Big M&A Day for Berkshire — Thursday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | May 30, 2013 4:41 pm

[1]Despite a beating in Japan’s Nikkei, which plunged 5.2% before U.S. markets opened, a higher-than-expected initial jobless claims number and a report indicating continued American economic sluggishness, investors still put Wednesday’s selloff in the rear-view and piled back into stocks Thursday.

The Nasdaq powered ahead 0.69% to close at 3491.30, while the S&P 500 closed up 0.37% to 1654.43, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.14% at 15324.60.

There was plenty of news on the M&A front Thursday. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B[2]) — through its MidAmerican Energy unit — will acquire NV Energy (NVE[3]) for $5.6 billion in cash ($23.75 per share), or a roughly 22% premium on NVE shares.

And Dish Network (DISH[4]) raised its offer for Clearwire (CLWR[5]) after-hours Wednesday, topping a bid from Sprint (S[6]) for the 4G broadband supplier. Dish also is competing with Japan’s Softbank

(SFTBF[7]) to acquire Sprint. CLWR shares rose just shy of 30% on the news, while Sprint and Dish each inched forward.

Data storage equipment maker EMC Corp. (EMC[8]) improved more than 5% after announcing an increase to its share repurchase program and the initiation of a quarterly dividend[9] — set at 10 cents quarterly, EMC would yield 1.6% annually as of Thursday’s closing price.

Heading the other way was discount retailer Big Lots (BIG[10]), which dropped more than 9% after reporting declines in profits and same-store sales in the first quarter. The company also provided weaker-than-expected guidance.

Finally, embattled aluminum producer Alcoa (AA[11]) slipped a little more than 1% after Moody’s cut the credit rating of the Dow component to junk status.

Three Up

• Express (EXPR[12]): Up 12.8% ($2.41) to $21.20.
• MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR[13]): Up 9.6% (73 cents) to $8.35. (Read more here.[14])
• Barrick Gold (ABX[15]): Up 7.4% ($1.47) to $21.36.

Three Down

• James River Coal (JRCC[16]): Down 6.5% (19 cents) to $2.74.
• Vanguard Natural Resources (VNR[17]): Down 4.2% ($1.23) to $28.19.
• Yingli Green Energy (YGE[18]): Down 4.3% (14 cents) to $3.13.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at IvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/05/big-ma-day-for-berkshire-dish-thursday-ip-market-recap/

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