by Doug Kass

After a big bank in California collapsed in mid-July, Mr. Richard X. Bove rushed out a report with a provocative title: “Who’s Next?” What followed was a list of 107 banks, ranked according to two measures of their financial strength.

But No. 10 on the first list, BankAtlantic Bancorp of Fort Lauderdale, fired back. The bank said Mr. Bove’s numbers were wrong — and sued him and his employer, a small brokerage firm called Ladenburg Thalmann, for defamation.

Mr. Bove, 67, who has analyzed banking stocks for 26 years has gained a certain reputation as one of the few bank analysts to predict the blow-up in the housing market and subsequent problems at many banks. He is also one of the few whose advice, if heeded, would have made money for investors over the past year.

Mr. Bove is also something of a maverick.He is not afraid of making enemies. Back in 2005, when he came out with his initial negative outlook on the housing market, a television anchor warned him that he might not have a job much longer. Soon afterward, Mr. Bove began downgrading the banks he covered, eventually putting a sell on 60 percent of them, even as others dismissed his prediction that “this powder keg is going to blow.”

A Who Is Next list by Richard X. Bove of financial institutions at risk of default like Indy Mac includes some surprisingly big names like Bank of America and JP Morgan.

The Who Is Next Bove list defines “at risk” institutions as having more than 5.0% of its reserves plus common equity outweighed by non-performing assets plus 90-day in arrears loans.

The formula is non-performing assets + 90-days late loans divided by bank reserves + common equity. Any financial institution with a ratio over 40% is in the danger zone and over 20% is at risk of needing additional capital.