SIRO

Recent M&A Activity

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Amid the recent market volatility, firms have remained active in M&A. Let’s take a closer look at what companies will be joining forces. DENTSPLY and Sirona to Join Forces DENTSPLY (XRAY) and Sirona Dental Systems (SIRO) announced September 15 that they have entered an all-stock merger agreement. The resulting company will be the world’s largest manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies. Under the proposed agreement, Sirona shareholders will receive ~1.8 shares of DENTSPLY for each existing Sirona share. If the transaction receives regulatory and shareholder approval, it is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, and the combined company expects the merger to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share for both companies’ shareholders in the first … Read more

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more

Surveying Fourth Quarter Earnings at Health Care Firms

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The broader equity markets have been under pressure for much of January, and while it may be tempting to consider completely exiting stock investing for a time, we’re staying the course with both of our actively-managed portfolios. We had been expecting a contraction in price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples across the broader market (see our outlook here), and the performance thus far in 2014 has not been surprising. In case you may have missed it, I sent out some very important thoughts over the weekend to keep in mind as uncertainty and volatility increase through the course of 2014: Stay focused on @Valuentum portfolio holdings (best ideas), #asset allocation (cash) in portfolios and #prudence in allocating new capital. — Brian Nelson, CFA … Read more

MAKO Receives a Tremendous Offer from Stryker; Is Intuitive Surgical Next?

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The M&A flurry continued Wednesday morning as medical devices giant Stryker (click ticker for report: ) announced it would acquire MAKO Surgical (MAKO) for $30 per share, or roughly $1.65 billion. The deal represents an 83% premium to MAKO’s Tuesday closing price, but the value remains below MAKO’s peak in late 2011 and early 2012. MAKO remains unprofitable, though the firm has experienced solid revenue expansion during the past few years, going from $34 million in revenue during 2009 to $103 million during 2012. The firm isn’t expected to earn a profit in 2013, though revenue is estimated to jump 23% from the year-ago period. Given existing conditions, MAKO might not turn a profit until at least 2015, in our … Read more