By: panarea on Giovedì 23 Maggio 2002 16:58
Ecco perchè fors conviene comprare wcom nn scrivo la fonte perchè non è giusto ma sicuramente è uno più preparato di usemlab banshee o che dir si voglia ok.-
Se vuoi un altro studio te lo mando in forma privata Paolo.-
Altrimenti poi si convnce anche usemlab e nn gioca più al lotto si mette long ed invece del 150 poi fa il 200% sul portafoglio e ce lo ratifica a tutti così poi applaudiamo.-
Worldcom - Bankruptcy Is Not An Option!
On Wednesday, May 15th SAB was involved in an analyst's conference with WorldCom. On WorldCom's side were the principle players on the management team including the CEO and CFO. Management made it quite plain that they believe Wall Street has acted in an hysterical manner regarding WorldCom's trading activity.
New management, in SAB's opinion, is moving proactively to take firm control of the company's financial situation. In the conference call they announced they would draw down a $2.65 billion line of bank credit. The bank line was set to expire this coming June 7. The line has what is called a one year term out option. The drawdown has dramatically improved WorldCom's outlook for the future. WorldCom now has NEGOTIATING POWER vis-a-vis its banks. Very shortly WCOM will be seeking a
$5-$6 billion secured bank line that will be due in 2005 or 2006. This new bank line, which we believe will be in place within 5 weeks, will insure that there is sufficient cash to meet all obligations or scheduled maturities of obligations through Christmas 2005.
We have studied the financials. In SAB's opinion we cannot make a case for a bankruptcy filing given this $2.65 billion drawdown. In essence the Bear case has lost its legs. WorldCom plans to take the cash and just deposit it in the bank while it negotiates the $5 billion secured line.
We also must tell you that we are very pleased with the new management's desire to be OPEN and TRANSPARENT with the investment community. It looks to us like management will be talking with the Street at least weekly.
What Else Might Worldcom Do?
Sell the whole company
Whenever you have a situation like this where a major company implodes, you have every other major company that can remotely engineer a takeover "running the numbers". We have looked at WorldCom as a potential takeover. At current prices the company is selling for 4 x EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization). Keep in mind that WorldCom is and remains the leading Internet backbone operator. On an international level they are also the largest voice provider. Four times EBITDA is ridiculous, but that's how the Street is valuing it. It is a very valid takeover target.
Wireless resale subscribers must be sold
WorldCom now has 1.7 million wireless resale subscribers that should most likely be sold to the underlying carriers that handle the accounts. There is a $200 million per year cash burn associated with this business. This means that upon sale, at least $200 million would be added yearly to the EBITDA number.
Jettison the "non-core" assets
Every company has non-core assets which they carry in good times and then try to figure out why they own them in bad times. This is true of WorldCom as well. Since former Chairman Bernie Ebbers was a prolific buyer of other companies, it implies that WCOM has quite a few operations that perhaps they don't need. Let's look at a few:
Avantel and Embratel. These are Latin American companies in which WorldCom has a minority interest. Embratel's symbol is EMT and it is publicly traded. Both produce negative cash flow for WorldCom. Their respective sales would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in free funds which could certainly be redeployed along more useful and immediate lines.
LMDS Spectrum. WorldCom has a billion dollar investment here. There are a whole bunch of players that would love to own this operation, and would pay big for it.
Other properties include their equipment resale businesses and BLEC properties, which form the Intermedia holdings. All of it could be put up on the auction block without having an effect on WorldCom's core holdings.
You know the layoffs are coming
Without any problem WorldCom should be able to trim their workforce by at least 5% and just get the rest of their staff to pick up the slack. Nobody will notice and the benefits go right to the bottom line. Savings would be in the neighborhood of a hundred million dollars annually.
Kill the dividend on MCIT
Currently WCOM pays a dividend on its MCIT tracker stock which costs them more than $250 million per year. Management has stated that it would like to continue to pay this. Our bet is that the dividend is cut by Christmas and the company saves the quarter of a billion per year.
Management will buy back WorldCom bonds?
This is our opinion and our opinion only. In the conference call management stated that they would have problems with their banks if they went out in the open market and bought their bonds back for 50 cents on the dollar. We think that whatever the problems are, they will be negotiated shortly. Some of these bonds are selling for 50 cents on the dollar. Once WCOM starts buying them back the price will zoom again. The maturities that would be bought first would be the 2003 and 2004. Since the Street has taken the bonds down to crazy prices, why should WorldCom not benefit from the craziness?
What Do You Do With The Tracking Stocks?
You collapse them back into WorldCom and have one trading stock, that's what. We see no other possibility. If you collapse everything together and take advantage of the accounting conventions that would apply, you have a much more viable company. By this we mean a company that would have EBITDA exceeding $8 and probably approaching $9 billion annually. That's before getting rid of any of the companies, entities, divisions, etc. that we spoke about above. Under this scenario the company's debt/EBITDA multiple would be about 3.5. You know what, that's INVESTMENT GRADE. Isn't that what the rating services are crying about? Well, this stock would be investment grade over night if they instituted these policies.
What Does It All Mean?
In the end we are looking at a company that never should have gotten caught like this. It is, of course, their fault. Nobody put a gun to their heads and told them to get themselves in this position. They did it voluntarily.
This stock, which has given us so much pain, could be a monster from here. We just don't see a bankruptcy and yet the stock is selling at a bankruptcy price. Something has to give. It either files a bankruptcy or it moves up big. A dollar and change is a bankruptcy price to us.
So what if WorldCom does many of the things we outlined above? What if they do some of the things that we haven't thought about? The scenario we laid out would give WorldCom close to $5 billion in funds that are not in the cash flow projections of $2.5 to $3 billion that the company has furnished Wall Street. And if you couple the $5 billion of unanticipated funds with an economy that turns and moves up, you have a monster stock on the upside. That's what we are looking for. Now folks, don't get us wrong. We do not believe that WorldCom is going back to $40 or $50 per share. Only a drunk in a dream factory would believe that, but a move from under $2 per share to the $10 to $12 area on an economic expansion is not out of the cards. Take a look, make your own decisions.
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