Carveout produces 1 buy and 1 hold

Article Excerpt

SERVICEMASTER GLOBAL HOLDINGS INC. $56 (New York symbol SERV; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 135.9 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; No dividends paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.servicemaster.com) has two main businesses. Terminix (contributing 87% of its 2018 revenue, 79% of its earnings) sells termite and pest control services to 2.7 million customers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean; and ServiceMaster Brands (13%, 21%) sells a variety of services to homeowners, such as cleaning, cabinet and wood furniture repair, home inspection and disaster restoration. The U.S. accounts for 97% of its total revenue. On October 1, 2018, ServiceMaster spun off its American Home Shield operations (now called Frontdoor, see right) as a separate company. At that time, it handed out 80.2% of its shares in Frontdoor as a special dividend. Investors received one share of Frontdoor for every two shares of ServiceMaster they held. In March 2019, the company used its remaining 19.8% stake to repay $486 million of its debt. The lender that received the…