Is Barclays now cheap?

I suspect that after the latest fall from grace for Barclays many have been tempted into buying.  There is a lot of discussion right now wondering if Barclays is now cheap, that if you are thinking long term there might not be a better opportunity to get in now.  My immediate thoughts were to have a look at the weekly and daily charts, both of which look negative and in a downward trend.  There is still the potential for more downside if you look at the long term charts.

However, one of the regular emails that I subscribe to is from UK-Analyst (it's free and offers tips and market round up. A link for those interested can be found below) and yesterday's offering was from the self proclaimed (?) legendary bear raider Evil Knieval, Simon Cawkwell.  It's dated 4th July and taken from his diary (a service that you have to pay for if you want the full, regular updates) and gives Barclays a mention.

Barclays is cheap at under 200p. Tangible Net Asset Value is 360p+ and the PE might be 7 or less and dropping. I bought.

That's it.  Make of it what you will.  We don't know time frame or anything else that prompted Evil to buy, but he does have a reputation for being able to read a balance sheet.  He's made a lot of money (and probably lost a bit at times) from doing exactly that.

The charts suggest Barclays could still go lower and it is a bank in an unloved sector that could still be subject to further bad news whether that be from Barclays itself, another bank, or the general turmoil facing the banking sector across Europe. Market sentiment is still largely negative towards the banking sector and why would it be anything else right now?  Having said that would you bet against Evil Knieval, especially if he thinks the lows are in for Barclays?

*I'll post any update to this if it is mentioned again in the free email, but as I'm not a subscriber to the main service or Evil's diary, we may never know what he does next.

http://uk-analyst.com/