Posts for Ticker ‘AWK’

Underwriting Syndicate Bonanza Continues (FTNT, AWK, BZ, LFT, SII)

This morning we have a syndicate bonanza with a very solid IPO pricing and many secondary offerings getting priced.  Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) priced 12.5 million shares in IPO at $12.50, above the $9.00 to $11.00 range.   There are also many secondary offerings:  American Water Works (NYSE: AWK) 37.35 million shares priced at $21.63; Boise Inc. (NYSE: BZ) 17 million shares priced at $4.85; Longtop Financial Technologies Limited (NYSE: LFT) 3.7 million shares priced at $31.25; Smith International Inc. (NYSE: SII) priced 28 million shares priced at $26.50.

We have detailed information on the size, use of funds, underwriters, and performance on each below.
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Posted on: November 18, 2009 – 10:01 am in ADR, IPOs, Secondary Offering, , , , ,

Stocks That Missed the Rally (ABT, MO, AWK, BKC, ENER, GENZ, KR, ORB, WMT, LEAP, PCS)

Here we are going into yet another earnings season.  We saw Monday how the market has rallied significantly from the March lows and the major indexes are even up in positive territory for the 2009 calendar.  The DJIA is up 51% from its absolute lows of March, and the S&P 500 has rallied more than 61% from its absolute lows in March.  If you look at the December 31, 2008 closing bell levels, the DJIA is now up about 12.75% and the S&P 500 is now up more than 19% year-to-date.

But almost as always, there are still some key very large and/or very active stocks which have not recovered anywhere close to the same amounts with the overall stock markets.  Some of these lagging stocks are Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK), Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC), Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER), Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ), Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), Orbital Sciences Corp. (NYSE: ORB) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).  Two similar situation stocks that are Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) and MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS).  We wanted to explore the forward values and relative performance, and the consensus estimates based upon Thomson Reuters data.  Only two of these stocks have market capitalization rates under $1 billion, and almost all are very actively traded and well known in their sectors.
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Posted on: October 12, 2009 – 5:03 pm in Biotech, Charts, Consumer Goods, Defensive Stocks, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Retail, Utilities, Value Investing, Water, , , , , , , , , , ,

Secondary Offerings Run At Market Flood Rates (MPEL, GSIC, AWK, GLDD, YSI, TBBK, HMPR, SBCF, CADE, UMPQ)

money-stack-imageIt is one thing that we had two fairly large IPOs this week.  But the flood of public secondary stock offerings is almost running at alarming levels when you consider that these share sales are after such a large run-up in the markets.  Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) $200 million and GSI Commerce Inc. (NASDAQ: GSIC) (and holders) sold about $201 million in secondary offerings this morning.  Other stocks in offerings are scheduled from American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK), Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. (NASDAQ: GLDD), and U-Store-It Trust (NYSE: YSI).  Then there is the flood of regional and community banks selling stock.

Details are as follows:
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Posted on: August 13, 2009 – 11:52 am in Secondary Offering, , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AWK, BEAT, CHKP, IACI, MVL, MYGN, NVO, SYMC, WERN)

These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades this Wednesday morning in early trading.

  • American Water Works (AWK) Started as Buy at Brean Murray.
  • CardioNet (BEAT) Cut to Hold at Citigroup; Cut to Hold at boutique firm Roth.
  • Checkpoint Software (CHKP) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • IAC/Interactive (IACI) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • Marvel Entertainment (MVL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • Myriad Genetics (MYGN) down on downgrades from RBC, Oppenheimer, Citigroup, Morgan Joseph, and more.
  • Novo Nordisk (NVO) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Symantec (SYMC) Started as Outperform at JMP Securities.
  • Werner Enterprises (WERN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

After today, we’d expect analyst coverage to start getting this until at least next Tuesday because of the shortened week.  We have already seen the effects of fewer participants this week, particularly after such a stellar quarter that just ended yesterday.

