Wednesday, May 22, 2013

GE Bulks up Energy Services With Lufkin Buyout

Aaron Levitt

A big player in the oil and gas service industry just made a huge move to get even bigger.

No, I’m not talking about Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) or even Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI). I’m talking about American bed-rock company and Dow Jones Industrial Average component General Electric (NYSE:GE).

Yes, that GE.

The manufacturing giant was already on its way to becoming an energy powerhouse, as GE Oil & Gas posted a 16% year-over-year jump in revenue for 2012.

Now, this latest buy-out – of lesser-known Lufkin Industries (NASDAQ:LUFK) – won’t just make energy GE’s third largest manufacturing unit, but is poised to make the company one of the largest players in the industry … and thus a great way for investors to play growing energy consumption.

While you may not have heard of Lufkin, you are likely familiar with one of its major products. The firm manufacturers “beam-style” artificial pump lifts — also known as pump jacks – that have become synonymous with energy production (and the TV show Dallas). These pump jacks are used to lift hydrocarbons to the surface in reservoirs with low pressure and help improve the efficiency of naturally flowing well.

In fact, they are used in roughly 94% of the more than 1 million oil-producing wells around the world, according to Lufkin’s data. In fact, analysts say the global artificial lift sector should hit $13 billion in 2013, mostly fueled by the development of unconventional shale plays.

Seems pretty obvious, then, why GE wanted the firm. The deal —  in which General Electric will pay $3.3 billion for Lufkin — will help compliment GE’s own energy business.

GE already makes underground pumps that pull oil and gas to the surface, as well as wellheads, compressors and filters. But Lufkin manufactures a series of other rig completion equipment as well as various pumps that can be used in shale rock, offshore and other well applications to help move oil to the surface.

The addition of Lufkin’s nine manufacturing facilities will round out GE’s portfolio by adding a slew of new lift types — including hydraulics and progressive cavity pumps — to GE’s own artificial pump capabilities. The deal also includes Lufkin’s sophisticated family of well automation control products as well as production optimization software products — something GE currently doesn’t offer.

To top it off, Lufkin operates a foundry, along with an industrial gears and power transmission business. While the foundry will mostly be sold, the power transmission segment — which features customers in industries ranging from hydro-power to steel mills to even sugar plantations — could be a nice addition to GE’s other industrial manufacturing businesses.

With that in mind — and despite the fact that some analysts have complained about GE overpaying for LUFK, as the M&A price was at a 38% premium — it sounds like a smart deal to me.

So far, GE has spent about $11 billion on acquisitions since 2007 to boost its presence in the oil and gas business. Last fall, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt said that the company would seek other acquisitions in the $1 billion to $3 billion range. The Lufkin buy-out certainly fits GE’s plans to continue growing its oil and gas division via acquisition and is transformative for the over 120-year-old company.

The company’s recent sale of its NBCUniversal media unit to Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), coupled with this industrial acquisition, could mean the company is moving away from its riskier financial side — i.e. GE Capital — and back to building things that matter.

Plus, the buy strengthens GE’s position across the energy spectrum from subsea to onshore unconventional plays. The company has basically set itself up to provide E&P firms a wide range of solutions across their wells. This is especially important as we’ve seen many energy companies move towards production from a whole host of different venues, regions and well types.

To top it off, the energy unit for GE posted 2012 revenue of nearly $1.92 billion, while Lufkin reported 2012 revenue of about $1.3 billion.Thus, the addition of LUFK alone into GE’s oil unit will almost double total revenues … and for only about 13.5 times Lufkin’s estimated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). That’s not so bad considering other potential oil field equipment firms — such as Dril-Quip (NYSE:DRQ) — are currently going for much larger forward premiums.

In short, the Lufkin deal should be seen as a great use of GE’s $126 billion cash pile — especially at a time when interest rates are currently next to nothing.

And of course, that makes it a big positive for shareholders as well. As GE continues to build up its oil and gas arsenal and become a force to reckon with in the sector, long-term shareholders will ultimately be rewarded. Get ready for the firm to kick back some of those juicy revenues and cash flows to shareholders by the way of dividends.

As of this writing, Aaron Levitt did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, http://investorplace.com/2013/04/ge-bulks-up-energy-services-with-buy-out/.

