Author Archives: Inelegant Investor
More Summer Of Spin action as Lumentum and Viavi step into the light. A decade after shedding the unwieldy JDS Uniphase(JDSU) name for the alphabet soup JDSU, the former dotcom bubble will say goodbye to this name as well as it splits into Lumentum Holdings and Viavi Solutions this weekend. The stock, which traded at over $1000 in… Read More »
As it continues along its primrose path to irrelevancy, Barnes & Noble(BKS) will complete its long-discussed spinoff of Barnes & Noble Education this weekend. Though the company had formerly combined its NOOK with the College business, it opted, in the end, to retain the NOOK business, and just hired Fred Argir to lead that business. It should be… Read More »
Following in the time honored tradition of Yellow Pages locksmiths, Yahoo(YHOO) has opted to name its upcoming spinoff Aabaco Holdings. Perhaps if they stick enough A’s in the name, they can get tax free status for the spin. Though no uplifting corporate message was given for the name, which presumably rhymes with tobacco, it appears to be a… Read More »
With all the spinoff excitement, Forbes looks ahead at the next brands that might be granted independence by their corporate overlords. Ebay(EBAY)’s StubHub. StubHub dominates live event ticket reselling. On the heels of a successful spinoff of PayPal, perhaps Ebay will go back to the well and spin off StubHub. Time Warner(TWX)’s HBO. Time Warner is no stranger… Read More »
A year after its spinoff from National Oilwell Varco (NOV), NOW Inc.(DNOW) continues to roll up distributors with the acquisition of Odessa Pumps, its eighth acquisition since the spin. Robert Workman, President and CEO of NOW Inc., commented, “The addition of Odessa Pumps and Equipment not only offers DistributionNOW the ability to expand our products and services offerings… Read More »
The drama surrounding Yahoo(YHOO)’s proposed spinoff of its Alibaba(BABA) stake continues. Though the company has said it is pushing forward and is optimistic, Barron’s reports that Morgan Stanley feels a 0% probability of the deal is priced in at the current stock price. The sentiment on the stock is now as if they’ll never make the spin happen,… Read More »
With $6 billion in cash burning a hole in its wallet, PayPal(PYPL) will not slow its aggressive acquisition program after its purchase of Xoom(XOOM). Dan Schulman, who will be CEO of PayPal following its July 17 spinoff from Ebay(EBAY), told the Financial Times that acquisitions would be a priority, as PayPal uses the $6bn war chest that is… Read More »
Amidst this great Summer Of Spin, what are the best prospects? According to Forbes’ Antoine Gara, who has also noted the flurry of spinoffs: PayPal and Baxalta(BXLT). About PayPal: PayPal is a leader in online payments, with high margins and strong revenue growth. It could prove valuable to tech giants like Google, Apple, Microsoftand Facebook, who are all toying… Read More »
Baxalta(BXLT) completed its spinoff from Baxter International(BAX) yesterday. Or, as Baxalta would have it “Baxalta Launches as a Global Biopharmaceutical Leader Dedicated to Patients with Orphan Diseases and Underserved Conditions.” Baxalta is no slouch, what with “New products and indications planned to contribute $2.5 billion in sales by 2020, building on base of $6 billion in annual revenue.”… Read More »
Graham Holdings (GHC) announced this morning that it had completed the spinoff of Cable ONE(CABO). As we previously reported, Graham shareholders received one share of Cable ONE for each share of Graham Holdings held. Interestingly, Graham Holdings CEO Donald Graham, reported that his mother and predecessor(and Buffett confidante), Katherine Graham viewed Cable ONE as her ‘best acquisition ever’.… Read More »
The unprecedented number of spins this week has kept the folks at S&P working overtime making changes to their indexes. Last week, AOL(AOL), a spinoff of Time Warner(TWX) was acquired by Verizon(VZ), a conglomeration of several spinoffs of the original AT&T(T). As a result, Casey’s General Stores(CASY) will move from the S&P SmallCap 600 to take its spot in… Read More »
Energizer Holdings(ENR) will be completing its spinoff of Energizer Holdings tomorrow, July 1, 2015, and renaming itself Edgewell Personal Care(EPC). Shareholders as of June 12 will receive one share of New Energizer for each share held. An explanation for the Edgewell name and its power, strength and beauty can be found here. Though Edgewell management is bullish on… Read More »
The Summer Of Spinoffs continues on July 1 with NiSource’s(NI) spinoff of the Columbia Pipeline Group(CPGX). NiSource shareholders as of June 19 will receive one CPGX share on July 1 for every NiSource share held. Columbia’s new board has already approved ambitious expansion plans. The company plans to grow EBITDA by 20% annually and dividend by 15% annually… Read More »
Graham Holdings Company(GHC) was, not long ago, The Washington Post Company. But after the sale of The Washington Post to Jeff Bezos in 2013, the name needed to change. The Washington Post was neither the first nor the last asset bought or sold as Donald Graham radically transforms the company he inherited from his mother Katherine. Previously, Newsweek… Read More »
For the past month, Yahoo (YHOO) has been awash with uncertainty over saber rattling by the IRS that calls the tax-free nature of the spinoff of its Alibaba(BABA) stake into question. Last week, Marissa Mayer downplayed concerns. This week, Yahoo General Counsel Ron Bell tried to do the same. Yahoo! Inc. is working with tax officials to complete… Read More »