LAZ's comment by DJ news Jed Horowitz By Jed Horowitz Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 1,092 words 10 August 2005 08:57 am Dow Jones News Service English (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. " A recent surge in announced M&A deals, however, could bode well for Lazard and its competitors over the next several months. Greenhill & Co. (GHL), another boutique focused primarily on advisory fees, last month reported a 20% drop in second-quarter profits on declining deals. "M&A activity is picking up, and Lazard should see some of the benefits," said Bo Brownstein, a vice president at Denver-based Cambiar Investors LLC, which manages about $4.4 billion and heard Wasserstein's presentations on the firm's outlook prior to the IPO. "The M&A business is where their story works or doesn't." Cambiar doesn't currently own Lazard shares. " Although M&A business slide this summer, LAZ still keep its revenue and profit growing. Compared to GHL and other M&A banks, LAZ is doing a better job than anyone of them in advisory and asset management busineese. I believe BOA and CSBF's $17 target this year has its reason and Fidelity and JPMorgan's 30% stake in LAZ will tell the reason. According to M&A industry data, Fall will be a great season and summer is the worst season. LAZ did a good job even during the worst business environment. CC also point out that the Bloomberg's misleading article relate to LAZ's French and Italy deal and saying that one or two big deals can affect its revenue temporarily, so don't pessimistic on the Euro business last quarter, "We are strong in Euro businesses and have strong team". The mis-reaction this morning on LAZ's stock price will be corrected after investors digest the good CC. Fidelity and JPMorgan and more institutions will buy instead of sell at this moment.
KOMG new high, OS coming back from the dip last week. MOT will see more momentum after its good earning. FLEX head to its target $17 by BOA yeaterday. ACN target $30 by S&P analysis.
LAZ SEC filing showing the NI should be much higher if Tax rate keep the same level as 2004. 2005 Tax rate 29.5%compare to 19.9% in 2004. So If we look at EBITDA instead of NI, LAZ's 2005 second quarter jump 43% compared to 2004. Also, LAZ announce its quarter dividend 5 cent per share will attract more institutional investor especially those fix income fund or dividend fund. LAZ still under its IPO, it is undervalue when a company with constant growing rate in both revenue and profit for both annually and quarterly. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1311370/000089882205000974/aug9_exhibitfinal.txt
Very positive analyst report from Merrill on LAZ¡¯s unseen revenue. My target for this one is $25 IPO price in the short run. If LAZ report solid 3Q , they will fly like GHL . This article in-line with exactly what Wasserstein mention in CC that many people misunderstand the league-table rank in that we have advising businesses which are not reported to the league. ¡°The company finished 10th among global advisers through the first half of the year, advising on 94 deals valued at $146 billion. It earned a reported $264 million in fees, up 23% from the same period last year, according to Dealogic. But not everyone sees the results as lacking. "The cohort of senior bankers hired in the past couple of years is hitting its stride in terms of productivity," Merrill analyst Guy Moskowski wrote in a note Wednesday. Moskowski also defended Lazard's league-table standing by pointing out that only six of 13 deals the bank advised on were reported in the league tables. "Lazard also sometimes receives revenue from advising in cases where there is ultimately no transaction, as in when it advises against doing a deal," he said.¡± http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yho...o&guid={EB5D55C0-81BD-4AEC-8A6C-D79A5003BA25}
Raymarine Announces Flextronics Contract Agreement For 5 Yr 74 words 11 August 2005 07:59 am Dow Jones International News English (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Edited Press Release LONDON (Dow Jones)--Raymarine, a global leader in the supply of marine electronic products to the leisure boating market, Thursday announced an agreement whereby Flextronics will provide vertically integrated manufacturing services to Raymarine. The services, which will be provided initially through Flextronics' Hungary facility, will include printed circuit board assembly, box build, plastics, metals, printed circuit board, logistics, and test engineering services. [ 11-08-05 1259GMT ]
ACCENTURE AWARDED CONTRACT FOR LOGISTICS AGENCY IPR Strategic Information Database English (c) 2005 IPR Strategic Business Information Database Accenture, LLP, Reston, Va., is being awarded a maximum $6,300,923 firm fixed price contract for Informational Technology Services for the Defense Logistics Agency. Contract funds will not expire in current fiscal year. The performance completion date is Dec. 5, 2006. There were six proposals submitted and three responded. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. (SP0103-05-F-A130). ACN Target $30
Accenture unit aims for 25-30% growth The Chilean unit of US consulting firm Accenture expects to close this fiscal year, ending August 2005, with sales up 25-30% compared to FY04, the company's general director Ricardo Cerd¨¢n told BNamericas. Cerd¨¢n declined to give a specific figure for revenues. Operating in Chile since 2001, the company offers a wide variety of services from the strategic design of a process through to its technical implementation, including IT processes, an area which currently generates nearly 70% of total sales. "We are an integral service provider, including IT concepts. We offer solutions on how to improve through new operational structures and we also help firms in the design of new operating models," Cerd¨¢n said. In IT, the most requested projects are implementations of solutions such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), business intelligence (BI) and customer relationship management (CRM), besides optimization of technical architectures, according to the executive. Accenture Chile divides its operations into four business units: the financial industry, telcos and high tech companies, natural resources and manufacturing, and consumption companies. Cerd¨¢n expects the largest operations to come from the banking and telecom markets, because of the nature of their businesses. Most Accenture contracts in Chile are with large corporations and not with SMEs or public institutions. "Because this operation is new, our strategy is still focused on reaching our targets in each of the industries we participate in, consolidating services for each one of them. The idea is to penetrate segments where we have no presence and increase penetration in those industries where we have a large growth potential, such as mass consumption and natural resources," he added.
Recent big M&A deal: Maytag's board, its investment banking adviser Lazard Ltd. Also today, LONDON (Dow Jones)--BA Capital Partners Europe, the private-equity unit of Bank of America Corp. (BAC), has appointed financial advisor Lazard Ltd. (LAZ) to sell Finland's Paroc Group Oy AB, people close to the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. This is a EUR500 million deal. LAZ Target $27 by BOA and CBSF analyst.
I called RHAT here @14.5 several days ago. After the correction, it will see another uptrend to $16 soon.