24/7 Wall St. » LNY

52-Week High Club (FDX, LNY, MRK, GOOG)

247wallst — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:02:32 +0000

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) over 3% to a yearly high of $84.92. Barron’s reported that the package delivery company may rise as high as $100 dollars according to a survey of investors and analysts.

Landry’s Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: LNY) rose over 20% to a yearly high of $20.23. After last week’s buyout proposal from the company’s chief executive Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital has reported a stake in the company and has divulged its opposition to the buyout offer.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) rose over 2.5% to a yearly high of $34.35. The company’s Human Health President Keneth Frazier told CNBC that it would not pull Vytorin and Zetia, the company’s cholesterol medications, off of the market.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) rose close to 1% to a yearly high of $576.99. The TechCruch blog put out a piece on Sunday reporting that Google had hired Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) former director of new business development.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted in Food, Pharmaceuticals, Technology Companies, Transports Tagged: FDX, GOOG, LNY, MRK, MSFT

52-Week High Club

247wallst — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:03:16 +0000

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (NYSE: BNI) surged close to 30% to a yearly high of $97.59 following news that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) will be buying the freight rail operator for $100 per share, which places the value of the company at $44 billion.

The Black & Decker Corporation (NYSE: BDK) rallied close to 30% to a yearly high of $61.79 following news that the tool makers has agreed to be purchased by Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) in an all stock deal valued at $4.5 billion.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ: CTSH) rose over 8% to a yearly high of $42.40. The computer services and technology consulting company announced that its 3Q 09 profit rose roughly 21%, beating analyst estimates. The company also raised its 2009 profit estimate to $1.88 per share from $1.78 per share.

Landry’s Restaurants (NYSE: LNY) rose over 25% to a yearly high of $13.99. The restaurant, hospitality and entertainment company following rose on news that the company’s chief executive, Timothy J. Fertitta has agreed to purchase the company for $14.75 per share, or $1.2 billion.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted in Buffett, Consumer Goods, Earnings, Food, Hardware, Mergers and Buy Outs, Technology Companies Tagged: BDK, BNI, BRK-A, CSH, LNY, SWK, transportation

Fertitta Takes Landry’s (LNY)

247wallst — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:14:21 +0000

Landry’s Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: LNY) has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Fertitta Holdings, Inc.

Fertitta has agreed to acquire all outstanding common stock for $21.00 per share in cash. This represents a premium of approximately 37% over the closing share price of the Company’s common stock on April 3, 2008. This was the last day before disclosure of the revised offer made by Mr. Fertitta to acquire the company. The total value of the transaction is approximately $1.3 billion, which includes approximately $885.0 million of debt.

Fertitta is a newly formed entity wholly owned by the company’s Chairman, President, CEO and original founder, Tilman J. Fertitta. Mr. Fertitta beneficially owns approximately 39% of the Company’s outstanding shares of common stock.

In short this is nothing short of a management led buyout, and one that many thought was a dead deal before the revisions. Shares closed at $16.79 on Friday and the equity market cap of the stock was $271 million.

As with most management led buyouts where the founder controls a huge portion of the stock, there are likely to be any "higher bids" that magically come from elsewhere. The only issue here that might seem to come up is that this acquisition price still buries shareholders who owned this stock before 2008. Whether or not those older shareholders can mount any demands for denial or demands for money is another issue all together.

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Jon C. Ogg
June 16, 2008