Wall Street at its Ugliest: L-3 Communications Stock Price Benefiting From CEO's Death (LLL)

Reuters reports:

L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL) Chief Executive Frank Lanza died suddenly late on Tuesday, leaving the mid-tier U.S. defense contractor without a designated leader and prey to acquisition-hungry rivals.

The board of the New York-based company, which Lanza built from nothing to become the Pentagon’s ninth-largest contractor, will meet on Wednesday to discuss its leadership.

L-3 shares were up 4 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

Just last week L-3 shares were downgraded, with the analyst “citing uncertainty over option grant timing, pricey acquisitions and a lack of visibility with succession planning.”

The timing of option grants to Frank Lanza now seems somewhat trivial. The Street is betting that L-3 will be the next pricey acquisition. And that lack of succession planning just might make it happen. So the shares are up.

“The Street” is a cold, calculating beast, and if someone didn’t bid up the shares on the news, someone else would have. But that doesn’t cleanse the bad taste we have in our mouths.

LLL 2-day chart: