Colfax Corp. (NYSW:CFX) the industrial gas and fluid handling company made a surprise move:
They announced the acquisition of the orthopedic devices, software and services company DJO Global!
.. oops… a total different activity and the price to pay in cash to the seller Blackstone is $ 3.15billion! In order to finance this acquisition Colfax intents to sell its entire Air and Gas Handling Division which at the end means a complete change of their business model.
Investors are nervous and the stock fell 16% after the announcement last week.
Will this all work and create shareholder value over time?
For the moment impossible to tell and therefore the stock remains a „hold“ but this change of activity is not just a „crazy idea“: the Rales brothers who founded Colfax modelled the company after Danaher Corp. (NYSE:DHR) which works in the orthopedic sector for years with success. Also Colfax CEO Trerotola came to Colfax from Danaher.
So perhaps with their experience in the medical device sector it could work over time!
Markel Corp. our speciality insurer reported good Q3 2018 results!
Book value per share was $704.70 ,3% higher than the $683.55 reported december 31, 2017
The combined ratio was 99% for the third quarter of 2018 compared to 134% for the third quarter of 2017 and included $75.7 million, or six points of underwriting losses from Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Jebi.
Comprehensive income made a big jump from a comprehensive loss of $19.9 million in Q3 2017 to $315.1 million this quarter.
This was largely due to the strong performance of the equity portfolio while the fixed income portfolio was unfavorably impacted by rising interest rates.
Markel Ventures also released good numbers: Operating income more than tripled, to $23.6 million and in october they acquired 90% of fashion-handbag specialist Brahmin Leather Works for $173.3 million.
Another acquisition has already been announced in August: Nephila Holdings Limited, a Bermuda-based investment manager with $12 billion in assets under management, for $975 million in cash
These were once again solid numbers and Markel continues to grow by acquisitions.
The book value/share ratio stands at 1.5 which is not too expensive for a high quality company like Markel.
This stock remains a „buy“!