwood starred in a movie called 'Gran Torino' – a very cool car made by Ford, not Chrysler.) Anyway, if you read Ally Financial's last earnings statement it seems to brag a bit about its auto lending business, and hardly at all about its mortgage unit. Then again, foreclosure-related charges caused the entire company to lose money in 4Q. A year or so ago, the government controlled Ally had hoped to go public but the IPO has since been withdrawn. It appears that Ally's mortgage business is on the mend – after taking huge charges for bad loans, and much cost cutting. Recently, its servicing unit received a high rating from Fannie Mae. But can Ally still go public? My guess is that it can – eventually – but not until it starts earning a boatload of money. Maybe, Ally needs to hire Clint as its pitchman.