What We're Hearing

Bank of America's stock may triple over the next few years? So says banking analyst Richard Bove. He also says BoA's purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Countrywide Financial Corp. were "good for the business." Former CFC founder Angelo Mozilo -- now a defendant in a Securities and Exchange Commission civil suit concerning his former company -- has maintained that BoA bought his firm at a bargain basement price. Of course, CFC's subprime portfolio (now the property of BoA) has delinquencies north of 30% and its payment option ARM holdings are exploding left and right. There's no doubt that BoA's ability to fund mortgages has improved (thanks to CFC) but will it be able to compete with Wells Fargo? Both these mortgage giants continue to use three channels to fund mortgages: retail, wholesale, and correspondent, according to the Quarterly Data Report…