Universal Ramblings

Stock analyst Meredith Whitney is a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel.

In late October of last year, Whitney predicted that Citigroup (C) would have to sell assets or cut its dividend. She also downgraded the stock to essentially a “sell.” That report peeled $15 billion off Citi’s market value in one day and, some say, helped usher then CEO Chuck Prince into an unceremonious retirement. On Jan. 15, Citi slashed its dividend by 41%. When I talked with Whitney on Feb. 6, she had just downgraded Goldman Sachs (GS) even though she’s a big fan. And Whitney was expecting losses in the following week when major European banks report earnings.

Facts

1. Born: ca. 1970
2. Analyst for Oppenheimer & Co.
3. Predicted in August 2008 that the U.S. credit crisis would continue
4. Whitney’s prediction detailed in a Fortune magazine article entitled “The Woman Who Called Wall Street’s Meltdown and What She Sees Next”
5. Whitney predicts decline in housing prices could be near 40 percent
6. Married to the business pundit and former professional wrestler John Layfield
7. Whitney and Layfield met in 2003, and married in February 2005 in Key West, Florida
8. Whitney is a graduate of Brown University
9. In October 2005, Whitney predicted “unprecedented credit losses” for subprime lenders

Over the past 18 months, as analyst after analyst has rushed to call “the bottom” for financial stocks, Whitney has stuck by her guns. And now, with the global financial system in ruins, she has parlayed her conviction into a reputation as one of the most respected voices on Wall Street. Earlier this year, after more than 15 years as an analyst, Whitney, 39, left Oppenheimer to launch her own firm, the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group.

In 2008, Ms. Whitney was named one of Fortune’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women, The Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch, and Smart Money’s Power 30. Ms. Whitney was also ranked in Institutional Investor’s All American Research Team.