Following Bank of America Corp.’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. on Monday, its stock price dropped more than 20 percent, but the company is more optimistic than ever and believes it will remain on top in spite of the credit crisis, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

“The bank is emerging as probably the biggest beneficiary of the disarray in the financial markets,” said Dick Bove, an analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. “Bank of America will be stronger, larger, and command more business than ever before once this debacle is over.”

Dubbed the “king of Wall Street” by CNBC, CEO Ken Lewis has taken leaps of faith in expanding BofA, and most have resulted in huge success. Dating back to the company’s 2004 purchase of FleetBoston Financial to its recent acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp., BofA has expanded its operations 10-fold coast-to-coast.

CNNMoney said it brought to mind the words of a BofA insider who once observed, “Bank of America was built on a series of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”