24/7 Wall St. » NCX

Odd Merger: Middle East & Chemicals, Redux (NCX, ROH, DOW)

247wallst — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:22:45 +0000

Nova Chemicals Corp. (NYSE: NCX) is the largest percentage winner on the NYSE today. It is up about 300%. Yep 300… The company is being acquired in a deal involving the Middle East. Does this sound familiar?

The merger involves International Petroleum Investment Company acquiring Nova Chemicals for US$6.00 per share by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement in Canada. The value of the deal including debt is roughly $2.3 billion. IPIC has also agreed to a US$250 million credit backstop facility to provide the company with sufficient liquidity. This deal is not subject to any financing conditions.

IPIC is wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It might not be fair to compare this to the failed Dow Chemicals (NYSE: DOW) deal with the Kuwaitis. But that is hard to forget what implications that had on the buyout of Rohm & Haas (NYSE: ROH) by Dow.

Nova was in the gutter already as its shares were at $1.34 Friday. Even at $6.00, this is down over 80% from last year’s high of $32.46. This deal is going to be great for those speculators who piled in on the hope of something happening. And it is going to lock in some major losses for long-term investors who held on.

This might be a small deal. At least it shows that sovereign wealth funds are not completely out of the picture.

Jon C. Ogg
February 23, 2009

Posted in Emerging Markets, Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity Tagged: DOW, NCX, ROH

The 52-Week Low Club (IP)(MAT)(HAS)(ADCT)(HBAN)(RF)(NCX)

247wallst — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:44:48 +0000

NOVA Chemicals (NCX) Ratings cut pushes shares down to $1.28 compard to a 52-week high of $32.46.

Regions Financial (RF) Still falling after analyst downgrades. Falls to $2.67 from 52-week high of $25.84.

International Paper (IP) Cut by Goldman Sachs. Drops to $7.87 from 52-week high of $33.77.

Hasbro (HAS) May be reaction to bad earnings at Mattel (MAT) HAS off to $21.68 from 52-week high of $41.68.

A D C Telecommunications (ADCT) Bad outlook. Big earnings charge. Drops to $3.20 from 52-week high of $17.45.

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) Dragged down by banking sector. Hits $1.93, down from 52-week high of $14.13.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: HAS, HBAN, IP, MAT, NCX, RF

The 52-Week Low Club (IFX)(NCX)(TARG)

247wallst — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:46:57 +0000

Infineon Technologies (IFX) Downgraded due to cash burn. Falls to $.99 from 52-week high of $13.06.

NOVA Chemicals (NCX) CEO leaves. Drops to $4.96 from 52-week high of $25.21.

Targanta Therapeutics (TARG) FDA won’t approve drug. Sells off to $.83 from 52-week high of $10.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: IFX, NCX, TARG

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ACE, DRIV, EIG, PAC, INTU, NOK, NCX, OMX, VMW)

247wallst — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:22:29 +0000

There are many research calls out this morning. Here are ten downgrades or negative analyst calls we are monitoring this morning:

ACE Ltd. (NYSE: ACE) Cut To Hold From Buy By Citigroup.
Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Employers Holdings (NYSE: EIG) Downgraded to Market Perform at KBW.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE: PAC) Downgraded to Sell at Citigroup.
Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) Downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) lowered price target but maintained Buy at Merrill Lynch.
NOVA Chemicals (NYSE: NCX) Downgraded to Sell at Citigroup.
OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.
VMware (NYSE: VMW) Downgraded to Hold at Jefferies (may be yesterday afternoon call).

Jon C. Ogg
July 9, 2008

Cramer’s Chemical Picks (BF, NCX, LYO, DOW)

247wallst — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:23:30 +0000

BASF (NYSE:BF) in Germany is the next stock that Cramer wants to visit as an EU play on tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, but he also thinks this company will be acquiring companies. He does not see this as the traditional takeover stock. This is over $60 Billion in market cap and he wouldn’t be shocked if it goes to $150.00 on the ADR’s. He noted it is also cheaper on P/E than Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) and it only gets 22% of its net from North America. BASF’s earnings are also becoming more and more consistent, and that can command a P/E ratio premium from Wall Street if they can maintain that trend.

Interestingly enough, Cramer also gave us a chemical stock that could be an acquisition target. We already say Lyondell (NYSE:LYO) fall to Basell, and Cramer thinks that Nova Chemicals (NYSE:NCX) is the other chemical stock that could easily be acquired. The analyst at BB&T has picked the last two buyouts in the sector and he thinks Nova Chemical could be the next target. This one has a $3.3 Billion market cap and is atthe top of its 52-week trading range. It is far under the $50.00+ highs of early 2005.

Jon C. Ogg
July 19, 2007

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