Posts for Ticker ‘UIS’

Unisys’ Futile Reverse Stock Split Approval (UIS)

Broken Money Merger ImageUnisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) must not have learned the valuable lesson that many other troubled technology firms have learned about reverse stock splits.  This morning came the announcement that the company’s board of directors has approved a 1 for 10 reverse stock split of the company’s common stock, and this is the formality as it follows a shareholder approval of a reverse split with a ratio of one between 1 for 5 and 1 for 20.  The good news is that this hasn’t hurt shares this morning.  The bad news is that these reverse splits generally do not work.
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Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 11:21 am in Stock Splits, Technology Companies,

Unisys Corporation Files To Raise Cash (UIS)

Unisys_logoUnisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) has filed to sell up to $660 million in a mixed securities shelf.  The securities listed are any combination of debt securities, common stock, preferred Stock, warrants, and stock purchase contracts.  This is an interesting filing and there are ramifications here above and beyond normal filings.

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Posted on: November 26, 2008 – 3:57 pm in Secondary Offering, Technology Companies,

The 52-Week Low Club (GNW)(UIS)(SRZ)(GGP)(KOOL)(DPTR)

Sad_clownGenworth  (GNW) DIvidend cut. Drops to $2.55 from 52-week high of $28.21.

Unisys (UIS) No news but falls over 30% to $.79 from 52-week high of $7.90.

Sunrise Assisted Living (SRZ) Large quarterly loss. Falls to $1.82 from 52-week high of $34.87.

General Growth (GGP) Analayst downgrade still hurting. Falls to $1.91 from 52-week high of $51.24.

THERMOGENESIS (KOOL) Product recall and quarterly loss. Falls to $.44 from 52-week high of $2.25.

Delta Petroleum (DPTR) Offer to buy company falls through. Stock off to $3.89 from 52-week high of $28.37.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 7, 2008 – 3:49 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , ,

Unisys Looking For New Turnaround CEO (UIS)

Unisys_logoUnisys Corp. (NYSE: UIS) is going to be back in the same boat it was in before its current management tried to turn this ship around.  CEO Joe McGrath, who joined in 2005, is stepping down by the end of the year.  He will maintain running many day-to- day operations while a replacement is sought. 

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Posted on: September 23, 2008 – 7:45 am in Management Change, Technology Companies,

H-P Confirms EDS Talks, Who’s Next? (EDS, HPQ, ACN, CSC, ACS, PER, UIS, ACXM, BE)

As traders look to the news covering whether or not Electronic Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: EDS), there was a release from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) that confirmed the two companies were engaged in merger talks but there were no assurances that a deal could be reached. As a result, there are many other tech and IT-sourcing companies to look at that other players may take an interest in.  Keep in mind that many of these large tech companies do not want to be involved in being acquired and some of the companies will have stronger takeover provisions.  Everyone of these companies are different, yet all are in overlapping areas.  Here is a handful of names that could fall under that sort of tie-up if the deal comes to pass:

  • Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN), although maybe too large;
  • CA, Inc. (NYSE: CA);
  • Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC);
  • Affiliated Computer Services, (NYSE: ACS);
  • Perot Systems Corp. (NYSE: PER);
  • Unisys Corp. (NYSE: UIS);
  • Acxiom Corp. (NASDAQ: ACXM);
  • Bearingpoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE)…..

If we took the mid-point of the pricing at $12.5 Billion we would have a rough share price of $25.00 per share on EDS.  At that rough price, you would have a company that analysts expect to be priced at 18.2 times DEC-2008 earnings and 0.55-times revenue estimates.

Any such deal for EDS would likely have to come in the form of a friendly buyout.  This company doesn’t protect itself as hard as other companies, but Capital IQ does note the following tools the company has:

  • Removal of directors only for cause;
  • Board can change size of members;
  • Advanced Notice for director nominations;
  • Move by 50% of shareholders to remove directors;
  • Board Indemnification;
  • Blank Check Preferred Stock.

