Filed under: Deals, Launches, NASDAQ

“Blank check” companies are created as shells with capital but no operating business. Their purpose it to shop for firms that they can purchase and operate. These corporations are also known as SPAC for special acquisition companies.

According to The Wall Street Journal [subscription required], “Last year, SPACs accounted for nearly a quarter of all IPOs in the U.S., according to Dealogic, and the Amex was the go-to listing location for almost all of them.” Now Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) wants a shot at allowing SPAC listings as well.

SPACs has been put together by several LBO and investment firms to be used to make buyouts down the road. That would grant the operating companies to be publicly traded right away. But, trading them on stock markets before they buy real businesses is a bad idea even if it gives the SPAC owners an edge on getting to the public market.

Trading in SPACs is trading in a phantom. Investors have no way to know what the SPAC will purchase or even if it will ever buy a real business, forcing it to return money to investors. It is a form of gambling being encouraged by the exchanges.

Hopefully, the Feds won’t let the Nasdaq get into the business. It will just create one more risky and poorly understood financial instrument

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Bad news, Motorola (MOT)

A funny thing happened on Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s way to selling its handset business. No one offered to purchase it [subscription required]. The logical candidates are firms like LG and Sony-Ericsson that are already in the business. Credit markets are probably keeping private equity interests away.

Etta Kidron, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, told The Wall Street Journal, “I think going public with its intentions hasn’t made it easier to find a solution and has raised doubts about Motorola’s commitment to the business.”

The lack of buyers may leave Motorola management in the odd position of having to turn around an operation that it does not want. The company’s market share in handsets has dropped from almost 22% worldwide to 12%. The market is taking Motorola’s stock down further because it is concerned that fixing the unit could take years. This is, of course, if it can be fixed at all.

Motorola’s shares, which traded around $16 in December, are just over $11 now. If management wants the stock to recover, it will have to go to Wall Street with a plan for fixing the handset operation. The plan may face long odds and may mean more quarters of losses, but investors would at least like to know that the largest part of Motorola isn’t adrift.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Starbucks (SBUX), Amazon.com (AMZN), Motorola (MOT), XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Target Corp. (TGT), Barrick Gold (ABX), Gilead Sciences (GILD), ImClone Systems (IMCL)

Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) was downgraded to Sell by Merrill Lynch due to the credit crisis.

More analyst calls from Briefing.com:

• Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) was upgraded by Deutsche Securities from Holdto Purchase. MT shares are up 3.75% in premarket trading.
• Imclone (NASDAQ: IMCL) was upgraded at Cowen & Co from Neutralto Outperform.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) was downgraded by UBS from Buyto Neutral , and the target price lowered from $55 to $56
• Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) was downgraded by Bernstein from Outperformto Mkt Perform

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares took quite a hit Thursday, finishing the session down just over 5% “after founder and CEO Jeff Bezos sold more than $135 million worth of shares in his first insider sale in more than three years.”

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) says Paul J. Liska will become its new chief financial officer on March 1, replacing acting chief financial officer Tom Meredith.

Ars Technica reported Thursday of a new patent filed by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) that could integrate podacsts, TiVo and iTunes store.
Meanwhile, TUAW, in response to readers, prepared an iPhone “call home” program that returns the location of the cell phone tower nearest to your iPhone so you have a better chance finding it in case of loss or theft.

An analyst from Citigroup suspects that more shoppers are choosing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) over rival Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) now that consumers are scaling back buys.

As Schultz continues to refocus his company, Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) stated Thursday it will cut about 600 jobs, including 220 support staff who worked at the coffee retailer’s headquarters and in field operations, and about 380 open jobs that the company will not fill.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) reports third-quarter earnings on Thursday. Analysts expect XM to report fourth-quarter loss of 64 cents per share on revenue of $303.2 million. Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), XM’s rival and potential acquirer, reports on Tuesday Feb. 26. Analysts predict Sirius will book losses totaling 13 cents per share on revenue of $267.4 million. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and Federal Communication Commission continued to delay their decision on the merger, but the DOJ might decide during the first quarter.

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