Earlier this year, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL ) founder Michael Dell and private equity fund Silver Lake Partners agreed to take Dell private for $13.65 per share in cash. The news sparked a brief bidding war for the company. Meanwhile, several prominent Dell investors complained that the buyout price was too low, even though it stood nearly 50% above the stock's late-2012 low.
Dell 6-Month Price Chart by YCharts.
Late last week, Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises (NASDAQ: IEP ) teamed up with Southeastern Asset Management to launch a competing bid for the struggling PC giant. Under this proposal, shareholders would receive $12 in cash but would continue to own a "stub" stock (with an estimated value of $1.65). Alternatively, shareholders would have the option to decline the cash payment in return for 7.27 additional shares.
Icahn and Southeastern expect 20% of shareholders to take the all-stock option rather than the $12 cash payment. Based on Dell's diluted share count of 1.8 billion, cash payments to the other 80% of shareholders would total $17.3 billion. Icahn's group states that it can pay that sum while only taking on $5.2 billion of new debt. However, a realistic look at the company's finances casts serious doubt on that notion.
Top 10 Up And Coming Companies To Watch For 2015: Caterpillar Inc.(CAT)
Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. It operates through three lines of businesses: Machinery, Engines, and Financial Products. The Machinery business offers construction, mining, and forestry machinery, including track and wheel tractors, track and wheel loaders, pipelayers, motor graders, wheel tractor-scrapers, track and wheel excavators, backhoe loaders, log skidders, log loaders, off-highway trucks, articulated trucks, paving products, skid steer loaders, underground mining equipment, tunnel boring equipment, and related parts. It also manufactures diesel-electric locomotives; and manufactures and services rail-related products and logistics services for other companies. The Engines business provides diesel, heavy fuel, and natural gas reciprocating engines for Caterpillar machinery, electric power generation systems, marine, petrol eum, construction, industrial, agricultural, and other applications. It offers industrial turbines and turbine-related services for oil and gas, and power generation applications. This business also remanufactures Caterpillar engines, machines, and engine components; and offers remanufacturing services for other companies. The Financial Products business provides retail and wholesale financing alternatives for Caterpillar machinery and engines, solar gas turbines, and other equipment and marine vessels, as well as offers loans and various forms of insurance to customers and dealers. It also offers financing for vehicles, power generation facilities, and marine vessels. The company markets its products directly, as well as through its distribution centers, dealers, and distributors. It was formerly known as Caterpillar Tractor Co. and changed its name to Caterpillar Inc. in 1986. Caterpillar Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Analysts are expecting Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to have earned $1.67 per share on revenue of $14.32 billion in the third quarter. Caterpillar shares gained 0.37% to $89.50 in after-hours trading.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Joy Global have gained 3.9% to $64.10 at 3:31 p.m. today, and it’s given a boost to Caterpillar (CAT), which has risen 1.2% to $108.26, and Manitowoc (MTW), which is up 2.2% at $29.36.
Hot Value Stocks For 2014: Tupperware Corporation(TUP)
Tupperware Brands Corporation operates as a direct seller of various products across a range of brands and categories through an independent sales force. The company engages in the manufacture and sale of kitchen and home products, and beauty and personal care products. It offers preparation, storage, and serving solutions for the kitchen and home, as well as kitchen cookware and tools, children?s educational toys, microwave products, and gifts under the Tupperware brand name primarily in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and North America. The company provides beauty and personal care products, which include skin care products, cosmetics, bath and body care, toiletries, fragrances, nutritional products, apparel, and related products principally in Mexico, South Africa, the Philippines, Australia, and Uruguay. It offers beauty and personal care products under the Armand Dupree, Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, Nuvo, and Swissgar de brand names. The company sells its Tupperware products directly to distributors, directors, managers, and dealers; and beauty products primarily through consultants and directors. As of December 26, 2009, the Tupperware distribution system had approximately 1,800 distributors, 61,300 managers, and 1.3 million dealers; and the sales force representing the Beauty businesses approximately 1.1 million. The company was formerly known as Tupperware Corporation and changed its name to Tupperware Brands Corporation in December 2005. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, household products company Tupperware Brands (NYSE: TUP ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
Hot Value Stocks For 2014: Schlumberger N.V.(SLB)
Schlumberger Limited, together with its subsidiaries, supplies technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas exploration and production industries worldwide. The company?s Oilfield Services segment provides exploration and production services; wireline technology that offers open-hole and cased-hole services; supplies engineering support, directional-drilling, measurement-while-drilling, and logging-while-drilling services; and testing services. This segment also offers well services; supplies well completion services and equipment; artificial lift; data and consulting services; geo services; and information solutions, such as consulting, software, information management system, and IT infrastructure services that support oil and gas industry. Its WesternGeco segment provides reservoir imaging, monitoring, and development services; and operates data processing centers and multiclient seismic library. This segment also offers variou s services include 3D and time-lapse (4D) seismic surveys to multi-component surveys for delineating prospects and reservoir management. The company?s M-I SWACO segment supplies drilling fluid systems to improve drilling performance; fluid systems and specialty tools to optimize wellbore productivity; production technology solutions to maximize production rates; and environmental solutions that manages waste volumes generated in drilling and production operations. Its Smith Oilfield segment designs, manufactures, and markets drill bits and borehole enlargement tools; and supplies drilling tools and services, tubular, completion services, and other related downhole solutions. The company?s Distribution segment markets pipes, valves, and fittings, as well as mill, safety, and other maintenance products. This segment also provides warehouse management, vendor integration, and inventory management services. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Taylor Muckerman and Joel South]
Gulf of Mexico delivering boatloads of profit
Already, several companies have spoken glowingly about activity levels in the Gulf of Mexico. Not just drillers like Noble Corp (NYSE: NE ) �but also equipment and service companies like Halliburton (NYSE: HAL ) and Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB ) . What we are seeing here is a steady increase in both dayrates and utilization rates, which are both�very�positive signs for drillship operators. - [By Tyler Crowe and Aimee Duffy]
About 1% of all drilling operations are powered by natural gas. By shifting all drilling operations over to natural gas, the industry could save as much as $1.6 billion a year. The idea has such appeal that both Haliburton (NYSE: HAL ) and Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB ) have said that they would be willing to test sites with Apache for free. In this video, Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe talks about how the industry could convert to natural-gas-powered operations, and highlights companies to look out for that could benefit from this movement.
Hot Value Stocks For 2014: Dollar Tree Inc.(DLTR)
Dollar Tree, Inc. operates discount variety stores in the United States and Canada. Its stores offer merchandise primarily at the fixed price of $1.00. The company operates its stores under the names of Dollar Tree, Deal$, Dollar Tree Deal$, Dollar Giant, and Dollar Bills. Its stores offer consumable merchandise, including candy and food, and health and beauty care, as well as household consumables, such as paper, plastics, household chemicals, in select stores, and frozen and refrigerated food; variety merchandise, which includes toys, durable housewares, gifts, party goods, greeting cards, softlines, and other items; and seasonal goods, such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas merchandise. As of April 30, 2011, it operated 4,089 stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 88 stores in Canada. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Family Dollar (FDO) became a must-have after Carl Icahn announced a 9.4% stake in the bargain retailer–and so did competitors like Dollar General (DG) and Dollar Tree (DLTR).
- [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
Costly market share gains
The problem is that Family Dollar has had to pay up for its increasing market share and sales levels. The company's gross profit margin fell by more than a full percentage point, to 34.7% last quarter. In contrast, Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR ) booked an expansion of profits, to 35.2%, continuing a trend that's seen it pull away from Family Dollar.
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