Josh Stern

Acquisition Of CDW Highlights Challenges Of Shorting On Valuation Alone

You should take off 12% for CDWC numbers before the buyout. Also, I don't understand the point of comparing it only to NSIT unless you are actually doing a paired trade, and here is another important number: Operating margin - NSIT 2.52%, CDWC 6.35%. That's a world of difference in either mail order or retailing.

I'm not saying CDWC was a good buyout value; but IMO it wasn't a good example to make a general point about shorting based on valuation.