ESPI is definitely in play now. The volume was huge and this story came out late in the day. ESPI is a great takeover target because of it's assets. I think a deal could come very soon.
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- E.spire Communications Inc.'s stock jumped as high as 19% Thursday on heavy trading, with investors and analysts attributing the sharp increase to renewed talk of the company being a takeover target.
The Annapolis Junction, Md., local phone company's (ESPI) stock closed at $10.313, up 15%, or $1.313, on volume of six million shares. Average daily volume is 1.3 million. Earlier, the shares traded as high as $10.75.
The stock-price jump followed news announced earlier that the Federal Communications Commission had adopted rules which could make it easier for competitive local telephone companies to put their equipment in an incumbent telephone carrier's central switching office.
While this is welcome news for local phone companies including e.spire, industry observers said it could not, by itself, have prompted such a dramatic spike in the company's stock price.
"The news today is positive for e.spire, but not enough to justify (this) kind of increase," said Stuart Conrad, a Deutsche Bank securities analyst.
Instead, analysts and traders pointed to rumors swirling in the market about e.spire being a target of a takeover.
Several traders who asked to remain anonymous said the jump is driven by talk that e.spire is close to reaching a merger agreement with Qwest Communications International Inc., the most frequently mentioned possible suitor.
As reported, Qwest, a Denver long-distance company, has said it wants to extend its local reach. The company already has a relationship with e.spire, from which Qwest bought phone network capacity around the Washington, D.C., area, a Qwest spokesperson had said previously while declining to comment on the market rumor.
Other companies named as possible suitors include MCI WorldCom Inc., Teligent Inc. and Nextlink Communications Inc.
"A lot of people think the company makes a good takeover candidate," said Todd Scott, an analyst at First Union Capital Markets Corp., adding the weak stock price makes the company relatively cheap compared with the value of its assets.
E.spire's stock price has climbed since the takeover talks began circulating; it had closed at $5,875 on March 1.
Officials at both e.spire and Qwest declined to comment on the takeover speculation.
John Polchin, e.spire's treasurer, said the company does not comment on market rumors. He said the combination of takeover speculation, the FCC announcement and the company's announcement Wednesday that it had signed an agreement with Covad Communications Group Inc. to offer high-speed Internet connections could have caused the jump.
Diane Reberger, a manager of media relations at Qwest, said the company does not comment on market rumors |
