Posted Jul 2nd 2009 3:45PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Industry
The dealmaking is heating up in the nuclear sector. Today, Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) upped its hostile bid by 12% for NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG). This new price tag translates into a valuation of $7.45 billion.
The wrangling between the companies has gone on for roughly eight months. In fact, hostile deals can be time-consuming (in some cases, lasting a couple years).
Something else: Exelon has indicated that this is the "best and final offer." Apparently, the company has realized new cost savings, which justifies the higher valuation.
And, the merger would definitely result in a powerhouse. In all, there would be rough 48,000 megawatts of power capacity.
Now, to push things, Exelon has nominated a new slate of directors for the upcoming shareholder meeting (on July 21st). The problem is that the initial premium on the buyout bid has diminished. Simply put, NRG has made some savvy moves to make itself more attractive, such as its purchase of Reliant Energy's (NYSE: RRI) retail business.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
and the founder of BizEquity, a free online business valuation tool for small businesses. You can reach him at his personal blog.
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 8:00AM by Michael Fowlkes
Filed under: Industry, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Recession
Auto sales continued to drop in June, but we are starting to see signs that sales may be beginning to stabilize a bit.
The auto industry is still in deep trouble. It is going to take a while before things get back to normal, but before things can even start to improve, they have to stop worsening, and that's what may be happening.
Continue reading Auto sales show signs of stability
Posted Jul 1st 2009 3:35PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Industry, Housing
The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "The Dow Jones Equity All REIT Total Return Index, which tracks 114 publicly traded REIT stocks, rose 28.9% in the April-June period, the biggest quarterly gain for the index since it debuted in 1989."
REITs still have a long, long way to go until they've regained the ground they've lost during the real estate rout -- they were down 31.6% in the first quarter and 38.8% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Continue reading REITs have a record second quarter: Who saw that coming?
Posted Jul 1st 2009 12:40PM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: International markets, Industry
Recession or not, people can't walk around naked ... especially not in the United Kingdom. (Iceland in summer? Fair game.) Marks & Spencer Group Plc (London: MKS:UK), the largest clothing retailer in the country, just sustained its smallest drop in sales in nearly two years thanks to some savvy deals (offered to consumers) and warm weather. After making their dollars pounds stretch for so long, shoppers were finally ready for a bit of style.
Revenue declined a modest 1.4% for the year so far, much better than the 2.5% average estimate offered by 16 analysts. This was good enough to push M&S shares up 4%. If all goes well, same store sales may start to increase soon, which means that a full recovery will be right around the corner. Same store sales have fallen for the past seven quarters, and company cut its dividend for the first time in almost a decade.
The discounts that helped lead to the recent M&S sales performance are responsible for 18% of the company's food sales (which are down 0.5% on for same store) – much better than the 2.4% estimate. General merchandise fell only 2.4%, beating the 3.5% projection handily.
Posted Jun 30th 2009 4:40PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Good news, Products and services, Industry, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, General Electric (GE), Workspace
The federal government, for better or worse, has been increasing the money supply as fast as it can in an attempt to prevent a collapse of our financial system, stabilize the housing market, improve the employment outlook and rehabilitate our nations infrastructure.
Most economists have some fear of inflation as a result of this, even if the fear is not for three to five years. To combat the increase in money supply we need to balance it out with an increase in productivity.
Continue reading GE invests in Michigan, USA -- new technology center
Posted Jun 30th 2009 8:00AM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: International markets, Industry, Competitive strategy, AMR Corp (AMR), Contl Airlines'B' (CAL), UAL Corp (UAUA), Delta Air Lines (DAL)
Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is seeking immunity from antitrust laws to work more closely with United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAUA) and others on international routes. And, since airlines operate in a state of seemingly perpetual turmoil, what's the harm? According to the Justice Department: plenty.
The airline sought broad immunity as part of an effort to join Star Alliance, which includes US Airways, Lufthansa (OTC: DLAKY), and Air Canada -- along with United. Continental believes that it needs to join Star Alliance in order to remain competitive, especially with airlines that have this type of immunity already.
Continue reading Justice Department pushes back on Continental immunity request
Posted Jun 25th 2009 3:30PM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: Deals, Industry
Republic Airways Holding Inc. (NASDAQ: RJET) is going shopping. Only a day after making an offer for ailing Frontier Airlines (OTC: FRNTQ), it has made a bid to nab Midwest Airlines from private equity firm TPG Capital. The offer consists of $6 million in cash and a note for another $25 million. If the private equity house takes the deal, Republic will get 100% of Midwest's equity and TPG's secured note of $31 million.
