Orion Group Holdings(ORN) is a specialty construction company operating on Marine projects. Of late, its stock has taken a beating, and it is now too small for the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. On Friday, it will be removed from the Index, to be replaced by the newly spun off denim company Kontoor Brands(KTB). VF Corp(VFC) will complete its… Read More »
It’s tough to be a CEO or board member these days. It used to be so easy, but now those pesky shareholders cause too many headaches. ‘Say on Pay’? What? Do they think they own the company or something? The only thing worse are those so called ‘activist’ shareholders, pushing to create ‘value’ or profits in their pockets.… Read More »
Hedge fund Paulson & Co, whose activist battle to force The Hartford(HIG) to split itself in two was met by a restructuring plan by the company, has filed a form 13G indicating that its investment is once again passive. Paulson had previously said that the company’s new plan did not go far enough. A company spokesman stated that… Read More »
Whew! Time to exhale as the drama is finally over. Peyton Manning is signed, Tebow was traded and now Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG) will shed several business units in order to increase its focus on its profitable property & casualty business. While the group benefits and mutual fund businesses will also be retained, the annuity business will… Read More »
What do you do when your letters and pleas get ignored? Turn them into a presentation of course because pictures and charts are just so much harder to ignore. That seems to be superstar hedge fund manager John Paulson’s approach for turning up the heat on Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG). After having no success writing letters to… Read More »
Listening to (or reading) company conference calls are a necessary but often painful part of investing. Calls are usually filled with a bunch of numbers, some CEO speak and suck-up analysts (if the company is doing well) so anything out of the ordinary or even somewhat controversial becomes noteworthy. Throw in ‘legendary’ fund manager John Paulson and now… Read More »
Ah, to be an activist investor. Push around executives, demand ‘shareholder friendly’ measures and all this while maintaining the flexibility of trading in and out of shares. After pushing hard for a breakup, Carl Icahn quickly rang the register on a chunk of his Motorola Mobility (MMI) stake shortly after its takeout announcement. Too much work? John Paulson… Read More »
While some companies are new to spinning off divisions, others are known for their serial spinoffs. Few however, can match the fecundity of ITT(ITT)(nee International Telephone & Telegraph). ITT was born out of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company in 1920. Over the next half century, ITT was the classic conglomerate, buying such diverse companies as The Hartford Insurance,… Read More »