24/7 Wall St. » VDM

Lehman Swipes Up Van der Moolen Specialist Ops (LEH, VDM)

247wallst — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:30:17 +0000

The fate of at least one of the exiting specialists has been sealed. Van der Moolen Holding NV (NYSE: VDM) has reached agreement to sell certain assets of its US specialist and market making activities to Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH). Financial terms were not disclosed, although initial indications are that Lehman is assuming the liabilities and obligations for a minute sum.

This transaction is subject to approvals and expected to close rapidly as it will be finalized on December 10, 2007. Lehman Brothers will now be the fourth largest specialist firm and act as specialist for approximately 400 NYSE-listed stocks.

Jon C. Ogg
December 4, 2007

Pre-Market Stock News (November 20, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:05:11 +0000

Biogen Idec (BIIB) announced an alliance with Neurimmune Therapeutics to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease.
BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) $0.35 EPS vs $0.33 est.
Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) $0.30 EPS vs $0.24 est.; sees next quarter $0.31 to $0.35 EPS vs. $0.26 est.
DR Horton (DHI) trading up 4% after posting narrower than expected losses at -$0.16 EPS vs -$0.60 EPS; sales down 35%.
Freddie Mac (FRE) posted a $3.29 EPS loss; engaged Goldman Sachs and Lehman to advise on near term financial concerns for capital raising after discussing lower mortgage loan values in its portfolio; apparently considering dividend cut; shares down 6% or more.
Fannie Mae (FNM) trading down 6% with Freddie Mac.
H-P (HPQ) beat earnings and slightly raised guidance; announced an $8 Billion share buyback
JW Nordstom (JWN) beat earnings and raised guidance; stock traded up 10%.
McClatchy Co (MNI) reports that both consolidated advertising and total revenues in October 2007 decreased 9.9%.
New York & Co. (NWY) $0.09 EPS vs $0.07 est; sees next quarter $0.23 to $0.32 EPS vs. $0.30 est.
Retalix (RTLX) $0.23 EPS vs $0.18 est.
Shoe Carnival (SCVL) $0.33 EPS vs $0.32 est.
Van Der Moolen (VDM) announced resignation of COO.
Zale (ZLC) -$0.54 EPS vs -$0.60 est.; sees next quarter $1.87-1.92 EPS vs. $1.80 est.; sees 2008 under plan.

Largest Van der Moolen Specialist Stocks II (VDM, LAB, HUM, MBI, IP, MT, PFE, PHM, SAP, HOT, SYK, TXT, UA, WEN)

247wallst — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:47:52 +0000

We have already noted the Van der Moolen (NYSE:VDM) exit of all NYSE Specialist activities and we’ve already covered some of the other key stocks where Van der Moolen acts as a Specialist in the underlying stocks. What we wanted to look at is the underling stocks companies where Van der Moolen acts as a specialist to the companies. The huge list can be found at http://www.vdm-usa.com/clients/alpha.asp off their web site.

Please be advised that these may have changed because we’ve already seen two merger stocks on the full list that are no longer traded. This was taken from Van der Moolen’s site, so any errors there probably means they already laid off the I.T. editor for its web site.

Here are some of the key names for a second list: Humana Inc. (HUM), International Paper Co. (IP), MBIA Inc. (MBI), Mittal Steel Co. (MT), Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Pulte Homes Inc. (PHM), SAP A.G. (SAP), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT), Stryker Corp. (SYK), Textron Inc. (TXT), Under Armour, Inc. (UA), Wendy’s International Inc. (WEN)…. Also listed is LaBranche & Co. Inc. (LAB), which is a bit ironic seeing as that this is another specialist firm.

Jon C. Ogg
November 15, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Largest Van der Moolen Specialist Stocks (VDM, ANF, APA, CAG, DDS, DIS, HOG, HTZ, HPQ)

247wallst — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:35:06 +0000

We have already noted the Van der Moolen (NYSE:VDM) exit of all NYSE Specialist activities. What we wanted to look at is the underling stocks companies where Van der Moolen acts as a specialist to the companies. The huge list can be found at http://www.vdm-usa.com/clients/alpha.asp

Here are some of the names: Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF), Apache Corp. (APA), Coach Inc. (COH), Conagra Foods Inc. (CAG), Dillard’s Inc. (DDS), Disney (DIS), Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG), Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (HTZ), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ)…. more to come in a part II story.

Jon C. Ogg
November 15, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Van der Moolen Bites The Dust As NYSE Specialist (VDM, NYX)

247wallst — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:10:04 +0000

Van der Moolen (NYSE:VDM) posted another loss today, but we don’t even care about the results after looking at the real news. Van der Moolen is terminating its operation as a U.S. specialist on the exchange trading floors. To top it off, the Netherlands-based financial trading firm is going to delist its American depository shares from the New York Stock Exchange.

The company’s European operations are running profitably and the company said it would have been profitable outside of one-time items.

In the press release, it outlines its plans: "Losses in the US operation of Van der Moolen Specialists ("VDMS") continued this quarter. We therefore decided to terminate the Specialist activities of VDMS. We will focus our efforts on our other US activities; brokerage and trading on CBSX. On CBSX, we are active in over 1000 listed stocks of a total of approx. 3000 stocks. We intend to further develop this activity…… In the third quarter of 2007, we have acquired a 100% interest in Robbins & Henderson LLC, a US based institutional broker…. The acquisition of Robbins & Henderson forms a cornerstone in the start of a brokerage division in the US."

The company also sold 40,826 shares of NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) in the quarter. The company says it will work with the NYSE to secure a smooth transition process. But you can imagine that any NYSE listed companies which have Van der Moolen as the specialist firm for their stocks are already on the phones securing new specialist agreements.

Jon C. Ogg
November 15, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.