Jon C. Ogg
July 1, 2009

Posted on: July 1, 2009 – 7:11 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

The ‘Safety Premium’ In Water Investing (AWK, WTR, AWR, CWT)

water-image1We have been investigating several of the “safe sectors” for investing to identify which ones may have seen the worst or which ones could continue to have issues regardless of whether or not recent stock market strength holds up or not.  Water is supposed to be one of those immune sectors as people have to drink water every day and just about every aspect of life revolves around water.  So we are starting out with domestic water utilities, because this is the first line of defense in the water sector and the most defensive portion of the water sector.  In theory, these do not require any new community growth or new water-intensive industries for the “defensive” thesis to hold up.  We briefly wanted to review American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK), Aqua America Inc. (NYSE: WTR), American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR), and California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT).
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Posted on: March 23, 2009 – 10:35 am in Defensive Stocks, Water, , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AWK, BDK, ERII, FRED, LEN, PSA, WMT)

Money_stack_picThese are some of the positive analyst calls and upgrades we are seeing early this Tuesday morning:

  • American Water Works (AWK) Started as Buy at Societe General.
  • Black & Decker (BDK) Raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Energy Recovery (ERII) Started as Buy at Piper Jaffray.
  • Fred’s (FRED) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
  • Lennar (LEN) Raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Public Storage (PSA) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Wal-Mart (WMT) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.

Jon C. Ogg
November 25, 2008

Posted on: November 25, 2008 – 7:55 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , ,

Water Profits Rise on Higher Rates (AWK, WTR)

Water_imageAfter the market closed yesterday, American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) reported third quarter EPS of $0.55 on revenues of $672 million. EPS was right on expectations, but revenues fell short by about 12%. The floods in the Midwest reduced water sales by 4.8% from the same period a year ago, reducing EPS by about 4%.

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Posted on: November 6, 2008 – 9:30 am in Earnings, Utilities, Water, ,

American Water Works, Open For Trading (AWK)

American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) has opened for trading.  The first real open-print was $20.60 for some 6.62 million shares.  Unfortunately, this is going to gear down some of the water expectations on the utility side.

The $21.50 pricing was well under expectations, and those expectations had been trimmed already.  At $20.60 it is already trading as a busted IPO.  We’ll give this one some time before calling this one by any name.

Despite the weakness, we actually think this will be huge for the water industry in general.  That underwriting group was so large that this will create much more in water coverage from Wall Street analysts.  Since opening, shares have weakened and are down to $20.45.

For whatever it is worth, one of the most defensive stocks that investors can flock to when they get worried about earnings and the market and the economy is in water utilities.  This is the largest water utility in the US.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about other IPO’s, secondary offerings, special financings, spin-offs, and other special situations.

Jon C. Ogg
April 23, 2008

Posted on: April 23, 2008 – 9:05 am in IPOs, Water,

American Water Works IPO Looks Slightly Under Water (AWK)

American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK) is coming back on the US market.  The deal has priced this evening and will trade on the NYSE on Wednesday morning.  A trader has noted that the IPO went from warm, to cool, and now it is pricing under the range. 

Gross proceeds are roughly $1.25 Billion.  This IPO will now be 58 million shares at a price of $21.50 per share.  Unfortunately, that isn’t exactly off to a great start.  This is lower than the original share price indication terms and under the expected number of shares being sold.  Just a few weeks ago the largest US water utility was going to sell 64 million shares at a range of $24.00 to $26.00 per share.

It seems that if we are in the midst of a housing crisis, maybe being the water utility has more nuances than you’d imagine. Considering how there are not enough water instruments for US investors currently, this is a huge disappointment for what could have been one of the largest IPO’s of 2008.

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch are the lead managers; and co-managers are Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Edward Jones, Janney Montgomery Scott, Societe Generale, Wachovia Securities, Boenning & Scattergood, HSBC, The Stanford Group and Williams Capital Group were listed as the underwriters.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about other IPO’s, key financings, secondary offerings, and other special situation previews.

We have made our calls around for syndicate desks and traders that could still be reached, and this is coming from more than one group on the pricing and share count. 

Elsewhere in water, we covered a desalination play.

