Rockwell Automation (ROK)

[Investorman]

ABB’s acquisitive mood leads to big gains
By Anjli Raval

Published: February 18 2010 11:01 | Last updated: February 18 2010 20:23

ABB was the biggest riser among European stocks on Thursday as the Swiss-Swedish engineering group confirmed that it was considering acquisitions as it announced fourth-quarter profits that were double last year’s.

The world’s biggest builder of power grids gave a positive outlook for 2010 and said it was looking to make acquisitions, but refused to offer any details.

Its shares added 7.6 per cent to SFr21.28. ABB topped the FTSE Eurofirst 300 which closed 0.7 per cent higher at 1,021.66.

The company, which is a leader in power transmission and energy efficiency solutions, is renowned for its strong cash position with firepower of more than $10bn to make an acquisition.

Analysts said ABB is relatively weak in the low voltage power application market, thus a potential acquisition would most likely be in this area.

There were rumours that Rockwell Automation in the US, which has a market value of $7.6bn, is a potential target. The acquisition of Rockwell would consolidate ABB’s automation expertise while allowing the company to diversify into software where the US company has a stronghold.