you may want to argue on something more solid than a single metric. NAB is out around 20 too. their D/E ratio is out near 20 as well, (shocking i know) 10 of that is deposits 1.5 is Life insurance and 3.5 Bonds.
you need to read the entire balance sheet in its whole to understand the entire position and also the off balance sheet activities. the valuation of the assets and liabilities is also a major issue. Bear Stearns had assets it had valued, this value was not in fact anywhere near close to the market value. they were seriously over valued. it also had purchased 2 hedge funds that were off balance sheet.
NAB has many assets it could easily sell. most of it's loan book, the life insurance assets, cash, interbank cash etc.
Banks are in a unique position. NAB would need to have a contributed equity of $300 billion to be near the a/e of BHP. who the **** would buy all these shares. that's just NAB, add CBA, WBC, and ANZ and the market would have to find close to $1500B.
Barclay's makes scary reading. they have huge (almost the size of their deposits/lending) tied up in derivatives. but unlike Bear and Lehmann they have a high cash flow (from deposits), they also do not have the toxic loans on their books that bug the many american banks.
the US problems are not to do with one metric, they are to do with the whole box and dice of banking practice, financial reporting, valuation, lending practices, etc etc
