Deutsche Bank Values Du Pont Shares At $85 Following Nelson Peltz Action

Deutsche Bank commented on E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co DD Friday and maintained a Buy rating and $78 price target.

Analysts led by David Begleiter noted that in “a highly expected and anticipated action, Trian Partners, controlled by activist investor, Nelson Peltz has nominated four candidates for election to DuPont’s board. DuPont’s entire 13 member board is up for reelection at this year’s annual meeting.

“DuPont’s annual meetings have typically occurred in late April. Trian’s four nominees are: Nelson Peltz, John Meyers, former CEO of GE Asset Management, Arthur Winkeblack, former CFO of Heinz and Bob Zatta, CEO of Rockwood Holdings.”

Trian owns 2.7 percent of DuPont’s stock, 24.4 million shares valued at ~$1.8 billion.

“In September Trian sent a letter to DuPont’s board stating that it would seek support from other investors for a break-up of DuPont into two companies. One of the companies would comprise the Agriculture, Nutrition & Health and (likely) Industrial BioSciences segments...and the other comprising Electronic & Communications, Performance Materials and Safety & Protection segments,” according to the analyst note.

Begleiter concluded that with “the upcoming proxy contest likely to further highlight the intrinsic value of DuPont’s portfolio, and our SOTP analysis yielding a value of $85 (before any SOTP discount), we reiterate our Buy rating.”

E I Du Pont De Nemours recently traded at $73.84, down 0.93 percent.