Most analysts expect Countrywide Financial Corp.’s stock to give back some recent gains as investors realize that Bank of America Corp. won’t buy the mortgage lender, the Ventura Country Star reports.

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Countrywide’s stock spiked Friday when the Financial Times reported Bank of America, seeking ways to expand its mortgage business, is considering an alliance with the Calabasas-based mortgage lender.

Wall Street is skeptical that means a tie-up. Bank of America may partner with Countrywide, analysts said, but investors shouldn’t hold out hope for a takeover.

“We doubt that Bank of America would purchase Countrywide,” Prudential Equity Group analyst Michael L. Mayo wrote in a report, noting that Bank of America previously said it didn’t want to purchase a thrift bank, or a bank that uses deposits mostly to finance mortgage loans.

Sandler O’Neill analyst Michael McMahon said Bank of America may be considering outsourcing its mortgage processing to Countrywide, but he doubts a sale is in the works. Investors place less value on profit generated by mortgage lending than by retail banking, he said, so Bank of America would hurt its stock price by buying Countrywide.

“One way for a commercial bank to destroy market value is to buy a big mortgage company,” McMahon said. “Mortgage companies have always traded at deep discounts to commercial banks.”

Countrywide employs 5,850 people in Ventura County and on the county line in Westlake Village. Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) rose $1.38 to $43.38 Monday.