Harry Newton's In Search of The Perfect Investment
Newton's In Search Of The Perfect Investment. Technology Investor.
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8:30 AM EST Wednesday, November 15, 2006:
Deutsche Börse is withdrawing its offer for Euronext, a step that removes
the main obstacle to the parent of the New York Stock Exchange buying Euronext
and creating the first major trans-Atlantic stock-exchange operator. This is
a victory for NYSE (NYX).
According to today's
Wall Street Journal, Euronext, which operates stock exchanges in Paris,
Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon, has a market value of about €10.1 billion,
or about $12.9 billion. A combined NYSE-Euronext would have a value of about
$28 billion. In comparison, the two commodities-exchange operators in Chicago
(the Board of Trade and the Mercantile) that recently agreed to combine would
be valued at $26 billion.
The recent rise
in NYSE's share price has given Mr. Thain's offer a lead over Deutsche Börse
of about €9.80 ($12.55) a share, according to people close to NYSE. The
NYSE deal is valued based on a formula using the New York company's stock price
and will include a cash payment of about $3 billion.
Companies have
grown less eager to list their shares in the U.S. because of its tougher regulatory
climate and the ease of raising capital elsewhere. NYSE desires Euronext in
part because of its presence in the fast-growing market for complicated financial
products. Globally, exchanges have been trying to offer more scale and more
services. Combining the two Chicago commodities-exchange operators will create
a derivatives powerhouse. Nasdaq Stock Market has purchased a 25.3% stake in
London Stock Exchange PLC.
In short, good
things are happening to the nation's trading exchanges. I wrote about this first
on Monday's column. (Click
here.) Here's an update on trading since. It's been good.
The
Exchanges Blast Off A Little More.
|
|
|
Friday's
close Nov 10
|
Last
night's close
|
Change
|
Price/Earnings
Ratio
|
Chicago
Board of Trade (merged with CME) |
|
|
|
|
|
Chicago
Mercantile Exchange |
CME
|
$495.82
|
$513.72
|
+$18.90
|
47.3
|
Intercontinental
Exchange |
ICE
|
$85.11
|
$96.55
|
+$11.44
|
86.7
|
International
Securities Exchange |
ISE
|
$48.41
|
$50.49
|
+$2.08
|
39.8
|
Nasdaq
Stock Market |
NDAQ
|
$37.79
|
$38.75
|
+$0.96
|
59.5
|
NYSE
Group |
NYX
|
$94.48
|
$93.03
|
-$1.45
|
97.4
|
A
financial planner (who's also a reader) writes:
You
are a financial planner's dream talking about asset classes and so forth. Financial
planners love this stuff because it allows them to make a nice living off of
the assets of their clients while having little or no knowledge of financial
analysis or how to buy good assets at good prices. Please continue to make the
case for asset allocation as it helps create opportunities for people to buy
great assets cheaply as the asset allocators leave one class for another.
Sorry if I gave
the impression yesterday that simply buying assets -- any assets -- in different
categories was the key. Clearly, each asset you buy needs to be ulra-carefully
chosen.
InSite Vision's conference call said they're on track.
They're tracking with FDA approval and finding a big
pharma marketing partner. The timeframe is within the next six to nine months.
Meantime, the stock will undoubtedly flag. For a replay of InSite's conference
call (877) 660-6853 or (201) 612-7415, account number
286 and conference ID 219889. If it doesn't work when you call, call back. The
conference company was having "maintenance issues" when I checked this morning.
How
to communicate effectively
A woman went up to the bar in a quiet rural pub... She gestured alluringly
to the bartender who approached her immediately. She seductively signaled that
he should bring his face closer to hers. As he did, she gently caressed his
full beard.
"Are you
the manager?" she asked, softly stroking his face with both hands.
"Actually,
no," he replied.
"Can you
get him for me? I need to speak to him," she said, running her hands beyond
his beard and into his hair.
"I'm afraid
I can't," breathed the bartender.. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yes. I need
for you to give him a message," she continued, running her forefinger across
the bartender's lip and slyly popping a couple of her fingers into his mouth
and allowing him to suck them gently.
"What should
I tell him?" the bartender managed to say.
"Tell him,"she
whispered,"There's no toilet paper, hand soap, or paper towels in the ladies
room."
Bubba
and Ray were engineers
Bubba and Ray (Tennessee mechanical engineers) were standing at the
base of a flagpole, looking up.
A woman walked
by and asked what they were doing.
We're supposed
to find the height of the flagpole," said Bubba, "but we don't have
a ladder."
The woman took
a wrench from her purse, loosened a few bolts, and laid the pole down. Then
she took a tape measure from her pocket, took a measurement, announced, "Eighteen
feet, six inches," and walked away.
Ray shook his
head and laughed. "Ain't that just like a woman! We ask for the height
and she gives us the length!"
Bubba and Ray
are currently doing government work supervising the reconstruction of Iraq.
This column is about my personal search
for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have
to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter
and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available
for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second,
the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the
Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their
ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email
address is .
You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects
me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no
role in choosing the Google ads. Thus I cannot endorse any, though some look
mighty interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please
note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Claire's
law school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click
here and here.
Go back.
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