Buying busted banks balloons bottom line.

• Position: FIRST CITIZENS BANK

Here's one way banks can boost profit: Buy banks taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Net income at Raleigh-based First Citizens BancShares Inc. had fallen from $32.4 million in first quarter 2008 to $6.2 million in the second quarter of this year. In the third, it increased to $82.5 million--$63.9 million from buying California-based Temecula Valley Bank and Washington-based Venture Bank. The...