Serwer: Break-ups and love triangles
Tyco's split presents an opportunity; meanwhile in the Guidant saga look for a loser.
NEW YORK (Fortune) - A break-up, a love triangle and football are on my mind this morning. TYCO: Is breaking up hard to do? We're going to find out. The former domain of Dennis Kozlowski is going to split up into three companies. This is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, I believe we are in the early stages of another one of these big swinging Wall Street trends. To wit: deconglomeritization. (How's that for a mouthful!) Wall Street tends to build companies up during bull markets, i.e. the 1990s, and take 'em apart in bear markets, i.e. now. And yes it is mostly Wall Street. Even though the Koz was the architect here, Wall Street was the enabler, providing money and analysis. The other interesting point is that Tyco warned about earnings this morning. This is a classic case of trying to hide bad news underneath bigger news. Another timeless Wall Street trend. Because of that, the stock (Research) will open much lower Friday morning, like $28 bucks. I would very seriously consider buying this stock, holding it and holding the pieces for good spell. Got it? GUIDANT 'N' JNJ 'N' BOSTON SCIENTIFIC: This is like a bad teenage romance, right? (To borrow from my buddy Deep Blue.) Can't anyone figure out who to dance with here? Now Boston Sci (Research) comes back with a bid to counter JnJ's (Research) latest. Puh-lease! This has been going on since December 2004! Second place wins Guidant. First place doesn't. Guidant (Research) is a can of worms, (sorry Hoosiers --- company based in Indy). I think Boston could win this. In any event, I like the company that 'loses,' as in the one that doesn't 'win' Guidant. Wait until that becomes clear, then strike! FEDERATED: The king of department stores says it will sell Lordies, as in Lord and Taylor. Fed owns Macy's and Bloomies (Bloomingdales) and rather than convert Lordies to one of the two other brands it wants to shop it, say to a Blackstone. Macys is Federated's lower end name and Bloomingdales is its high end name. Lord & Taylor in the middle. No room for that. I know Federated (Research) is up more than 50 percent over the past five years, way outpacing the market, but I am not a big believer in department stores. Yes Federated could be best of breed, but I like other animals more. Loose Change: Big Paul's Football picks: "Seahawks over Redskins - nothing this good ever happens to me.....Patriots over Broncos - Tom Brady is 10-0 in playoff games. Sure the team has a lot of injuries and they haven't played great this season but when it comes down to it, he'll make the big play to win the game....Colts over Steelers: The Colts haven't played a real game in a about a month, and a lot has happened since then. But they are still the best team, and the best team usually wins....Bears over Panthers: Last time they played the Bears beat them up physically. They don't look flashy and Carolina looked great beating the Giants last week, but defense usually wins in the playoffs and the Bears have the best defense." ____________________________ |
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