Manitowoc Calls Bought as Management Looks Ready to Strike a M&A Deal
Manitowoc (MTW) small-cap options flow catching our eye this week after 1290 July $27 calls bought for $0.65 on 6/14 and then on 6/15 another 3,060 came in buying. MTW had a buyer of 500 September $30 calls on 6/1 as the only other notable trade. MTW shares have pulled back with Industrial stocks recently and nearing 55-day moving average support at $23.70. Shares are consolidating just under a major resistance level from 2018 and above $27.40 can run strong. Manitowoc is one of the world’s leading providers of engineered lifting solutions with comprehensive product lines of mobile telescopic cranes, tower cranes, lattice-boom crawler cranes and boom trucks under the Grove, Manitowoc, National Crane, Potain and Shuttlelift brand names. MTW’s current objectives include expanding the EU tower crane rental fleet, scaling up Chinese tower crane business, and building on organic growth and the acquisition pipeline. MTW spun off its foodservice business five years ago and is now a pure-play crane company. MTW will develop 7 new cranes over the next 5 years. The $855M company trades 20.7X Earnings, 16X FCF and 7.7X FY22 EBITDA. MTW revenues are seen rising 9% in 2021 and 2022 to $1.72B. MTW is targeting long-term sales of $2.5B with double-digit EBITDA margins. It noted it is targeting higher margin acquisitions to help with this goal. It has no significant debt maturities until 2026. Analysts have an average target of $25.50 with short interest low at 3.4% of the float. Citi raised its target to $30 in May on a better outlook for the Cranes market. Baird sees $3.50/share earnings potential by 2024 and infrastructure initiatives should further boost crane demand, though acknowledged rising cost pressures.