Defense contractor Northrop Grumman (NOC) is feeling pretty good right now after having just won a massive contract for the new long range bomber. The company is also in the process of restructuring its organization by cutting its operating groups from 4 to 3, one of which will be called Technology Services. The move led to suspicion that… Read More »
‘Resistance is futile’ – The Borg Star Trek fans will no doubt recognize the famed motto of those nasty, robotic, intergalactic conquerors hell-bent on assimilation. What they won’t know is that the phrase is also rumored to be frequently muttered at company board meetings after Ralph Whitworth’s Relational Investors announces a stake. The activist firm has been quite a… Read More »
Illinois Tool Works (ITW) has been going through quite the transformation over the past year or so after being egged on by activist investor Ralph Whitworth. The company sold a 51% stake in its decorative surfaces division last year and last week it announced that it was ‘exploring strategic alternatives’ for its industrial packing unit. This seems to fit… Read More »
If a certain investing strategy delivers returns then you can count on followers and imitators joining the party. Just google ‘how to invest like buffett’. Even this site is an offshoot of Joel Greenblatt’s successful investment strategy. Corporate strategy is the same, especially in the minds of analysts in the investing world – if an idea worked for one company then every company in the… Read More »
It’s tough to be a CEO or board member these days. It used to be so easy, but now those pesky shareholders cause too many headaches. ‘Say on Pay’? What? Do they think they own the company or something? The only thing worse are those so called ‘activist’ shareholders, pushing to create ‘value’ or profits in their pockets.… Read More »
As part of its recent spinoff of Engility(EGL), L-3 Communications(LLL) received $325 million in cash which it will use to retire $250 million in debt and repurchase $75 million in stock. Despite this balance sheet improvement, both S&P and Fitch left the company’s ratings unchanged. From S&P: Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that its ratings and… Read More »
Defense contractor L-3 Communications(LLL) completed its spinoff of Engility Holdings(EGL) yesterday. L-3 shareholders as of July 16 received 1 share of Engility for every 6 shares of L-3 that they held. In its last day of when issued trading, Engility closed at $17.83, giving the company a market cap of just under $300 million. L-3 closed at $69.79… Read More »
The board of directors at L-3 Communications Holdings (LLL) recently approved the spinoff of the majority of its government services business, Engility. The spin is expected to take place on July 17th and shareholders as of July 16th will receive one share of Engility for every 6 shares of LLL owned. Given that L-3 currently has ~97.5m shares… Read More »
L-3 Communications(LLL) affirmed in today’s first quarter earnings release that it is moving forward with its plan to spin off Engility. With our filing of the Engility initial registration statement, the spin-off of those businesses should occur around mid-year, and we continue to believe that this will unlock opportunity and value for both companies. The performance of Engility… Read More »
In what appears to be another ‘win’ for activist investors, defense contractor L-3 Communications (LLL) announced that it will spin out its government services business in the first half of 2012. The company faced pressure from Ralph Whitworth’s Relational Investors (who are also involved in the ITT [ITT] situation) to jettison non-core business units in order to improve… Read More »