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Showing posts with label "Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Business. Show all posts
Business Standard
GE May Target Dresser-Rand, Dril-Quip In Energy Push
General Electric (GE) may be aiming to add to its rapidly growing oil and gas business, this time with Dresser-Rand (DRC) or Dril-Quip (DRQ) in its sights, Bloomberg reported.
The diversified giant, which has expanded its oil and gas unit primarily via acquisitions, could spend part of its $19.3 billion cash stockpile to buy more companies as U.S. drilling takes off, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Global Financial Private Capital sees Houston-based Dresser-Rand and Dril-Quip as attractive takeover candidates for GE.
Dresser-Rand is expected to grow sales by 51% in the next three years, Bloomberg says, and Dril-Quip by 63%. Dresser-Rand, which makes compressors, turbines and other oil and gas production gear, has a $4.7 billion market cap. Offshore drilling equipment maker Dril-Quip's market cap is $4.4 billion.
It's not the first time both companies have been seen as possible targets for GE or another big suitor. Analysts think a Dresser-Rand or Dril-Quip play by GE could attract antitrust regulators' attention.
GE completed its most recent acquisition, Lufkin Industries, in July. When that buyout was announced in April, Tesco (TESO) and Weatherford International's (WFT) were named as possible next targets. Other oil and gas buys included John Wood's well-support unit and Wellstream, both in 2011.
U.S. crude oil output has been growing at a record pace. The Energy Department said production in July increased to a 20-year high of 7.5 million barrels per day in July. The Energy Information Administration has said crude oil imports have been steadily declining since 2005, when U.S. oil production rose above 12 million BPD.
GE shares were trading marginally higher at 23.22 in afternoon trading on the stock market today. Dresser-Rand was up 0.8% to 61.61 and Dril-Quip 0.2% to 107.03.
The diversified giant, which has expanded its oil and gas unit primarily via acquisitions, could spend part of its $19.3 billion cash stockpile to buy more companies as U.S. drilling takes off, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Global Financial Private Capital sees Houston-based Dresser-Rand and Dril-Quip as attractive takeover candidates for GE.
Dresser-Rand is expected to grow sales by 51% in the next three years, Bloomberg says, and Dril-Quip by 63%. Dresser-Rand, which makes compressors, turbines and other oil and gas production gear, has a $4.7 billion market cap. Offshore drilling equipment maker Dril-Quip's market cap is $4.4 billion.
It's not the first time both companies have been seen as possible targets for GE or another big suitor. Analysts think a Dresser-Rand or Dril-Quip play by GE could attract antitrust regulators' attention.
GE completed its most recent acquisition, Lufkin Industries, in July. When that buyout was announced in April, Tesco (TESO) and Weatherford International's (WFT) were named as possible next targets. Other oil and gas buys included John Wood's well-support unit and Wellstream, both in 2011.
U.S. crude oil output has been growing at a record pace. The Energy Department said production in July increased to a 20-year high of 7.5 million barrels per day in July. The Energy Information Administration has said crude oil imports have been steadily declining since 2005, when U.S. oil production rose above 12 million BPD.
GE shares were trading marginally higher at 23.22 in afternoon trading on the stock market today. Dresser-Rand was up 0.8% to 61.61 and Dril-Quip 0.2% to 107.03.
LinkedIn Looks To Grow With Strategy, Stock Offering
Mobile is hot. And LinkedIn, which just boosted a new stock offering
above $1 billion, is well-positioned to jump on the bandwagon of mobile
marketing, and into other promising areas.
With 238 million registered members and new ones joining at a rate of more than two per second, the professional networking site has been expanding ways to monetize its various channels. Its $1.17 billion stock offering, detailed in SEC filings, will help fund the growth.
"Marketing solutions is probably the biggest topic of conversation this year," said Randy Reece, analyst at Avondale Partners. "Everyone noticed how Facebook (FB) went from zero mobile advertising revenue to having it be more than 40% of its total advertising revenue within a very short period of time.
"And LinkedIn (LNKD) recently introduced its first significant efforts to sell advertising in the mobile format," Reece said. "So, in 2014, whatever advertising revenue comes in from mobile will be incremental to what the company did this year."
Growth And Green
The social networker has several areas of growth focus — among them mobile, collegiate and international expansion. LinkedIn's stock offering, to increase the company's "financial flexibility," according to the prospectus, could go not only toward organic expansion and general purposes but also for strategic acquisitions. The offering priced at $223 apiece for 5.4 million shares late Wednesday, with option for underwriters to buy about another 807,000, which would boost the offering to a total as high as $1.35 billion. It's expected to close on Tuesday Sept. 10.
During the most recent quarter, LinkedIn saw its mobile activity increase. Its mobile home page engagement rose over 40%, while social actions, article views and mobile profile edits also accelerated.
It is continuing to ramp up sponsored updates on the mobile platform where advertisers can place relevant content within LinkedIn's mobile news feed.
LinkedIn's marketing solutions represented 24% of total revenue in the past quarter. Mobile advertising took up an even smaller share.
"The company is deliberately restraining its mobile ad inventory right now while it tests different aspects of the program," Reece said. "Exactly how to sell this, how to price it, how much advertising to allow without annoying members — there are a lot of things to figure out. So, LinkedIn is trying to go slowly."
That said, analysts view LinkedIn as relatively better-positioned for the accelerating shift to mobile compared with many other Internet companies.
