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Symetra, a Buffett Holding, Plans IPO… Again (SYA, BRK-A, WTM, BEN, OZM)

247wallst — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:56:07 +0000

After the close on Monday came a little-known IPO filing from a life insurance operation called Symetra Financial Corp. It turns out that the Bellevue, Washington-based insurer has no terms for the sale but listed a sale of up to $575 million in the initial public offering filing. This is not the first attempt to come public, but it turns out that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) and White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM) effectively control the company.

This one filed for an IPO of up to $750 million back in 2007, but the insurer pulled the plug on the IPO in 2008. You can guess the reason listed… ‘unfavorable market conditions.’

Symetra plans to trade under the stock ticker “SYA” on the New York Stock Exchange. It has an impressive lineup of joint book running managers: BofA Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital.

We noted that Berkshire Hathaway is a shareholder, and that stake is listed as 26.3%. But other shareholders include White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM) also listed with a 26.3% stake. Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC, a unit of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) is listed as a 11.7% stakeholder. Even Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE: OZM) is listed as a 6.6% stakeholder via its OZ Master Fund, Ltd. Other stakeholders include Vestar Capital Partners, Highfields Capital Management, and Caxton Associates.

Based on how Symetra’s stakeholders are listed and per the filing, this is effectively controlled by Symetra is controlled by Berkshire’s General Re and White Mountains. This time the company and holders will sell shares, although again terms are not disclosed.

Symetra’s revenues fell by almost 9% in 2008 from 2007 to $1.45 billion, with about 60% coming from group and individual insurance lines. Most of the drop was attributed to investment losses.

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JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 6, 2009

Posted in Buffett, Editor's Picks, Financial Stocks, IPOs, Private Equity Tagged: BEN, BRK-A, OZM, SYA, WTM

52-Week High Club

247wallst — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:26:36 +0000

Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) hit a yearly high of $13.47 after beating both guidance and analyst estimates for its quarterly earnings.

Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) hit a yearly high of $57.19 after the company announced the opening of 37 new stores.

Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM) hit a yearly high of $12.24 as the company continues to recover from a significant decline in assest under management.

Petrobras Energia Participaciones SA (NYSE: PZE) rallied over 180% to a yearly high of $17.97 after it announced that the company was completing reorganization moves.

TransDigm Group Incorporated (NYSE: TDG) hit a yearly high of $49.94 after announcing that it would offer $425 million of senior subordinated notes in order to fund a special dividend.

Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ: VMED) hit a yearly high of 13.97, capping off a monthly gain of 17%.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) hit a yearly high of $17.80, capping off a monthly gain of nearly 20%.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted in Aerospace, Cable Companies, Defense, Dividend, Internet, Media, Oil & Gas, Technology Companies, Telecom Tagged: JBL, KSS, OZM, PZE, TDG, VMED, YHOO

Host Of Companies Win In Strong DigitalGlobe IPO (DGI, MS, OZM, ORB, GEOY)

247wallst — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:23:07 +0000

DigitalGlobe is set to open for trading this morning in another highly anticipated initial public offering. The satellite imagery company will trade on the NYSE with the ticker “DGI.” The IPO was priced at $19.00 for some 14.7 million shares. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM), Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) are among the public companies which are all listed as shareholders of DigitalGlobe.

The lead underwriters are listed as Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and co-managers are listed as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Jefferies.

The pricing is technically above the $16 to $18 per share price range we had previously indicated. The company has two high-resolution satellites for detailed mapping and plans to launch a third satellite later this year. If you want a direct comparison, the company competes head to head with GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY).

Revenues were $106.8 million in 2006, $151.7 million in 2007, and $275.2 million in 2008. Be advised that about 70% of the revenues were from the US government. Two other customers are Google, Microsoft, and Garmin.

Early indications are said to be north of $20.00, although that may rise or fall into the opening of this IPO.

JON C. OGG

Posted in IPOs, Satellite Tagged: DGI, GEOY, MS, ORB, OZM

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (APC, ATML, CBY, CEO, EXR, N, OXY, OZM, PSA, WFC)

247wallst — Tue, 05 May 2009 11:27:01 +0000

These are ten of the top pre-market analyst calls we have seen early this Tuesday morning with more than two hours until the market opens:
Anadarko Petroleum (APC) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Atmel (ATML) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Cadbury Schweppes (CBY) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
CNOOC Ltd (CEO) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Extra Space Storage (EXR) Cut to Underweight at KeyBanc.
Netsuite (N) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) Raised to Outperform at Barclays.
Och-Ziff Capital (OZM) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Public Storage (PSA) Cut to Underweight at KeyBanc.
Wells Fargo (WFC) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: APC, ATML, CBY, CEO, EXR, N, OXY, OZM, PSA, WFC

Public Companies To Benefit From DigitalGlobe IPO (DGI, MS, OZM, ORB)

247wallst — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:05:25 +0000

DigitalGlobe, Inc. may be the next high tech initial public offering, and it looks like several public companies will stand to benefit from it. This is a high-resolution satellite image operation that will trade under the “DGI” ticker on the New York Stock Exchange. We have a tentative launch indication of mid-May. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM), Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) are the public companies which are all listed as shareholders of DigitalGlobe, although these are just a few among the lot of other listed owners and insiders.

