AbnAmro posts
FeedPosted Oct 29th 2007 10:57AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Clayton, PharmaNet Development, Royal Bank of Scotland, Progressive Gaming and WSFS Financial were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- JMP Securities downgraded shares of Clayton Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CLAY) to Market Perform from Outperform citing lack of visibility in the non-agency MBS market. William Blair also downgraded shares to Market Perform from Outperform after the company's in-line quarter, to reflect lowered estimates and uncertainty regarding a recovery time.
- Jefferies downgraded shares of PharmaNet Development Group Inc (NASDAQ: PDGI) to Hold from Buy as they believe departures of board and management executives have introduced new risk.
- The Royal Bank of Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) was lowered to Sell from Buy at Citigroup, as they are negative on the company's acquisition of ABN Amro Holding NV (NYSE: ABN).
- ThinkEquity downgraded shares of Progressive Gaming International Corporation (NASDAQ: PGIC) to Accumulate from Buy following Friday's announcement that it lost its post-trial motions and will proceed to appeals court in the Webb lawsuit. PGIC will have to post a $20M bond, which is more than the firm expected.
- B. Riley downgraded shares of WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: WSFS) to Neutral from Buy after they lowered their estimates to reflect the company's higher projected on-interest expense.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Posted Jul 16th 2007 7:23AM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Filed under: Industry, Competitive Strategy, Barclays plc ADS (BCS)
In a move to improve its bid for ABN Amro (NYSE: ABN), a group lead by the Royal Bank of Scotland will improve the cash portion of its offer from 79% to 93% of the offer price of $98 billion. The bid is already slightly higher than the one made by Barclays (NYSE: BCS).
In many ways the Royal Bank bid makes more sense. It has teamed with Spanish bank Santander and Dutch financial firm Fortis, and they plan to break ABN into parts with each company taking the units that best match its operations and geography.
If the RBS bid is successful it could put other large banks in Europe and North America into play just as the industry may be facing a period of earnings problems led by mortgage quality problems and slower private equity deal flow.
Merging banks into the teeth of a slowdown may actually make sense. Combined banks could save money with eliminating back office and duplicate personnel. But, if the downturn is as sharp as the one in the late 1980s, it may not matter.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
Posted Jun 5th 2007 9:15AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), News Corp'B' (NWS), , salesforce.com inc (CRM)
MAJOR PAPERS:
WEBSITES:
- Engadget.com reported that, as of 6:33am, the Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) online store is down, indicating a new product to be released today.
Posted May 29th 2007 9:00AM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Deals, Competitive Strategy, Barclays plc ADS (BCS)
ABN Amro (NYSE: ABN) received a bid from a group lead by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The offer of $95.6 billion tops that of Barclays (NYSE: BCS).
The offer contemplates breaking the big bank into pieces. Banking companies Fortis and Santander are part of the purchase group and will sell shares to finance the deal.
The three banks would split ABN into several pieces with each of the purchasers taking the operations that best dovetail with their current businesses.
The dismembering of the Dutch bank may be the key to the higher bid. While Barclays would have kept most of ABN intact and perhaps sold off the US La Salle portion of the company, the three banks offering to buy ABN now believe that they can get economies of scale by matching pieces to their own operations. Their thinking is that this will allow them to take out more costs than if the bank was sold intact.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
Posted May 21st 2007 9:20AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA), salesforce.com inc (CRM),
MAJOR PAPERS:
OTHER PAPERS:
- The U.K. Times reported that Warner Music Group Corporation (NYSE: WMG) is expected to offer EMI Group (OTC: EMIPY) a "£100 million sweetener" to try and keep the company from accepting an offer from private equity.
- According to The Observer, Royal Bank of Scotland (OTC: RBSPY), along with its partners Fortis and Banco Santander Central Hispano (NYSE: STD), hope to "table" a £47 billion offer for ABN Amro Holdings (NYSE: ABN) this week.
- The Observer reported that a private equity consortium is considering a $15 billion offer for Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ: VMED).
- Cadbury Schweppes ADS (NYSE: CSG) is planning to return £5 billion to shareholders through a special dividend or share buyback, according to The Observer.
- The Sunday Telegraph reported that UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) will offer to buy out the pension schemes of some of the leading FTSE100 companies next week.
- Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) may be looking to acquire British social networking site Bebo, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
- The Bollywood film producer, Eros International, is expected to announce a partnership with Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited's (NASDAQ: TEVA) Copaxone will face generic competition for the first time, but will not see an impact immediately, Ha'aretz reported.
