Lehman Brothers (LEH)

Lehman shares are down over 75% year-to-date, dragging the firm’s market-capitalization below the $10 billion mark. The stock closed at $14.41 Friday, up $0.69, after settling back down from a high of $15.93 earlier in the day on rumors of a possible investment from Korea’s KDB.

State-controlled KDB could be shopping for American investment bank bargains to expand its global footprint. Whereas, Lehman has been badly beaten down due to its high exposure to the subprime crisis and management’s refusal to make tough choices when it comes to cutting loose assets. Unlike its financial brethren such as Citigroup Inc. (C) or Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER), Lehman has yet to make any large asset sales in hopes of boosting its bleeding balance sheet.

Lehman has a disciplined management team that has a proven track record of profitable growth and cost control.

Lehman has a strong international presence and is focused on expanding its operations in Europe and Asia. This will help Lehman if there is a downturn in the domestic U.S. market.

Lehman has shown that it is able to grow its high-profit investment banking businesses and is in a good position to continue that growth if the private equity industry stays hot.