I’ve traded with most bank stocks and I can safely list the 3 worst bank stocks currently listed on the market (starting from the ultimate worst, oddly enough the list below is also sorted by alphabetical order):

– AIB (Allied Irish Bank)
– BAC (Bank of America Corporation)
– IRE (Bank of Ireland)

Let’s start with AIB, which is by far the worst bank stock, although the stock has miraculously gained 45% in the last month, I still consider it the trash of bank stocks. AIB has lost around 81% of its market value in the past 12 months (including the current month), and is one of the most volatile stocks ever. I still believe that the stock price is heading for a penny, even though it gained in the last month and there was reverse split (1:5) back in February. Unless you’re a huge gambler, don’t play with this stock.

BAC is a stock that I lost a lot of money with. I hate this stock. Everytime it reaches $15 the stock starts selling like hot cupcakes, and then, of course, it loses anything between $1 to $5. Bank of America has a lot of issues, and many investors have been burned badly with this stock, many times already, so, whenever there’s a bearish movement on the stock, investors start to flee en masse. The stock had a nice January effect though.

IRE is a stock that I have never traded, but one that I closely monitored because I find it moves somewhat proportionally to the worst bank stock of all time, AIB. IRE has lost around 77% of its value in the past 12 months, but has gained around 14% in the last month. Still this stock is bad.

So will these stocks get worse? Well, I’m one of those believers that the peak of financial stocks is reached in April, so in my opinion, it’ll probably be downhill to all of these stocks from here.

As for the best bank stock, well, it’s obvious, it’s Citigroup. I have a hunch that this stock will reach $6 by the end of the year (which is about $60 after the reverse split of 1:10 which is planned in just over a week from now).