1. Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD) to buy BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ)
2. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to acquire Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) orT Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW)
3. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to acquire Palm (Nasdaq: PALM)
4. General Electric (NYSE: GE) to acquire Alcoa (NYSE: AA)
5. Boeing (NYSE: BA) to merger with Ford (NYSE: F)
Heres what Scott Rothbort had to say about BJ's....
All too often, the media and investors merely speculate about potential takeovers and start rumors. I, on the other hand, prefer to contemplate what would make a nice corporate match in a Yenta the Matchmaker-type way.
Here is my list of five mergers and acquisitions that make sense to me -- with the reasons why, and the reasons why they might not happen:
1. Sears Holdings (SHLD - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) to acquire warehouse retailer BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating).
Why it makes sense: Sears still has underperforming stories -- or Kmart-Sears stores that are cannabilizing one another -- and it's in the process of transforming them into new concepts or selling off their real estate. BJ is dwarfed by Costco (COST - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating). Sears can buy BJ and expand BJ, utilizing those superfluous Kmart-and-Sears stores to capture more of the fast-growing warehouse business from Costco and Wal-Mart's (WMT - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) Sam's Club. Currently, BJ's market cap is just under $2 billion. Sears has the cash and stock currency to easily pay a 20% premium to BJ shareholders and still make an accretive acquisition.
Why it might not happen: Sears' Eddie Lampert is focused on improving the merchandising in existing Sears stores and continues to experiment with new concepts such as in the Gwinnett Place Mall.
You write very well.
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