Author Archives: Inelegant Investor
Is breaking up retail conglomerates about to become a trend? Last week, Gap(GPS) announced the planned spinoff of its Old Navy brand. Now, Barington Capital is urging L Brands(LB), parent of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, to spinoff one of the two brands. Barington has a history of activism and last appeared in these pages when… Read More »
Dearest Readers, we have a confession to make. We fell short of the sacred trust you have placed in us, and were, somehow remiss. You see, it seems, that other than to mention an index change, we never discussed Air Products and Chemicals (APD) October 2016 spinoff of Versum Materials (VSM). We apologize profusely for this breach and… Read More »
This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of Don Fisher opening the first Gap(GPS) store in San Francisco. That initial store opened just days after Woodstock and a month after Neil Armstrong took his small step and, it initially sold only Levi’s jeans and records. Fisher’s concept was that his store would always have every size in stock… Read More »
Wabtec(WAB) was excited to announce this that it had completed its merger with GE Transportation, immediately following GE Transportation’s spinoff from GE(GE). GE shareholders will see small amounts of Wabtec in their portfolios. The final ratio is a bit lower than what had been estimated. For each share of GE stock owned, shareholders received 0.005371 shares of Wabtec stock,… Read More »
On the day it finalizes its spinoff of GE Transportation and merges it with Wabtec(WAB), GE(GE) announces an even larger divestiture, selling off its Biopharma unit to Danaher(DHR) for $21 billion in cash. Danaher will also take on $400 million in pension liabilities. GE CEO Larry Culp, former CEO of Danaher has taken another major step in shrinking… Read More »
There’s a lot of news to report as GE(GE) completes its spinoff of GE Transportation on Monday, February 25 and merges it with Wabtec(WAB) immediately thereafter. As we theorized last week, the bulked-up Wabtec will be added to the S&P 500, replacing Goodyear Tire(GT). Goodyear will take Wabtec’s place in the S&P MidCap 400, making this a neat… Read More »
From its spinoff from Biogen(BIIB) in February 2017 to the closing of its acquisition by Sanofi(SNY) in March 2018, Bioverativ’s tenure as a public company was short but profitable. From an initial price of $44.98 to the sale price of $105 in cash, Bioverativ stock, trading under the symbol BIVV, increased 133%. Not bad for 13 months. We… Read More »
Last month, Arconic(ARNC) announced suddenly that it had failed to find a buyer willing to pay enough for the whole company and was ending the sale process. Now, it is trying a different approach, announcing that it plans to spin off one of two businesses: Engineered Products & Forgings or Global Rolled Products. It will also attempt to sell… Read More »
Why is Henry Schein(HSIC) stock down sharply today? What is this CVET stock suddenly in my portfolio? We’ve been talking about it a lot, but Covetrus(CVET) is finally here. After the market closed yesterday, Henry Schein completed its spinoff of Covetrus, distributing Covetrus stock to shareholders. Covetrus immediately merged with Vets First Choice in a Reverse Morris Trust… Read More »
I’ve got a fever and the only cure is more Covetrus(CVET). Excitement mounts as we approach the completion of Henry Schein’s(HSIC) animal care spinoff and its merger with Vets First Choice in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. The transaction is set to be completed today, February 7. Tomorrow, February 8, Covetrus stock will begin trading, and S&P will… Read More »
With Elliott and Starboard pushing for changes at eBay (EBAY), including the spinoffs of StubHub and Classifieds, there was more than the usual focus on eBay’s earnings report last week. The company reported record earnings, initiated a dividend and increased its buyback authorization, but signs of concern remain. Elliott, for one, is unimpressed. “eBay’s fourth quarter earnings provided… Read More »
In 2015, under pressure from legendary activist investor Carl Icahn, eBay(EBAY) chose to spin off PayPal(PYPL). While PayPal stock has performed remarkably since the spin-off, eBay stock’s performance has been decidedly prosaic. With this backdrop, not one, but two activist investors have entered the stage and begun pushing for changes. Of course, most relevant to us is that… Read More »
With apologies to the Beatles: Yesterday, Arconic’s stock price began to fade away An expected buyout had been pushed away Elliott needs to find another way It was this close to a deal, but Arconic(ARNC) announced yesterday that it was no longer pursuing a sale of the company. Last week, the Wall Street Journal had reported that a… Read More »
Just last week, Henry Schein(HSIC) announced the distribution date for its spinoff and Reverse Morris Trust transaction of Covetrus(CVET). Yesterday, the company announced a three day delay in the distribution due to the ongoing government shutdown. Whereas the company had formerly expected its registration to be effective on January 28, it now anticipates it will be effective no… Read More »
As we mentioned when Danaher(DHR) completed its spinoff of Fortive(FTV) in 2016, it has been one of the best performing stocks in history. Founded by Steven and Mitchell Rales, Danaher Corporation(DHR) is one of the most successful business stories of the last three decades. One of just 44 companies with a cumulative total return of greater than 10,000% over… Read More »