Hot Stocks of the Week: Equity Office
NEW YORK --Trading was tempered during the holiday-shortened week but several stocks nevertheless saw big moves.
On Monday, Equity Office Properties Trust shares shot up 7.6 percent to close at $48.14, after news the Blackstone Group would buy the nation's largest office landlord for $19 billion. Volume of 37.3 million shares was nearly nine times average daily trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Blackstone will pay $48.40 per share, an 8.5 percent premium to the closing price of Chicago-based Equity Office last Friday, and is taking on close to $17 billion in debt. That gives the deal announced late Sunday night a total value of $36 billion, one of the largest private equity transactions ever.
Equity Office shares continued to climb on strong volume through the rest of the week, hitting multiple new highs, including Friday's peak of $49.10, which followed an upgrade from UBS. Shares ended the week at $49, a gain of 9.6 percent.
Tuesday, shares of Advanced Medical Optics Inc. gave up $3.50, or 8.9 percent, to close at $35.75 after the eye care products maker said it would recall batches of certain contact lens solutions due to concerns about their sterility. NYSE trading of 8.7 million shares was about six times heavier than normal for the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company's stock.
Wednesday, the stock was hit with downgrades from Citigroup and BMO Capital Markets, clipping another nickel off the shares, as trading remained about twice normal volume ahead of the holiday.
Friday's shortened session took off 10 cents more, and the stock ended the week at $35.60, down 9.3 percent from their Monday close.
Wednesday's trading produced a rally in shares of BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. after the warehouse retailer's chief executive resigned and traders speculated the Natick, Mass.-based company could be a takeout target. The company said it wasn't for sale, but trading volume in its stock grew to 5 million shares, about six times normal volume, and shares shot up 10 percent to close at $32.40.
Shares closed lower by 8 cents Friday on the Big Board.
The shortened trading day produced little action Friday. One of the few stocks to rally was Advanced Semicondcutor Engineering, which ended up 15 percent on yet more buyout talk.
This time, the prospective buyer was private equity firm Carlyle Group, which said it is in talks to acquire the Taiwan-based company, which assembles and tests computer chips.
American shares of Advanced Semi gained 80 cents, to close at $6.06 on the NYSE, on volume of 1.3 million shares, nearly five times normal volume, despite a quiet day overall on the markets.