A price range of $16.00 to $18.00 has been established, and this would yield approximately $250 million in gross proceeds before fees and commissions. The lead underwriters are listed as Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and co-managers are listed as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Jefferies.

The listed shares are noted 43,464,751 shares of common stock outstanding on April 15, 2009 and 44,871,007 shares of common stock outstanding after the completion of this offering.

Approximately 14.7 million shares are in the offering. The company will be offering 1,366,256 shares of its common stock and the selling stockholders are offering 13,333,744 shares.

DigitalGlobe’s satellite images are used by the defense sector, energy sector, mining sector, and more. The company’s revenue was roughly $275 million in 2008.

JON C. OGG

Posted in IPOs, Satellite Tagged: DGI, MS, ORB, OZM

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AINV, BHI, BAC, WFR, MBT, OZM, SPWRA, STP, VIP, WMT)

247wallst — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:40:00 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades or cautious calls we are seeing from Wall Street this Wednesday morning:

Apollo Investment (AINV) Cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
Baker Hughes (BHI) Cut to Underweight at from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Bank of America (BAC) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
MEMC Electronics (WFR) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) Cut to Underperform at credit Suisse.
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (OZM) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Sunpower (SPWRA) Started as Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Suntech Power (STP) Started as Sell at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Vimpel Com (VIP) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Wal-Mart (WMT) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
January 21, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AINV, BAC, BHI, MBT, OZM, SPWRA, STP, VIP, WFR, WMT

Downgrading Hedgies, Private Equity & Financials (BX, FIG, GLG, IVZ, JNS, OZM, STD, TROW)

247wallst — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:50:33 +0000

There is an interesting trend where Barclays has essentially cut its rankings on hedge fund and private equity operators. Here are the calls, plus a call elsewhere on a bank:

Blackstone (NYSE: BX) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
Fortress Investment (NYSE: FIG) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
GLG Partners (NYSE: GLG) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
INVESCO (NYSE: IVZ) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) Started as Underweight at Barclays.
Och-Ziff Capital (NYSE: OZM) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) Cut to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Jon C. Ogg
January 14, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls, Banking, Financial Stocks, Private Equity Tagged: BX, FIG, GLG, IVZ, JNS, OZM, STD, TROW

Top 10 Early Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (FUL, OZM, REP, TOL, DOV, EMR, GA, GSK, MEDX, RDS-A)

247wallst — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:26:18 +0000

These are ten of the top pre-market early bird upgrades and downgrades we are seeing from analysts this Friday morning:

H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Och-Ziff Capital (NYSE: OZM) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Repsol YPF (NYSE: REP) Raised to Buy from Hold at ING; Raised to Hold from Sell at Soc-Gen.
Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) Started as Outperform at KBW.
Dover (NYSE: DOV) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
GlaxoSmithkline (NYSE: GSK) Cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
Medarex (NASDAQ: MEDX) Started as Sell at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) Cut to Hold from Buy at ING.

Jon C. Ogg
November 14, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: DOV, EMR, FUL, GA, GSK, MEDX, OZM, RDS-A, REP, TOL

Goldman Sachs Makes Key Financial Calls (BEN, JNS, NYX, NDAQ, MET, FII, NITE, OZM)

247wallst — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:00:04 +0000

Goldman Sachs has issued a call on its asset manager universe, and says it’s time to go on the offensive. Its rating on the group is now attractive. The bulge bracket brokerage leader has also made some key calls in the financial sector this morning.

In the call it has raised the following to Buy from Neutral:

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN), Janus Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE: JNS), NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX), MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET)

There were actually some downgrades as well, with the following downgraded to Neutral from Buy:

Federated Investors, INC. (NYSE: FII), Knight Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NITE), Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM).

It has maintained a Neutral rating on NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ), although it raised estimates by $0.10 for both 2008 and 2009.

Jon C. Ogg
April 8, 2008

Och-Ziff Analyst Quiet Period Ends (OZM)

247wallst — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:46:38 +0000

Hedge find manager Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE:OZM) has had an interesting post-IPO trading. It priced at $32.00, but units in the hedge fund manager have traded as far down as under $22.00 before the $27.81 close on Friday.

It’s interesting that December 24, a day when most traders are out and one of the most quiet trading days of the year, was the broker quiet period end. Below are the coverage call initiations we have seen this morning:

Goldman Sachs initiated with Buy ($35 target);
Keefe Bruyette initiated with Outperform ($33 target);
Morgan Stanley initiated with Overweight;
JP Morgan initiated with Overweight;
Citigroup initiated with Hold ($29 target);

There are other calls that will be hit upon today and perhaps on Wednesday.

Jon C. Ogg
December 24, 2007

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