BankAtlantic

BB&T Corp.'s (BBT) profit margin from lending and investing declined in the third quarter and the company said it is expected to contract again in the fourth quarter, spooking investors and causing the stock to fall.Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher Mutascio said less income from lending, higher operating expenses and weaker insurance commissions resulted in BB&T earnings that were below what he and some other analysts had expected.However, the "bigger issue is the meaningfully lowered [net interest margin] guidance," Sandler O'Neill analyst Kevin Fitzsimmons said.The third-quarter net interest margin fell one basis point from the second quarter and 15 basis points from a year earlier, to 3.94%, but BB&T Chief Financial Officer Daryl Bible said the margin would fall to around 3.75% in the fourth quarter.Shares recently fell 5.7% to $30.43. They are up above 21% so far this year.The Winston-Salem, N.C., bank's profit rose 28% to $469 million, and revenue rose 16% to $2.5 billion."We h...

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