We agree with activists on one of these

Article Excerpt

Activist investment firm Starboard Value LP recently announced that it now holds unspecified stakes in Corteva and ON Semiconductors. The activist feels each of those companies could boost its share price with asset sales and cost costs. Still, we feel Corteva is in a better position to implement these changes than ON Semiconductor. CORTEVA INC. $33 (New York symbol CTVA; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 748.6 million; Market cap: $24.7 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.corteva.com) is a buy. The company is a leading maker of seeds and crop-protection chemicals. On June 1, 2019, DuPont de Nemours Inc . (New York symbol DD), formerly known as DowDuPont, set up Corteva (its agriculture business) as a separate company. DuPont shareholders received one Corteva share for every three shares they held. Starboard wants Corteva to boost its profitability with more-aggressive cost controls. At the time of the spinoff, Corteva laid out a plan to cut a total of $1.9 billion in costs. It…