Travis : As a holder of National Oilwell Varco (NOV), and as a result of the recent (May 22) spinoff of their distribution business (NOW, Inc., ticker DNOW), I have been given one share of DNOW for each four NOV shares I own. Only a few $100 worth of DNOW – nuisance-value really. Hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you planning to hold/add/sell your DNOW?
Regards, Peter
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Of course I don’t mind — NOV is a small position for me too so yes, I now have a tiny position in DNOW. Spinoffs are often an excellent investment in the months after they are spun as people (like us, perhaps) who don’t want to own that spinoff exert consistent selling pressure on the shares as they get rid of their small positions, and no one has ever heard of the stock so there’s not an eager corps of buyers in the wings. So I try not to sell spun-off stocks immediately as I wait to give them a chance and see how the company is run, but I will say that DNOW is probably the steadiest, lowest-margin, and least interesting National Oilwell Varco business so I was glad that they’re spinning it off — it will improve NOV’s margins and might, if run right, create an appealing company in DNOW and create the desired “win win” for the spinner and the spun.
Which is a long way of saying, I’m holding those shares for now and haven’t had any deep thoughts about DNOW yet.