Wells Fargo (WFC)

WFC may have a limited outlook for long-term growth. Former CEO Richard Kovacevich, who stepped down in June 2007, stated shortly before leaving his position that WFC is not interested in pursuing large acquisitions. The largest acquisition in recent years was the 2006 purchase of Greater Bay Bancorp for $1.66 billion. By limiting the company's expansion policy to organic growth and small acquisitions, management may be hurting WFC's prospects for the future.

Wells Fargo, while a sizeable company in the U.S. market, has no international exposure, and is already limiting its domestic growth opportunities for the future. The overhead of the company is already bulky, and needs to be consolidated and simplified.

The structure of Wells Fargo & Company is very complicated, and the 80+ businesses can easily seem uncoordinated and even disorganized to prospective customers and investors. The large number of distinct businesses also contributes to higher overhead costs than may be necessary. Although WFC has announced the "One Wells Fargo" initiative in an attempt to unify the company, the campaign has not produced any noticeable results and no concrete details for the plan have been released.

Wells Fargo is limited in scope to the U.S. market. This means WFC does not have the international exposure that some of its competitors (notably Bank of America) have. This could be problematic if the U.S. market falters, because Wells Fargo does not have branches in foreign markets to diversify its business and reduce its risk.