What happened
Shares of defense contractor Cubic Corporation (CUB) jumped in Monday trading and are up 9.6% as of 1:30 p.m. EST. The company announced this morning that in its fiscal first quarter of 2021, its sales declined 3% to $319 million, and it lost $0.41 per share -- but obviously, this isn't the reason investors are excited.
They're excited because Cubic is getting bought out.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
As management advised, it has just signed a definitive agreement to sell Cubic Corp. to private equity firms Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation (an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management L.P.) for $70 a share -- or $2.8 billion in total, including the value of assumed debt.
Cubic noted that this purchase price represents "a premium of approximately 58% to Cubic's unaffected closing stock price on September 18, 2020, the last trading day before the Company's disclosure of third-party interest in potentially acquiring Cubic."
Now what
Under the terms of the agreement, Cubic's buyers will pay in cash, and investors can expect to be cashed out when the transaction closes sometime before the end of June.
The fact that Cubic stock is now trading within a dollar of the announced value indicates that investors have a high level of confidence that shareholders and regulators alike will approve this transaction to go forward. So, unless you really need that last $0.70 or so difference between the stock's current price and its buyout price, there's little reason to wait around for the transaction to finalize.
It's probably safe to go ahead and sell now.