©2013 InvestorPlace Media, LLC


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Facebook Backs Keystone Pipeline: Should You Care?

Aaron Levitt

Facebook (NYSE:FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg can’t catch a break.

This time it isn’t a poorly received IPO, a loss in subscribers or even an overhyped product launch that failed to deliver. Instead, Facebook’s and Zuck’s current problems stem from alienating a core group of its followers: environmentalists.

It seems that Zuckerberg — a big-time supporter of President Obama — has perhaps “turned the other cheek” with a series of moves at his newly funded Political Action Committee (PAC). His group recently ran some ads throwing support for TransCanada’s (NYSE:TRP) much maligned Keystone XL pipeline.

That’s not sitting so well with environmental groups like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, and many are worried protesters could turn into lost users of the site.

See, co-founded by Zuckerberg, advocacy group FWD.us was created to focus specifically on immigration reform. However, it seems to have strayed from the idea. FWD.us recently paid for a TV ad praising a senator’s support of the Keystone XL pipeline, along with one supporting the drilling of Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge.

TransCanada’s project — which was designed to funnel Canadian oil sands crude downward toward refiners on the Gulf Coast — has been fraught with lawsuits, protests and full-on rejections from the Obama administration. Likewise, Alaska and Arctic drilling has been a hot-button issue for various environmental groups, as Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A, RDS.B) has painfully found out.

The issue at hand — according to policy groups — is that FWD.us has basically lied to users, with Zuckerberg pulling a “bait and switch” and using his fortune to bankroll pro-Keystone XL propaganda. Several groups have pointed out instances where he has contradicted himself and the FWD’s recent moves.

Back in 2010 in a Greenpeace blog post, for example, Zuckerman told Facebook followers that the company’s new offices in Oregon “were moving in the right direction” and would go from coal to hydro power. Another example was in Zuckerberg’s op-ed last month in The Washington Post where he said economy of the last century was “primarily based on natural resources” and a zero-sum situation.

All in all, given the general support of Silicon Valley for President Obama and environmental conservation, along with the focus of FWD.us of promoting the “knowledge economy,” it’s easy to see why many environmental and liberal groups are peeved at Zuckerberg.

Heck, many even now think Zuck is actually a closeted Republican, as he has never publicly revealed his political party affiliation. Others think the allure of the almighty dollar has corrupted his thinking. Odds are the Facebook founder and billionaire most likely has a hefty dose of oil and gas stocks in his portfolio.

To be honest, I think there’s a simpler explanation: He probably has really no idea what the PAC is actually doing.

Looking at FWD.us group of sponsors, you see a virtual who’s who of the tech world. Both Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Marissa Mayer of Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Eric Schmidt of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) are all listed as big backers of the fund.

This doesn’t even include the dozen or so big tech game changers that aren’t as well-known. Quite frankly, I think all of these people may have better things to do — like focusing on running billion-dollar companies — than spend their time at FWD.us.

I’d be willing to bet that the initial funding conversation went something like, “Hey, I’m starting a group to support this. Want to join?”

“Sure, here’s a check.”

To think that the Facebook founder really spends a ton of time on FWD.us daily operations is just crazy.

And even if he did approve the ads, just because you support the pipeline doesn’t all of sudden make you Rush Limbaugh. Perhaps, compromise — on both sides of the aisle — would help alleviate the current political gridlock affecting our nation.

So in the grand scheme of things does Zuckerberg’s supposed political gaff really matter? Not really. I highly doubt that there will be a huge outflow of users due to the story.

Same could be said for the stock. Generally, this kind of things make airwaves for a weeks and blows over. A prime example is retailer Target (NYSE:TGT). A few years ago, the firm backed a pro-business candidate in their home state of Minnesota. It came later that candidate was an outspoken antagonist of gay rights — a demographic Target courts.

The media pounced, the stocked swooned and it seemed bad. A few months later, though, TGT shares surged.

If you’re a believer in the Facebook story and this indeed causes any moves downwards, you should use the opportunity to pick up shares.

As of this writing, Aaron Levitt was long RSD.A and RSD.B.

Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, http://investorplace.com/2013/05/facebook-backs-keystone-pipeline-should-you-care/.

©2013 InvestorPlace Media, LLC


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