Jim (cont'd):  


Jim:       Every since the Rohm & Haus deal has closed it seems like Andrew Liveris has done everything in his power to get himself off of the wall of shame… and because we believe in accountability and good behavior, right here, right now I am taking Liveris off the wall… to everyone else on the wall and to the few that I am going to be adding next week… I say take note, you too can be redeemed if you are willing to work at it.

How did Liveris accomplish this amazing task… first of all, he has been acting to generate sources of cash to help correct his previous mistake… issuing stock, issuing bonds, investing his company of assets… and now Dow Chemical has a cash balance of over $3B… it is expected to generate over $1B in free cash flow in the next 12 months… Liveris has also identified in $1.3B in synergies and cost reductions related to the Rohm & Haas (ROH) deal… that natural gas bill is going to go down too… it may be his fault that Dow has lemons, but at least he is trying to make lemonade… and the talks with Kuwait are back on too…it is like Liveris completely changed into a different person when the Rohm & Haas (ROH) deal closed… I like this new guy.

Now, to move onto something that is completely outrageous… because we cannot let ourselves become too friendly and positive on this show… yesterday a company named SolarWinds came public at $12.50... SolarWinds, it has got to be the ultimate Obama play right… something to do with alternative energy, a little solar power, some wind farms maybe… no… it is actually an enterprise class network management software company… a network software company with a name that makes you think that it is on Obama’s best friends forever list… it is an information technology company that helps businesses manage their performance… configure systems, troubleshoot… this is software that you can download directly from its website… it may be the single most boring thing on earth, other than Salesforce.com, which is selling off here… although I like the company… but you know what, this company has got a sexy name.

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The Bottom Line:     I do not blame the SolarWinds company though… maybe they started the company under Bush… then the name would have been a big negative… but how many people bought shares in this company as a way to play cap-n-trade… as a way to conserve energy… I bet half of them… but at least they made money… total proof in Cramerica that it is better to be lucky than good.