EDS is seemingly involved in more aspects of IT outsourcing and consulting than it isn’t.  Because of the rate that IT-workers come and go inside the Indian IT-outsourcing companies and because of laws restricting total foreign ownership in India, we did not include the public Indian-IT operations in this report 

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

Jon C. Ogg
May 12, 2008

Posted on: May 12, 2008 – 3:17 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Rumors, Technology Companies, , , , , , , , ,

MMI Pushes Another (UIS, BCO)

Shares of Unisys Corp. (NYSE: UIS) are trading up 8% today after capitulating to activist investor MMI Investments, LLP, which is one of the largest shareholders of Unisys.  Unisys has delayed its annual meeting to July 24 to allow it more time to "explore certain portfolio rationalization and other actions that may enhance shareholder value" with its investment banker Bear Stearns.

If this sounds familiar at 247WallSt.com, it is because this was listed as one of "turnarounds that hasn’t turned around" recently.  In the we noted: "When you backdate the news and look at the history of the company you’d think that the turn may have already started.  But shares are barely above 52-week lows and are barely off of multi-year lows too."

MMI was one of the reasons we named Brinks (NYSE: BCO) to our Special Situations newsletter, and is also part of the reason we have not wanted to close out that position to lock in would-be profits.   You can look at their last proxy filing to see how involved MMI can get.

MMI sent a shareholder letter in early January to urge its review of alternatives, and part of that encouragement included its government services business.  We are not actually under the belief that a mega-premium buyout is in the cards for Unisys.  We are not overly encouraged by an already-leveraged balance sheet that is too heavy in goodwill and intangible assets.  But we do believe that the company can continue to make cuts as needed and can streamline certain operations that are not contributing to the bottom line.  The company is still underperforming compared to analyst estimates, but it has at least come back to ‘quarterly profitability’ and that is at least a start.

Those of you who trade turnarounds will want to keep this one on your watch lists.  It may be a long slow road, but it looks like the car is at least out of the shop even if it isn’t on the road yet.

Jon C. Ogg
February 19, 2008

Posted on: February 19, 2008 – 12:07 pm in Activist Investor, Turnarounds, ,

Pre-Market Earnings Gappers (January 29, 2008)

We are right in the thick of earnings season and below is a snapshot of some of the key earnings reports with price changes if available:

  • Air Tran (NYSE: AAI) -$0.02 EPS vs -$0.02 estimate.
  • American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) $0.52 EPS vs $0.50 estimate.
  • American Express (NYSE: AXP) $0.71 EPS vs $0.71 estimate; stock fell 2% after-hours.
  • Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) $1.46 EPS vs $1.37 estimate.
  • Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) $0.90 EPS vs. $0.87 estimate, lowered guidance.
  • Chattem (NASDAQ: CHTT) $0.76 EPS vs $0.65 estimate.
  • Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) $0.11 EPS vs. $0.11 estimate; lending changes and reimbursement changes will lower earnings in second half to make 2008 at lower-end of expectations.
  • Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) posted earnings; maintained dividend; shares up 1.5% pre-market.
  • Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) $0.84 EPS vs $0.80 estimate;
  • Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) $0.90 EPS vs $0.87 estimate.
  • EMC (NYSE: EMC) $0.24 EPS vs $0.22 estimate
  • 3M (NYSE: MMM) $1.19 EPS vs $1.17 estimate; $6.2 Billion vs. $6.12B estimate; reiterated 10% EPS growth for 2008.
  • Accidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) $1.74 EPS vs $1.69 estimate; replaced 116% of its 2007 production.
  • SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) posted non-GAAP EPS of $0.69 vs. $0.64 EPS estimate, but guidance was disappointing; stock down 3%.
  • Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) trading down 7% after restatements.
  • Smurfit Stone (NASDAQ: SSCC) traded up 6% after earnings.
  • T.Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW) $0.68 EPS vs $0.63 estimate.
  • Unisys (NYSE: UIS) $0.04 EPS vs $0.12 estimate; although shares up almost 4%.
  • VMware (NYSE: VMW) trading down 20% or more after revenue number was light.
  • Waddell & Reed (NYSE: WDR) $0.42 EPS vs. $0.42 estimate.
  • Zoran (NASDAQ: ZRAN) traded down 22% after beating earnings but lowering guidance.