Jon C. Ogg
April 22, 2008

Jon Ogg is a producer of and editor for both the Special Situations newsletter and the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter for 247WallSt.com; he can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: April 22, 2008 – 7:13 pm in IPOs, Water,

American Water Works Sets IPO Terms… $1.6 Billion For Starters (AWK)

American Water Works Company, Inc. has finally sets its pricing range in its latest SEC FILING today.  This was the fifth such amendment to the original filing in 2007.  The mostly regulated water utility will still trade under the proposed ticker "AWK" on the NYSE.

The initial pricing terms are putting this in a range of $24 to $26 per share, for 64 million shares.  In our last update, we noted the underwriters were as follows:  Goldman Sachs, Citi, Merrill Lynch all listed as lead underwriters; Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and UBS; and co-managers listed as Edward Jones, Janney Montgomery Scott, Societe Generale, Wachovia Securities, Boenning & Scattergood, Cabrera Capital Markets, HSBC, Stanford Group Company, and The Williams Capital Group.

We will covering this one routinely via our open email distribution list.  At the mid-point of the range, this IPO would yield gross proceeds of $1.6 Billion.

Jon C. Ogg
March 31, 2008

Jon Ogg produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter and he can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: March 31, 2008 – 9:33 am in IPOs, Water,

IPO UPDATE: American Water Works, Inc. (AWK)

Last night there was another amended filing for American Water Works, Inc. and its upcoming giant IPO.  The giant water utility will still trade with the "AWK" ticker on the NYSE, and this may end up at the end of the year being the second or third largest US IPO for 2008 (way behind Visa).

We have had numerous inquiries on the timing of this IPO.  So far, we have the roadshow indicated in mid-April for investor presentations.  That could signal an April-end IPO or early May actual listing on the NYSE.  But so far that is conjecture and we are waiting for word back from the lead underwriters  Now that we are closer to the IPO, her is the full list of underwriters:

  • Goldman Sachs, Citi, Merrill Lynch all listed as lead underwriters;            
  • Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and UBS;
  • Edward Jones, Janney Montgomery Scott, Societe Generale, Wachovia Securities
  • Boenning & Scattergood, Cabrera Capital Markets, HSBC, Stanford Group Company, and The Williams Capital Group are all listed as co-managers.

As a reminder, this used to trade in the U.S. before it was acquired by RWE in Germany.   We’ll be keeping close tabs on this via our open email distribution list as we get closer to this IPO.

In 2007, it posted $2.2142 Billion in total operating revenue, which it claims is approximately four times the operating revenue of the next largest investor-owned company in the United States water and wastewater business.  It also posted $15.1 million in operating income for 2007, but that number includes $509.3 million of impairment charges relating to continuing operations.  The net loss recorded was $342.8 million.  Regulated businesses account for some 89.9% of its operating revenues.

Here was our summary for the original filing last year and here was our last update on this one.

Jon C. Ogg
March 27, 2008

Jon Ogg produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter and can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: March 27, 2008 – 12:29 pm in IPOs, Water,

American Water Works Closer To IPO (AWK)

American Water Works may be closer to coming public.  The huge water utility has an amended IPO Filing with full fiscal details for 2007.  It lists that is intends to sell up to $1.5 Billion in securities and it will trade under the ticker "AWK" on the New York Stock Exchange.

The lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch.  Others in the syndicate are JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank, Edward Jones, Janney Montgomery Scott, Societe Generale, Wachovia Securities, Boenning & Scattergood, Cabrera Capital Markets, HSBC, Stanford Group Company, Williams Capital Group.

The company has regulated subsidiaries subject to economic regulation by state public utility commissions in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.  It employs nearly 7,000 workers and serves drinking water, wastewater, and other water services to 15.6 million in 32 states and in Ontario, Canada.

In 2007, it generated $2.214 Billion in revenue and some $15.1 million in operating income, including $509.3 million in impairment charges.  Its regulated operations generated 89.8% of operating revenues in 2007.  We had previously noted that American Water Works generated $2.1 billion in total operating revenue in 2006, and pro forma for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 is $1.66 billion in operating revenues.

This is being sold back to the U.S. investor base as it is owned by RWE Aktiengesellschaft in Germany.  All IPO proceeds are going to RWE.  Here was the original filing summary if you care to compare the data.

