Kass: Recent Done Deals Are Dumb Deals

These blog posts originally appeared on RealMoney Silver on Oct. 2.

M&A Environment Still a Bit Polluted -- 7:56 a.m. EDT

Yesterday, I underscored the reality of the First Data loan sale by Credit Suisse (CS Quote) and Citigroup (C Quote).

Yesterday, Nokia (NOK Quote) agreed to acquire Navteq (NVT Quote). Today, Toronto-Dominion (TD Quote) has agreed to acquire Commerce Bank (CBH Quote).

Importantly, the Navteq acquisition was actually a takeunder (a takeover where the target is offered a price less than its current share price), and the Commerce acquisition was agreed to at only a modest premium.

Meanwhile, both the Harman (HAR Quote) and Acxiom (ACXM Quote) deals have been called off. Nevertheless, the media is waxing enthusiastically that the deal game is back.

By contrast, it seems to me that these data points indicate a market that is being priced for perfection and a leveraged loan market that is still problematic.

But that's me.

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Citigroup Sees Weakness in PC Space -- 10:27 a.m. EDT

Citigroup (C Quote) has an interesting comment this morning on personal computer components.

The brokerage sees some potentially weak data for the fourth quarter with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote), Dell (DELL Quote) and Acer canceling some orders. As well, Taiwan notebook shipment forecasts are below normal seasonality, with order books looking soft for the holiday selling season.

I had previously mentioned that August semiconductor equipment orders were weak in Japan.

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Is Relative Value at Home or Abroad? -- 9:23 a.m. EDT

Here is an interesting table, courtesy of John Mauldin, underscoring the lagging performance of the non-export, domestic, housing-centric sectors vis-à-vis the weak-dollar, export beneficiaries.

Source: John Mauldin's "Outside the Box"

According to the savvy Mauldin, the export beneficiaries are roughly 60% weighted in the S&P 500.

One has to wonder where the relative value lies today given the almost universal view that large-cap, weak-dollar plays have so conspicuously outperformed.