Any interest in St. Paul (SPC) here? Per Yahoo, some compelling valuations IMO, but haven't studied it yet:
Forward PE of 8; PEG of 1.0; Price/Sales of .95; Price/Book of 1.3; profit margin of 10.4%; yield of 3.3%; ROE of 15%; but low ROA and Debt/equity of .57.
finance.yahoo.com
The chart shows some support at the 200 DMA:
finance.yahoo.com
St. Paul to Buy Travelers in Stock Deal
Monday November 17, 5:06 pm ET
By Tom Johnson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - St. Paul Cos. (NYSE:SPC - News) on Monday agreed to buy larger rival Travelers Property Casualty Corp. (NYSE:TAPa - News; NYSE:TAPb - News) for $16.4 billion in stock, creating the second largest commercial property insurer in the country.
The new company will have an unmatched presence among commercial line insurers in nearly half of all U.S. states and boast more than $100 billion in assets and $15.6 billion in combined premiums. Only American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG - News) will be larger.
The deal also represents a homecoming of sorts for St. Paul Chairman and CEO Jay Fishman, who once served as Travelers' top executive when it was still a unit of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - News).
He has spent the last two years refocusing St. Paul on its core commercial insurance business and bailing out of unprofitable lines like medical malpractice. With the addition of Travelers, St. Paul will nearly double its premiums generated from general and commercial underwriting.
St. Paul will retain the corporate headquarters and Fishman will serve as CEO, while Travelers will gain a slight control of the combined company's board and hold the chairman's position for the next two years.
"We're taking this opportunity to create really an extraordinary company which exceeds the opportunities we'd have on our own," Fishman said in a conference call with analysts and investors. "I can't think of any company that brings the breadth of products of these two companies.
The combined company would instantly become the leading provider of commercial insurance lines in 22 states and a top three provider in 43. The deal essentially combines Traveler's strength in underwriting small- to mid-sized general commercial companies with St. Paul's concentration in specialty lines used by construction and oil and gasoline firms.
"Basically, what they are doing here is ... giving Jay Fishman and his team a bigger, more dynamic vehicle to play with in the property and casualty arena and doing it on a cost- efficient basis," said Michael Lewis, a UBS analyst. |
