Spinoffs

One of the ways a company can try to unlock its own hidden value is by creating a separate company out of a corporate subsidiary. The parent company can either sell stock in the new company to the public, or spin it off—hand the stock out to its own investors.

Often, the parent company starts by selling a portion of the new company to the public, to establish a market and a following among investors. That way, by the time of the spin-off, stock in the new company may be liquid enough to be sold relatively easily, or retained with some confidence as a worthwhile investment.

In our experience, and in most academic studies of the subject, this helps the parent and its corporate spinoff. Both generally do better than comparable companies for at least several years after the spinoff takes place.

When a company carries out a spinoff, it sets up one of its subsidiaries or divisions as a separate company, then hands out shares in the new company to its own shareholders. It may hand out the shares as a special dividend, or give its shareholders an opportunity to swap shares of the parent company for the shares of the newly established spinoff.

Study after study has shown that after an initial adjustment period of a few months, stock spinoffs tend to outperform groups of comparable stocks for several years. (For that matter, the parent companies also tend to outperform comparable firms for several years after a spinoff.) The above-average performance of spinoffs makes sense for a couple of reasons.

First, company managers naturally prefer to acquire or expand their assets, not get rid of them. Getting rid of assets reduces a company’s total potential profit. The management of a parent company will only hand out a subsidiary to its own investors if it’s nearly certain that the subsidiary, and the parent, will be better off after the spinoff than before.

Second, spinoffs involve a lot of work and legal fees. Companies only have an incentive to do spinoffs under two sets of favourable conditions: When they feel it isn’t a good time to sell (which often means it’s a good time to buy); or, when they feel the assets they plan to spin off will be worth substantially more in the future, possibly within a few years.

Quite often, a big company will spin off a small subsidiary because it feels the subsidiary is a tiny gem, but that it’s too small to make an impact on the much larger financial statements and market capitalization of the parent.

At TSI Network we’ve had great success with a number of spun off stocks over the years. That’s especially true of the many spinoffs we have recommended that have gone up after they began trading, and have later attracted a takeover bid at a substantial premium over the market price.

Needless to say, things don’t always work out this well. Spinoffs and their parents do sometimes run into unforeseeable woes. But on the whole, in investing, spinoffs are the closest thing you can find to a sure thing.

See how you can make the most of these special investment opportunities by reading our special free report Spinoff Stock Investigator: All You Need to Know about Reaping the Rewards of Spinoffs.

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Spinoffs Post Archives

Post-spinoff, Hilton is still a leader

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HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS $77 (New York symbol HLT; Consumer Sector; Shares outstanding: 321.0 million; Market cap: $24.7 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Low; Dividend yield 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.hiltonworldwide.com)… Read More

This spinoff dominates auto seating

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ADIENT PLC $74 (New York symbol ADNT; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 93.7 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Highest; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.adient. com)… Read More

DowDuPont gives you three ways to win

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DOWDUPONT INC. $71 (New York symbol DWDP; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 2.3 billion; Market cap: $163.3 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Lowest; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.dow-dupont.com)… Read More

Two hotel chains: Two spinoffs

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WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $109 (New York symbol WYN; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 102.8 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.wyndhamworldwide.com)… Read More

Edgewell primed for takeover bid

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EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE $74 (New York symbol EPC; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 57.4 million; Market cap: $4.2 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Highest; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. edgewell.com) began trading in July 2015 after Energizer Holdings, Inc. split into Edgewell… Read More

How do stock spinoffs work?

How do stock spinoffs work?

Stock spinoffs can become some of the biggest undervalued stocks in the market
We can still say without reservation that, in investing, stock spinoffs are the closest thing you can find to a sure thing.

When a company carries out a spinoff, it sets up one of… Read More

Why spinoffs usually work for investors

From time to time, companies set up one or more of their divisions or subsidiaries as an independent company, then hand out shares in that company to their own shareholders, as a special dividend or “spinoff”.

Many investors seem to view spinoffs as a nuisance, because… Read More