Motley Fool Bearish on Seattle

Motley Fool's unwrapped their crystal balls -- and they don't see good things for some of Seattle's biggest companies. They're "unleashing our venom on some of the stocks that your fellow Fools think will tank in 2008."

Three of their worst stocks for 2008: Washington Mutual, Amazon.com, and Starbucks.

Jim Mueller's evisceration makes WaMu look like the worst of the trio:

There are a lot of questions without any answers, let alone reasonable estimates.

* How much further will loan loss reserves increase?
* How much more of its assets will end up as nonperforming?
* Will total deposits continue to decline?
* Given the above, will the company be able to remain liquid? If so, how?
* Is WaMu guilty of encouraging inflated appraisals?
* Is CEO Kerry Killinger the right man to dig the company out of its problems?

Rich Smith takes down Amazon.com:

there are many reasons to shy away from Amazon.com stock in the New Year. But for me, the biggest reason is the price.

I don't see any need to go into detail on this one. You see Amazon's trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 97, its 23% projected five-year growth rate, and its PEG of close to 4.0. You look at those numbers, and you know instinctively: It costs too much.

And Todd Wenning says Starbucks faces two big challenges this year: "diminished competitive advantages" and "watered down experience."

Schultz has a lot of work to do, so don't expect miracles over the next year. On the bright side, it did take Michael Jordan a full season to return the Bulls to championship caliber after his first comeback. Likewise, I believe Schultz is a superstar leader and can steer Starbucks onto the right path once again. It just won't be this year.

At least Nordstrom's doing well...for a company that saw a 4% drop in sales last December over the year before...

Image: a cropped version of Slightlynorth's "Beacon Hill" from our Flickr pool, with Amazon central looming in the middle.