Topic: Growth Stocks

Stock Pickers Digest Hotline – Friday, June 4, 2010

Article Excerpt

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD INC., $19.22, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, will now direct its takeover offer to shareholders of Casey’s General Stores (symbol CASY on Nasdaq). In April, Couche-Tard directed its offer at Casey’s management and board of directors, hoping to win their approval. However, Casey’s rejected Couche-Tard’s all-cash, $36-a-share bid as inadequate. Casey’s is now trading at $35.66, which is just 0.9% below Couche-Tard’s offer. That suggests investors may not be expecting a significantly higher bid. Couche-Tard also plans to nominate nine candidates to replace Casey’s current board of directors. Casey’s owns 1,507 convenience stores in the U.S. Midwest. The stores offer a wide variety of food and non-food merchandise, as well as gasoline, under the names Casey’s General Store, HandiMart and Just Diesel. Large acquisitions like this (the offering price represents 53% of Couche-Tard’s current market cap) entail significant risk. However, Couche-Tard has a history of successfully integrating the companies and assets it buys. Regardless of the takeover bid’s outcome, we…