Diamonds and Dogs

6/17/16

Green is a pretty color especially when you get more. Elizabeth Arden (RDEN) is jumping 48% thanks to a takeover offer. The beauty products company that makes a broad range of products has agreed to be bought out by their rival Revlon (REV) for $420 million. The merger will give REV more presence in skin care and perfume products, including a large geographical footprint. The combined companies are expected to realize $140 million in cost synergies from eliminating redundancies, and optimizing manufacturing and distribution networks. Good news for Elizabeth Arden shareholders unless you bought the stock at higher levels last year or the previous years. Feels like a take under to many shareholders.  

If you look up today's dog on its own search engine you won't be happy with what you see. Alphabet, Google, whatever (GOOG) is down 2.5% back toward the lows of its recent trading range following a downgrade. Citigroup put out a note warning that the company might see some deceleration in its' year-over-year growth rate. This conclusion came from the analyst talking to two leading search engine marketing companies responsible for $5 billion in ad spending. Don't feel too bad for shareholders, the stock is up nearly 50% in the last two years and will probably be back on track later this year.