WEBSITES:
- The Orange County Register blog looked at a transcript from IndyMac Bancorp Inc's (NYSE: IMB) first quarter conference call, where the CEO Michael Perry said: "When you see that delinquency number in the press of 13% subprime delinquencies, it's hugely understated. It is absolutely hugely understated. And the prime delinquencies are overstated. The subprime delinquencies are more like 18, 20, 22% delinquencies and that's where I think you're going to see the problems."
Posted May 7th 2007 9:27AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Google (GOOG), Safeway Inc (SWY), News Corp'B' (NWS),
MAJOR PAPERS:
- According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the situation, the NY Attorney General and the SEC are both investigating "suspicious trading" in shares and options of Dow Jones and Company Inc (NYSE: DJ) prior to the $5B offer by News Corporation (NYSE: NWS).
- The Wall Street Journal reported that the UK's financial-services regulator has begun a preliminary review of trading by hedge funds in ABN Amro Holdings (NYSE: ABN), according to people familiar with the situation.
- BAE Systems (OTC: BAESY), the British defense contractor, is in the final stages of its $3.5B takeover of Armor Holdings Inc (NYSE: AH), the U.S. manufacturer of military and heavy vehicles, reported the Wall Street Journal.
- The Wall Street Journal reported that a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (OTC: RBSPY) has made a formal $24.5B offer for ABN Amro's LaSalle Bank, according to people familiar with the situation.
- The Financial Times reported that Dutch bank ABN Amro rejected a $24.5B offer for its U.S. bank, LaSalle, from a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland today. However, ABN said it would allow its shareholders to vote on the offer.
OTHER PAPERS:
WEBSITES:
- According to TheAlarmClock.com, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdry believes Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is "stepping up its efforts" to acquire job search engine SimplyHired.
Posted Apr 25th 2007 9:15AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Apple Inc (AAPL), Boeing Co (BA), US Airways Group (LCC), Barclays plc ADS (BCS)
MAJOR PAPERS:
- The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Fred Anderson, the former Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CFO, said through his lawyer that Apple CEO Steve Jobs misled him regarding board actions on stock-option awards.
- The Wall Street Journal reported that The Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium of banks fighting Barclays (NYSE: BCS) in an attempt to acquire ABN Amro (NYSE: ABN) indicated it would pay EUR39 per share, or $98.5B, for the Dutch bank.
- The next CEO of Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) will probably be promoted from within the company, Royal Dutch Shell chairman Jorma Ollila said yesterday, reported the Financial Times (subscription required).
OTHER PAPERS:
- The New York Times reported that Jarden Corp. (NYSE: JAH) will acquire K2 Inc. (NYSE: KTO) for about $1.2 billion in cash and stock, or $15.50 per share.
- According to a New York Post exclusive, WPP Group (NASDAQ: WPPGY) is among the suitors for 24/7 Real Media, which is on the auction block.
- The U.K. Times has reported that US Airways (NYSE: LCC) has pulled out of a $3.7 billion deal with Airbus, for Boeing (NYSE: BA), which US Air will order 20 to 30 787 Dreamliners from, worth between $3.2 billion and $4.9 billion.
Posted Mar 29th 2007 9:00AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, International Business Machines (IBM), IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), , Merck and Co (MRK), Deere and Co (DE), Barclays plc ADS (BCS)
MAJOR PAPERS:
- The Wall Street Journal's (subscription required) "Heard on the Street" column suggested that Deere and Company (NYSE: DE), which has risen 40% since lsat September, may be about to level off as analysts believe the positive outlook is already baked in to the stock price.
- The Wall Street Journal reported that Sanofi-Aventis ADS's (NYSE: SNY) Acomplia, a "miracle weight loss pill", is looking less like a miracle among repeated FDA delays and European restrictions.
- Barclays plc ADS (NYSE: BCS) says it would walk away rather than overpay for ABN Amro Holdings (NYSE: ABN), and rejected suggestions that it might then be vulnerable to a takeover itself, according to the Financial Times (subscription required).
- The Financial Times reported that Sony Corporation's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 video game console has had a record-breaking launch in Europe, selling about 600,000 consoles in its first two days.
- The Financial Times reported that U.S. drugmaker Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK) won a restatement of its patent for once-weekly Fosamax treatment from the European Patent Office.
- The Financial Times interviewed Barry Diller, the CEO of InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI), who believes corporate governance may be pushing U.S. companies to go private.
OTHER PAPERS:
- The New York Times reported that billionaires Eli Broad and Ronald Burkle may be back in the running to buy The Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB), which has responded to a request for additional financial information about the company from the pair.
- The Economic Times reported that Indian telecom operator Hutchison Essar is looking at outsourcing its IT operations to International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM), in a deal that would be worth $1.4B to $1.6B, according to sources.
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