Emergency Medical Services Corp.???

What's up with Emergency Medical Services Corp. (Ticker: EMS)? The stock is up 2.78% on decent volume. Someone definitely knows something. We should be hearing soon with the final round of bids, which is due in early February. I like this special situations play. I’m going to hold on and see what materializes.



Edit:

Found this news from theflyonthewall.com: "Emergency Medical moves up following a DealReporter update. Emergency Medical is moving higher following an update by DealReporter that says there are two potential equity firms left in the bidding process for the company."

Back In Perrigo

I got back into Perrigo Company (Ticker: PRGO) today at $71.89. This is one of the largest manufacturers of store brand OTC products and infant formulas. The trend is there for this company to continue to take market share from the branded products. A good example is the recent recall from J&J, which really questions the quality of the branded products. This company will do well as it presents a compelling alternative as in lower prices for consumers. I used to avoid the store brand products, but not anymore… I like this stock on both the fundamental and technical basis.

Edit:

Just sold Perrigo at $72.07...

Sold Sara Lee and a Few Other Trades

What just happened to Sara Lee (Ticker: SLE)??? I’m out of Sara Lee at $18.59 generating a tiny gain. I got a little greedy by holding the stock to the next day instead of selling yesterday. It’s just part of the game… When a stock falls like this all of a sudden, someone knows something and usually it’s not good. I also sold SRA International, Inc. (Ticker: SRX) today at $27.04 generating a one day gain of 1.27% gain. This one may take awhile since they just hired their advisors to evaluate a possible sale and I don’t like the fact that the chairman of this company has the majority voting rights to nix a deal. I added to my position in Emergency Medical Services Corp. (Ticker: EMS) today at $66.05. We should be hearing soon regarding the results from the second round of bidding.

Oh, one more trade I almost forgot… I’m back in Perrigo Company (Ticker: PRGO) at $73.83.

Edit:

And out of Perrigo Company at $74.00.

Some SRA International, Inc

I initiated a position in SRA International, Inc. (Ticker: SRX) at $26.70. This is a defense company specializing in Command, Control and Reconnaissance. This company has hired financial advisors to review buyout offers. There is a lot of activity in the defense M&A space. I believe there is a high probability of an acceptable offer. I’ve had good results playing the defense companies and hopefully it continues.

I’ve been trading Sara Lee Corp. (Ticker: SLE), but this one is a tough one to figure out. It appears that potential bidders are not offering a big premium, which may force the company to spin off their divisions. I currently have no position in Sara Lee, but of course things can change in a blink.

Edit:

I'm back in Sara Lee at $18.44. How things quickly change...

Genoptix = Done Deal

It’s a little bit of merger Monday today as Genoptix, Inc. (Ticker: GXDX) will be acquired by Novartis (Ticker: NVS) for $470 million or $25 per share in cash. I definitely did not expect a deal to happen this fast, but I’ll take a 19% return (162% annualized) any time. I didn’t have quite the conviction to back up the truck on this one, but I can’t complain. I’ll most likely sell my position today.

Edit:

I sold my position in Genoptix, Inc. at $24.85 per share generating a 18.33% gain (157% annualized).

Added Emergency Medical Services Corp

I was trading Emergency Medical Services Corp. (Ticker: EMS) today. Bloomberg reported this morning that the company has received at least four bids from private equity companies. I picked up some shares this morning at $65.90 and subsequently sold at $66.35. I bought back the shares at the end of the day at $65.90 and will most likely hang on to those. But we’ll see how things develop… You have to be careful with this market right now so I’m playing things a bit cautiously.

Some Perrigo

What a lousy market... I did pick up a few shares of Perrigo Company (Ticker: PRGO) at $71.60. I’ve been following this company and today was a nice breakout and strong volume. The company announced the acquisition of Paddock Laboratories, which will be add to earnings in both 2011 and 2012. Now, this is how you add value for shareholders. This company basically manufactures generic OTC medications for store brands. I see this one going much higher…



Edit:

I sold Perrigo today at $72.34 generating a net gain of 0.93%. I just don't like the tone of the market.

Apple Blow Out

Are you kidding me??? Apple (Ticker: AAPL) just totally blew away the numbers and it’s not even funny. The company reported revenues of $26.74 billion versus consensus of $24.4 billion and EPS of $6.43 versus consensus of $5.42. I was thinking about selling my shares in Apple, but not any more with numbers like this. All I can say is wow….

More Beckman Coulter

Oh nooo the sky is falling… What happened to Beckman Coulter (Ticker: BEC)!? No worries, I added to my position today at $74.24. Risk arb players tend to be a finicky bunch of people and any sniff of a problem, they run for the exits. Today, Reuters reported that strategic buyers were dropping out and this caused the sell off in the stock. This auction process will run its course and we’ll know more concrete info in February as the second round bids are in. You need to be patient and be opportunistic in these risk arb plays.

Bought Integral Systems, Inc

Here we go again, another defense contractor, Integral Systems, Inc. (Ticker: ISYS), has put itself up for sale. I like this special situations / risk arb play and picked up some shares at an average price of $11.13. There is a thin float and I accidentally entered my first order as a market order and paid up for some expensive shares. I subsequently added to my position using limit orders. I’ve had good luck with these defense companies. Will it continue? We shall see…

Edit:

I took my profits in Integral Systems, Inc. today at $11.40 generating a 2.47% gain. This one is on my watch list and will likely get back in at a decent price. A nice little gain to start the New Year…

My 2010 Performance

A year in review… So I finally decided to crunch my numbers and 2010 turned out to be a decent year with a 31.87% total return in my non retirement account. I employed a mix of strategies ranging from risk arb / special situations plays, growth stocks and short term trading. A good chunk of the gains were from my holding in Genzyme Corporation (Ticker: GENZ) and the numerous risk arb / special situation plays. I did have 3 losing trades: Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (Ticker: FIS) and Intermune, Inc (Ticker: ITMN). Javelin Pharmaceuticals was a painful one, but I was able to recover nicely from that trade in the second half of the year. I’ve learned that minimizing losses is the key in generating positive returns. I’ve executed numerous trades in 2010, but those 3 losses are still the most memorable. I simply hate losing any $$$ on a trade! So do I think I can repeat this performance? I think so, but it’s definitely not easy at all…

The Big JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (Genzyme and Sanofi)

The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (the one that really matters) takes place next week in San Francisco. I’m sure the rooms will be packed when Genzyme (Ticker: GENZ) and Sanofi-Aventis (Ticker: SNY) present on Tuesday, January 11th. I believe Genzyme presents in the morning and Sanofi later in the day. In any case, you can bet that during the break out sessions, the only questions the analysts will be asking will be on the takeover of Genzyme by Sanofi. Reuters also mentioned today that there are no scheduled meetings between the two CEO’s during the conference. Duhhhh… Why would they let the world know that they are going to meet??? I’m sure they’ll find an appropriate place and time to meet, but they’re going to keep it way down low. I believe a deal will happen in January.