The $25 million in debt is convertible to RJET stock at $10 a share, which gives TPG a bit more upside from the transaction. The seller would also have the right to nominate a member of the buyer's board of directors.
Of course, Republic's CEO, Bryan Bedford, is upbeat about the prospect of buying Midwest Airways, saying it will "enhance the strategic positioning" of his company. Like the proposed acquisition of Frontier, Midwest would continue to operate under its own name, though the target's Boeing 717s would be replaced with Embraer 190s.
Posted Jun 25th 2009 12:00PM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: Earnings reports, Industry, Employees
Affordable fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (OTC: HMRZF) beat profit and margin expectations for the second quarter of 2009, as currency swings are becoming less costly. Gross margins reached 61%, ahead of the 60.2% forecasted by analysts for the world's third largest clothing retailer. Even though some sales figures were under pressure, H&M has turned in a strong quarter and is well-positioned for the rest of the year, particularly in a tight market for consumers.
H&M's pre-tax profits increased 6.4% to $735 million for the second quarter (which ended on May 31, 2009). The mean forecast was $721 million, according to a Reuters poll. May sales were unchanged from May 2008, though a 1.4% gain was expected. Sales in stores open for at least a year dropped 9%, rather than the forecasted 8.5%. Nonetheless, the positive developments more than offset the negative.
Continue reading H&M beats Q2 expectations, well-positioned for 2nd half
Posted Jun 24th 2009 5:30PM by Michael Fowlkes
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Products and services, Industry, Competitive strategy, Market matters, Lennar Corp'A' (LEN), Housing, Recession, Financial Crisis

We will get a little better idea of just what is happening with the real estate market tomorrow when home builder
Lennar Corporation (NYSE:
LEN)
reports its second quarter results.
Headed into tomorrow's earnings announcement, analysts are expecting another loss, but a much smaller loss than the company reported for its first quarter. Last quarter we saw a loss of
98 cents per share. This quarter analysts are predicting a loss of "only" 63 cents per share.
Continue reading Lennar second quarter earnings preview
Posted Jun 18th 2009 3:20PM by Daleela Farina
Filed under: Industry, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Next big thing, AT and T (T), Technology
Cloud computing is a type of on-demand hosting services on the internet. Not only a necessity for mainstream e-commerce sites, it also increases efficiency, is scalable, and lowers expenses. The monetary savings may be misleading to consumers and businesses who do not fully understand the potential risks involved.
With a pay-as-you-go type structure, users are only charged for the amount of traffic, bandwidth, and memory used. Online businesses become more efficient by only utilizing the storage and space needed, while also being assured capacity for any usage increases. The buzz has been building for years, so cloud computing has attracted a diverse customer base, ranging from popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, to educational websites of Arizona State and Northwestern University.
Continue reading Cloud computing: Advantages and disadvantage
Posted Jun 18th 2009 2:10PM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: International markets, Industry, Economic data, Recession
Retail sales took an unexpected downward turn in May in the United Kingdom -- for first time in three months. Cautious banks appear to be the problem, as their rationing of credit is impeding broader economic recovery. Retail sales fell 0.6% from the previous month, while economists had predicted a 0.3% change in the other direction.
Year-over-year, retail sales were off 1.6%. Sales for the year are down 1.1%, the greatest decline since score-keeping began in 1988. Of course, there's plenty of fodder for rationalizing the results. The annual change was affected by an "unusually large" retail sales estimate for May 2008. Clothing, textile, and footwear retailers and department stores led the plunge, with nonfood store sales off 1.4%, compared to a 0.3% increase in food retail sales.
Continue reading Banks putting pressure on UK retail sales
Posted Jun 10th 2009 12:00PM by Mark Fightmaster
Filed under: Earnings reports, Bad news, Industry
Yesterday afternoon, Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE: B) announced that it is withdrawing its 2009 earnings guidance thanks to uncertainty in the transportation sector. In May, Barnes forecast earnings of $1.20 to $1.35 per share -- better than the consensus estimate of $1.19 per share. Barnes did not update its estimate when making the announcement.
The company stated that problems in transportation sectors (like the automotive industry, which comprises one third of the company's revenue) have made predicting the rest of the year very difficult. Barnes' CEO Gregory Milzcik noted, "Challenging industry conditions, evidenced by customer plant closures, reduced customer production schedules, and overall uncertainty in the automotive market driven by bankruptcies and the cascading effect on suppliers, have obscured our visibility for the coming months."
Continue reading Barnes withdraws its full-year earnings forecast
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