Jon C. Ogg
January 29, 2008

Posted on: January 29, 2008 – 8:22 am in Earnings, Pre-Market Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Turnarounds That Haven’t Turned Around: Unisys (UIS)

Unisys Corp. (NYSE:UIS) is a company that if you look at the chart you might just consider dead rather than a pure turnaround.  Revenues have stayed around $5.7 to $5.8 Billion for the last 3-years and the official estimates for 2008 aren’t calling for much more (see below for company projections). 

This one saw its hay-day in the mid to late 1980’s and then again in the late 1990’s.  Shares are not quite at an all-time low, but they might as well be.  Maybe the obvious industry trend of IT-outsourcing is partly to blame, but that trend may be secular rather than a temporary convenience or a temporary opportunity.  It could go acquire an IT-outsourcing company if its books were stronger.  The market cap for Unisys is $1.6 Billion and it trades at paltry valuations compared to its more profitable peers.  Interestingly enough, the company posted an operating profit of $43.6 million in the last quarter, although revenues were down 1% (after a 3% positive currency impact).

With the last earnings release, President/CEO Joseph McGrath said, "We are laying the foundation for improved revenue trends in 2008. We are focused on continuing to enhance our profitability in the fourth quarter and we continue to drive toward our goal of an 8-10 percent operating profit margin, excluding retirement expense."  If you trust the comments, this one sounds good.  If you are a skeptic and look only at a chart you’d question this statement.  The company needs a plan to curb employee retirement costs, although anyone can ask an auto company how easy that is to pull off.

The company is not alone in the service and technology sector as there are many others in the same spot that are either losing money or are not consistently profitable.  But after a multi-decade operating history you’d expect companies to know how to operate at profitability.

Wall Street analysts rarely make any major calls on this one and we don’t have mush recent to go on.  When you backdate the news and look at the history of the company you’d think that the turn may have already started.  But shares are barely above 52-week lows and are barely off of multi-year lows too. 

This and others routinely get screened for special situation newsletters and also for the "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly newsletter.

Jon C. Ogg
December 18, 2007

Join our open email distribution list.  Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he produces the SPECIAL SITUATION newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: December 18, 2007 – 10:00 am in Turnarounds, Value Investing, ,

The 52-Week Low Club (WB)(CFC)(WM)(TWX)(GM)

GENESCO (GCO) Broken buy-out. Down to $29.04 from 52-week high of $54.15.

Unisys (UIS) No new news. Old line computer maker working on transformation to services. Down to $5.13 from 52-week high of $9.70.

Journal Register (JRC) Newspaper chain with falling revenue and too much debt. Down to $2.00 from 52-week high of $8.60.

Novastar  (NFI) Bad news in mortgage markets takes it down again. Falls to $1.45 from 52-week high of $125.64.

Freddie Mac (FRE) Mortgage disease. Drops to $36.66 from 52-week high of $69.85.

CountryWide Financial (CFC) Falls to $10.25 from 52-week high of $45.26.

Washington Mutual (WM) Down to $18.25 from 52-week high of $46.38.

Wachovia (WB) Big banks not good business anymore. Drifts off to $37.53 from 52-week high of $58.80.

Sprint (S) Housing problems must be hurting cellular business. Down to $14.67 from 52-week high of $23.42.

Time Warner (TWX) Fear of recession hurting ad spending. Down to $16.71 from 52-week high of $23.15.

GM (GM) Housing and fuel concerns hit car stocks. Falls to $26.57 from 52-week high of $43.20.

Acacia Resh (ACTG) Loses patent dispute with Microsoft (MSFT). Down to $9.89 from 52-week high of $17.92.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 19, 2007 – 4:07 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , , , , , , , ,