Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Carl Icahn increased his stake in Temple-Inland, Inc. (NYSE:TIN) according to a Schedule 13D/A filing with the SEC today. The famous investor picked up over 160,000 shares on the open market an exercised three call options for over 4.2 million additional shares bringing his current stake to 8.65 percent.

Icahn and other activists have been involved with the Temple-Inland for almost a year now after he proposed a breakup of the company to unlock value. Last month, the company finally bowed to Icahn's demands by selling its timberland properties for $2.38 billion and agreeing to spin-off two other business segments. The proceeds were/will be used to pay down debts and fund a share buyback program.

Temple-Inland Inc. made further progress toward completing its previously announced transformation plan when its subsidiaries Forestar Real Estate Group LLC and Guaranty Financial Group Inc. each filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a Registration Statement on Form 10 on August 10th.

Meanwhile, Temple-Inland has also been working to cut down its costs by laying off 50 employees and undergoing other measures to control costs. According to analysts polled by Zach's, "[We] like that the company is offsetting high operations costs through higher-than-expected cost reductions from various initiatives, other ongoing cost reduction programs, and project TIP.

Furthermore, a share buyback program, internal improvements and underlying asset values could provide upside to the stock going forward. In addition, analysts believe the company is better positioned compared to other paper and forest product companies as its corrugated strategy is estimated to offer protection during periods of price declines."

In the end, Temple-Inland is clearly on track yet its shares have been dropping off of their highs. This has created a buying opportunity that Carl Icahn has used to increase his bet on a successful restructuring. Combined, these factors make TIN a stock worth watching!

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9/11/2007 2:59:32 PM UTC  #    Comments [0]  |  Trackback
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