LEHMAN maintains 2 OUTPERFORM rating on CNC. Sees potential for turnaround.
Part I
messages.yahoo.com
Part II
messages.yahoo.com
Excerpts:
" we like the general direction in which Mr. Wendt appears
poised to take Conseco."
"It will send Consecos earnings and P/E multiple sharply higher over time. "
"Mr. Wendt seems to know what needs to be done.
Our sense is that he plans the right moves."
"Nonetheless, by reading between the lines of Mr. Wendts remarks,
we were able to infer what the former chairman of
G.E. Capital plans to do to whip Conseco into shape. "
"At Least for Now, Conseco will Keep Green Tree. "
Mr. Wendt went on to say that when he was at G.E.,
"we loved to buy at the bottom of a market.
You dont want to sell at the bottom. "
. Of note, Mr. Wendt has designed the restoration activists pay packages so that
the bulk of their compensation will come in the form of incentive for
achieving specific results for example, selling assets.
Conseco will Sell NonCore Assets in Coming Weeks
to Meet Debt Payments and De-Deleverage Itself. ....
..Mr. Wendt said Conseco would actually have to come up
with $1.3 billion by Septembers end, with another $200 million due in December......
" I am working on getting the money," Mr. Wendt said......
He said that he and the former G.E. colleagues he had brought on board
in recent days as consultants had already developed 17 initiatives
to raise the needed cash. Many of them, Mr. Wendt said,
involved selling noncore assets or exiting peripheral businesses. ............
"he saw no need to sell stock at this juncture. "
"If we are right about our interpretation of Mr. Wendts comments that
-he intends to hold onto Green Tree,
- to shed noncore businesses so as to meet coming debt
payments and deleverage the company,
-to not dilute other shareholders by selling stock at a bargain,
-and of course to cut deeply in Consecos corporate overhead
then we would say he's got the right ideas to make
shareholders happy.
The fact is, the problem is not that Consecos two core businesses are bad businesses.
Rather, we believe and Mr. Wendt would certainly agree that
Conseco has two solid businesses
(insurance and consumer finance)
that are currently being dragged down by a wayward holding company.
Its a corporate parent that has way too many costs, way too
much debt, and far too many outside interests.
Accordingly, by focusing on the activities of the holding company, Mr. Wendt is doing in our judgement the right thing."
lookin' goood Brother Don !!!!
Thought of the day:
" On such a day....
cover your shorts today.... "
by James Handey
Saturaday Night Live
TA
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you said
Message #1947 from donjuan_demarco at Jul 26, 2000 11:25 AM
Questions re earnings conference call:
(1) Is there a number where we can listen live, or do we have to wait for the replay?
(2) Is it true that the CNC compound will be patrolled by ferocious, highly trained German guard dogs to keep Colin Devine from participating?
(3) Has Gary Wendt managed to extract the Lehman analyst from his ******* yet? The poor guy must be getting kind of uncomfortable up there.
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