Diamonds and Dogs

10/21/15

The sun is shining bright on SolarWinds (SWI) today up 16%. Today the company announced that they will be acquired by two private equity firms for $4.5 Billion. The two firms taking the company private are Silver Lake Partners and Thomas Bravo. SolarWinds ironically is not in the solar space, but a firm that provides IT infrastructure management software to small businesses, government agencies and educational institutions worldwide.  There has been a flurry of enterprise software companies going private in the last few years, including Informatica Corp, Tibco Software, Compuware and BMC Software. Good news for shareholder is the company is getting taken private at all-time highs.

The good news is today's dog and their products will still work to help individuals with various health needs. Bad news is a short seller research report is questioning their accounting which is never something that shareholders want to hear. Today's dog, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) has been on a roll coaster ride the last several months with the stock rising as high as $260 a share only to come crashing down since then to under $90 a share today.  The short seller even compared Valeant to the defunct Enron, but Valeant has come out to defend themselves this afternoon lifting the stock off its lows. But with the stock still down 25% since the open, the roller-coaster doesn't seem to be done.