Manufacturer News: 9.20.2011

Update: Cooper-Eaton Deal?

If there’s a deal brewing in which Eaton Corp. would buy Cooper Industries, it isn’t being reflected in the news or the price of Cooper’s stock.

Cooper Industries’ common stock (symbol CBE) closed Friday, Sept. 16, at $47.65, not far from the $47.07 it fetched at the close of trading on Sept. 7, the day the rumors began. CBE closed out July at $52.31, according to Yahoo! Finance, and traded as high as $70 in the past 52 weeks.

Certainly, if there is information in the price of a stock, the word from CBE’s lack of significant upward price movement is, either that the initial analyst report was nothing more than rank speculation; or, even if something is going on, there is nothing definite in the works.

LED News

Big U.S. government order goes to division of German company: Seesmart Inc. of Simi Valley, Calif., a division of Frankfurt-based Seesmart Holdings, has captured “the largest single purchase of LED tube lights ever made” by the U.S. General Services Administration. According to a news release, it’s a $1.2 million order.

Can LEDs be used to help plants grow? According to a news release, Illumitex Ltd. and Syngenta are teaming up to find out.

Elemental LED of the San Francisco bay area is now licensing LED patents from Philips.

According to a case study-type of news release, Cooper Lighting said it made a custom retrofit LED module for streetlights in Boise, Idaho.

LG complaint against OSRAM now at ITC: The U.S. International Trade Commission says it has received LG Electronics Inc.’s complaint (filed on behalf of that company and LG Innotek) against three OSRAM entities on “importation into the United States…of certain light-emitting diodes,” according to a Targeted News Service release. The release quoted text of a Federal Register notice.

The Philips LED Light Experience is a 10-city tour put together by the company. The company has put together a map of its tour stops and a Facebook page with more information on the tour.

On Oct. 21, Panasonic Electronic Works will offer “a slew of new LED lights,” according to Nikkei.com. The company’s plan it to increase the number of LED products it offers by 50% – to 2,000 – in this fiscal year. The plan includes doubling revenue from LEDs to about $650M.

New LED maker: SKC, identified by the Korea Herald as an “industrial materials maker,” has launched SKC Lighting. SKC Lighting was formed through the merger of Sumray Corp., acquired January 2010 by SRC, and Dooyoung, acquired in April 2011. The plan, according to Lee Hak-hee, chief executive of the new company, is for it “to become one of the world’s five largest LED lighting manufacturers by 2020.” However, the company will mainly produce LED components.

Senator likes LED maker: Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) highlighted LED technology from Luxim in an address at the National Clean Energy Summit. Luxim promptly spread the news and posted a video on its website.

Which way for Cree Inc.? CREE stock finished out the week at almost $34 per share, according to Yahoo! Finance. Last week, however, an analyst from Wunderlich Securities set a price target of $25 (down from $34). Separately, a writer on SeekingAlpha.com, while noting that he “wouldn’t bet the farm” on the company’s stock, provides reasons for buying it now.

Below: One-year price chart comparing the price of CREE stock, on a percentage basis, against the rise in the S&P 500 stock average.

Lighting News

Halco Lighting’s laboratory operation has received an NVLAP accreditation for its energy-efficient lighting testing division.

Japanese firm buys U.S. importer: Icon International, which reportedly imports lighting from China into the U.S., has been acquired for $11 million by Endo Lighting Corp. Endo’s target is to have U.S. sales of roughly $130 million within three years.

The planned initial public offering of stock in Osram, allowing Siemens to spin off at least a piece of the company, is on hold until next year, Siemens said last week. The Osram postponement is only one of several planned IPOs set back by current market conditions.

Philips Electronics had initially said it would cut about $700 million in costs. According to Reuters, last week, due to “sagging consumer demand and weak global markets,” the company raised the amount it would cut by 60%, to perhaps $1.1 billion.

WAC Lighting said it has received an ISO-14001 certification for “its effective environmental management system of designing and producing luminaires and components.” Separately, the company said it provided support for the H Foundation, “one of Chicago’s largest charity fundraisers,” which was launched by Hortons Home Lighting (an Illinois lighting distributor). The H Foundation raises funds for cancer research.

ManuFacts

According to a company news release, “sales softness,” margin pressures and production shortfalls were among the factors Cooper Industries named for reducing expectations (initially set by the company) for how it would do in Q3/2011 and the full year.

Fluke Corp. has agreed to donate $1 million to the NJATC, the national NECA-IBEW training program, over the next five years. The donation will be in the form of cash, test equipment, and training support, according to an NJATC release.

Headline on a Forbes.com blog: GE Guts Offshore Wind-Power Plans.

Honeywell’s intangible assets—said to be 35% of total assets—are a worry, according to this Fool.com write-up.

Hubbell Inc.’s board of directors authorized management to go into the market and buy up to $200 million of the company’s stock. All but $4 million of that is gone, so the board just recently authorized a new $200 million repurchase program.

OMRON of Kyoto, Japan has acquired Best Electrical Appliance Manufacturing (BST) of Shanghai, China. According to a report on SmartMeters.com, BST is said to be “the leading manufacturer in the Chinese market for power latching relays, enjoying a market share of approximately 30%.” The transaction is said to be about The Smart Grid.

Emerson Briefs

• Add Accel: According to a news release distributed in India, “To remove service-related worries of UPS partners, Emerson Network Power…has roped in Accel Frontline Services as its Strategic Warranty and Return Material Authorization Service Provider…for its Small & Home Office range of UPS.” 
• $500,000 from the Minnesota Dept. of Employment and Economic Development will go to “enable Emerson Process Management’s business to add 100 jobs.”
• Add wind turbine: Emerson Network Power will install a wind turbine at its Lorain, Ohio facility, after winning permission from the Zoning Board and Planning Commission. According to ENP, “Our engineering department needs to evaluate and test a wind turbine to be used with our equipment for resale globally.”
• “Green Convergence” is the green buildings event on Sept. 21 in Manila. The Philippine unit of Emerson Network Power plans to participate, according to the Manila Bulletin.
• Where’s Emerson going next? According to a Reuters report, “‘We've questioned the viability of being a pure component manufacturer in the 21st Century,’” Charlie Peters, Emerson's senior executive vice president, said in an interview. ‘We're 10 years down the road of thinking, how do we transform our company to where we have a broader portfolio?’”