Jon C. Ogg
March 6, 2008

Posted on: March 6, 2008 – 1:06 pm in IPOs, Water, , ,

American Water Works IPO Closer To Market (AWK)

American Water Works Company submitted an amended IPO filing after yesterday’s market closed, and this is one we at 247WallSt.com have been looking forward to.  The filing still shows a planned IPO for a sale of up to $1.5 Billion in securities.  While most filing numbers are merely for filing purposes, this is going to be one of the larger IPO’s of 2008. 

The underwriting group is still listed as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch.  We won’t be shocked if that number of underwriters grows as far as co-managers are concerned.  American Water Works Company still has the stock ticker “AWK” on the NYSE as its pre-designated ticker.

American Water Works generated $2.1 billion in total operating revenue in 2006, and pro forma for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 is $1.66 billion in operating revenues.  This is one IPO we have been waiting for as RWE AG in Germany is essentially selling this one back to the U.S. public after acquiring it.

Jon C. Ogg
January 30, 2008

Posted on: January 30, 2008 – 10:03 am in IPOs, Water, , , , , ,

While You Were On Holiday…Here’s What You Missed

Last week was a light volume trading week, but the markets were open and they didn’t wait for the holiday crowd to come back.   Here is a snippet of some of the major moves of the last week:

Could Boston Scientific(NYSE:BSX) and J&J (NYSE:JNJ) get back on the coated stent  favor?
Media Digest from September 3….
August 30: Upgrades and Downgrades.
August 29: Moody’s actually defended Wall Street bulge bracket firms over leveraged debt exposure.
August 28: Full Upgrades and Downgrades.
Full Pre-Market Notes
August 27: Full Upgrades & Downgrades.
Full Pre-Market Notes
If Seagate Won’t Sell, Why Not Buy Western Digital? (STX, WDC, KOMG)
Crocs ((NASDAQ:CROX) Intro’s New Clothing Line.…and stock hit new highs.
Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) Makes It Thru Earnings……How Much Stock Will It Buy Back Once It Resumes Buying Stock?
American Water Works (NYSE:AWK)…. Back as a US IPO.
El Paso (NYSE:EP) files for an IPO for one of its MLP’s.
Ariad (NASDAQ:ARIA) gets a Business Week bump.
Bush decides mortgages may get a bailout, although even after a rally not much was determined.
Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) may hit into social networking more.  They need to, because Yahoo! Finance is showing some real drop off in its numbers.
52 WEEK LOWS: August 30….. August 29….. August 28…..
August 27…..
NASDAQ Short Interest came out (AUGUST 2007)

Jon C. Ogg
September 4, 2007

Posted on: September 4, 2007 – 6:53 am in Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

IPO FILING: American Water Works, Back in the USA

AMERICAN WATER WORKS COMPANY, INC. has filed to come back as a listed company in the US, and for filing purposes the water giant has indicated a sale of up to $1.5 Billion in securities.  It will also be taking the AWK stock ticker on the NYSE.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., Citi, and Merrill Lynch & Co. will act as joint book-running managers of the proposed offering.  All of the shares in the offering will be sold by the selling stockholder, a subsidiary of RWE AG. RWE AG intends to fully divest its shares in American Water in one or more offerings.

This was originally founded in 1886 and reorganized in 1947.  American Water was acquired in 2003 by RWE in Germany.  American Water is the largest investor-owned United States water and wastewater utility company, as measured both by operating revenue and population served. It has 6,900 employees that serve approximately 16.2 million people with drinking water, wastewater and other water-related services in 32 states and Ontario, Canada.

In 2006, American Water generated $2.09 Billion in operating revenue, representing approximately four times the operating revenue of the next largest investor-owned company in the United States water and wastewater business, and $252.5 million in operating income, which includes $221.7 million of impairment charges relating to continuing operations.

Thankfully, this one is coming back to being under US-investor control.  That weak US Dollar probably didn’t make this the greatest water return for RWE in Germany.

Jon C. Ogg
August 27, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: August 27, 2007 – 4:52 pm in IPOs, Water, , , ,