An emerging theme is how the shift to mobile devices negatively impacts near-term monetization, says Tom White, analyst at Macquarie Research, in a research report
With 238 million registered members and new ones joining at a rate of more than two per second, the professional networking site has been expanding ways to monetize its various channels. Its $1.17 billion stock offering, detailed in SEC filings, will help fund the growth.
"Marketing solutions is probably the biggest topic of conversation this year," said Randy Reece, analyst at Avondale Partners. "Everyone noticed how Facebook (FB) went from zero mobile advertising revenue to having it be more than 40% of its total advertising revenue within a very short period of time.
"And LinkedIn (LNKD) recently introduced its first significant efforts to sell advertising in the mobile format," Reece said. "So, in 2014, whatever advertising revenue comes in from mobile will be incremental to what the company did this year."
Growth And Green
The social networker has several areas of growth focus — among them mobile, collegiate and international expansion. LinkedIn's stock offering, to increase the company's "financial flexibility," according to the prospectus, could go not only toward organic expansion and general purposes but also for strategic acquisitions. The offering priced at $223 apiece for 5.4 million shares late Wednesday, with option for underwriters to buy about another 807,000, which would boost the offering to a total as high as $1.35 billion. It's expected to close on Tuesday Sept. 10.
During the most recent quarter, LinkedIn saw its mobile activity increase. Its mobile home page engagement rose over 40%, while social actions, article views and mobile profile edits also accelerated.
It is continuing to ramp up sponsored updates on the mobile platform where advertisers can place relevant content within LinkedIn's mobile news feed.
LinkedIn's marketing solutions represented 24% of total revenue in the past quarter. Mobile advertising took up an even smaller share.
"The company is deliberately restraining its mobile ad inventory right now while it tests different aspects of the program," Reece said. "Exactly how to sell this, how to price it, how much advertising to allow without annoying members — there are a lot of things to figure out. So, LinkedIn is trying to go slowly."
That said, analysts view LinkedIn as relatively better-positioned for the accelerating shift to mobile compared with many other Internet companies.
An emerging theme is how the shift to mobile devices negatively impacts near-term monetization, says Tom White, analyst at Macquarie Research, in a research report
Harman CEO Sees Signs Of Europe Auto Industry Pickup
The future's looking bright, car audio systems maker Harman International (HAR) said, as Europe's automotive industry revs up for recovery.
Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal said in an interview with Reuters news service Friday there are signs that vehicle sales in Europe might be turning a corner.
"For the current fiscal year, we assume in our planning for the European auto sector a flat to 1% decline from last year. We hope it will be zero to 1% plus," he said.
The rate of decline has slowed and is close to zero now, Paliwal said.
The company sells a large share of its JBL and Harman Kardon branded systems to high-end European carmakers, such as Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG (DDAIF), Ferrari maker Fiat SpA and Volkswagen AG's (VLKAY) Audi brand. Europe accounted for 43% of Harman's sales last year.
Harman's stock reflects its growth.
It climbed 71% in four months this year, from a 41 low on April 19 to a 71 high on Aug. 12, before consolidating in sync with a market downturn. Harman shares eased fractionally in Friday afternoon trading on the stock market today.
The audio systems maker is in the consumer electronic products group, ranked a healthy 40 on IBD's list of 197 industries.
Elsewhere in the group, Sony (SNE) was roughly unchanged, Dolby Laboratories (DLB) dipped 0.4% and GPS systems maker Garmin (GRMN) was down about 1%.
Harman is well positioned to take advantage of any upside in Europe.
After sales fell in late 2012 and early this year, it returned to growth last quarter with an 8% year-over-year increase to $1.18 billion.
It's reported higher profit 11 quarters in a row and is expected to record a 13% rise this quarter.
Its stock carries a powerful 94 IBD Composite Rating, meaning it's outperformed 94% of all stocks in recent quarters on key metrics such as sales and profit growth.
Another group member, Universal Electronics (UEIC), which makes universal remote controls and accessories, Like Harman, sports a 94 Composite Rating. Its shares were up 1%.
Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal said in an interview with Reuters news service Friday there are signs that vehicle sales in Europe might be turning a corner.
"For the current fiscal year, we assume in our planning for the European auto sector a flat to 1% decline from last year. We hope it will be zero to 1% plus," he said.
The rate of decline has slowed and is close to zero now, Paliwal said.
The company sells a large share of its JBL and Harman Kardon branded systems to high-end European carmakers, such as Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG (DDAIF), Ferrari maker Fiat SpA and Volkswagen AG's (VLKAY) Audi brand. Europe accounted for 43% of Harman's sales last year.
Harman's stock reflects its growth.
It climbed 71% in four months this year, from a 41 low on April 19 to a 71 high on Aug. 12, before consolidating in sync with a market downturn. Harman shares eased fractionally in Friday afternoon trading on the stock market today.
The audio systems maker is in the consumer electronic products group, ranked a healthy 40 on IBD's list of 197 industries.
Elsewhere in the group, Sony (SNE) was roughly unchanged, Dolby Laboratories (DLB) dipped 0.4% and GPS systems maker Garmin (GRMN) was down about 1%.
Harman is well positioned to take advantage of any upside in Europe.
After sales fell in late 2012 and early this year, it returned to growth last quarter with an 8% year-over-year increase to $1.18 billion.
It's reported higher profit 11 quarters in a row and is expected to record a 13% rise this quarter.
Its stock carries a powerful 94 IBD Composite Rating, meaning it's outperformed 94% of all stocks in recent quarters on key metrics such as sales and profit growth.
Another group member, Universal Electronics (UEIC), which makes universal remote controls and accessories, Like Harman, sports a 94 Composite Rating. Its shares were up 1%.
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