Author Archives: Inelegant Investor
It would be unfair and inaccurate to blame all of Hewlett Packard’s(HPQ) problems on Carly Fiorina. After all, her successor as chairwoman, Patty Dunn resigned after presiding over illegal spying on Board members and journalists. Mark Hurd, CEO at that time, later resigned amidst allegations of improper payments to a contractor with whom he had a personal relationship.… Read More »
For most Americans months away from their 80th birthday, life has long since settled into a post-retirement routine. For Carl Icahn, who will turn 80 in February, he’s just getting started, going after larger targets than ever. Last week, Icahn announced he was forming a Super PAC with $150 million of his own money to promote legislation to… Read More »
Though its stock price is still languishing at $13.17, below its initial post-spinoff price, Barron’s thinks Barnes & Noble Education(BNED) could be worth $25. Barron’s notes that Alex Fuhrman of Craig-Hallum Capital Group feels similarly. “It’s an attractive business with high barriers to entry because of the physical presence on college campuses and an early movement into the… Read More »
What a difference a week makes. Last week we reported that Valeant(VRX) was considering spinning off its Neuro drugs. Now, in the face of mounting conerns about its relationship with specialty pharmacies including Philidor, the company assures us that everything is ok. On a conference call this morning, CEO J. Michael Pearson told a questioner that the Neuro spin… Read More »
We failed to note it at the time, but on October 1, Blackstone(BX) completed the spinoff of several advisory businesses which combined with PJT Capital to form PJT Partners(PJT). Blackstone unit holders received one PJT share for every forty units of Blackstone held. The spinoff was structured to be tax free to unit holders. PJT Partners begins operations… Read More »
It’s been a rough road for Yahoo(YHOO)’s planned spinoff of its Alibaba(BABA) stake into Aabaco Holdings. After months of sniping with the IRS, culminating with the agency’s refusal to issue a private letter ruling, the company decided to move ahead anyway without the ruling and rely instead on the opinion of counsel. The company backed a Q4 date… Read More »
Amidst a brutal environment for IPOs, Fiat Chrysler’s(FCAU) IPO of 10% of Ferrari(RACE) seems to have bucked the trend. The IPO priced at $52, at the top of the $48 to $52 range, in the face of strong demand. At this price, Ferrari will have a market capitalization of nearly $10 billion. With a small float of just… Read More »
Bill Ackman loved its business model of purchasing companies with “mispriced” drugs and raising prices, but, under fire from regulators and legislators, Valeant(VRX) announced today that it will be completely changing its business model. Recent outrage about huge price increases for acquired drugs including public statements by Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have been a cause of the… Read More »
Chip Rewey is the manager of Third Avenue’s Value(TVFVX) and Small Cap Value(TVSVX) funds, having recently succeeded value investing legend Marty Whitman. Rewey was interviewed by Barrons.com yesterday, and shared his excitement about SPX Flow(FLOW), which was very recently spun off from SPX Corp(SPXC). Q:Have fears over oil and gas led you to other opportunities lately? A: SPX… Read More »
Posters featuring its iconic speedsters grace the walls of teenagers’ bedrooms around the world. Now, fans will have a chance to own a piece of the company. Management is busy on the road this week promoting an IPO of Ferrari. The company, 90% of which is owned by Fiat Chrysler(FCAU), will, naturally, trade under the ticker RACE. The IPO… Read More »
For years, a favorite speculation of the spinoff prognosticators has been that Amazon(AMZN) should spin off its fast growing Web Services business. These rumors have had little basis in reality. After all, Jeff Bezos does what he wants, and pays little heed to the whims of others. The buzz only intensified when Amazon recently began breaking out the… Read More »
Now, let me tell you a little bit about Bob Evans(BOBE). This ain’t no Bob’s Broccoli Buffet, this here is a pile your plate high with sausage and go back fer more kind of place. We reported in March that, despite pressure from Sandell Asset Management, the company would not be spinning off its packaged foods business, and… Read More »
The Dolan family has spent the better part of the decade spinning off assets. The dynasty behind Cablevision(CVC) spun off the Madison Square Garden Company(MSG) in 2010, followed by AMC Networks(AMCX) in 2011. Now, all three companies are in the midst of radical transformations. Early this morning, Cablevision announced that it would be acquired by French telecom Altice… Read More »
Capital Southwest Corporation(CSWC), a Business Development Company, announced late last year that it would spin off its industrial products, coatings, sealants and adhesives and specialty chemicals businesses into a separate, publicly traded company. Yesterday, the company announced that its Board of Directors had approved the spinoff of CSW Industrials. The new company will trade under the ticker CSWI. Shareholders… Read More »
After months of putting on a brave face in the face of mounting IRS resistance to its proposed spinoff of Alibaba(BABA) shares as Aabaco Holdings, Yahoo(YHOO) was served another setback last week. In a filing late today, the comapny revealed that the IRS had declined to issue a ruling on the taxable status of the transaction. On January 27,… Read More »