In This Article:
Honeywell (HON) adds Elliott Investment Management's Marc Steinberg to its board, according to the Wall Street Journal, ahead of the company's plans to split into three separate entities.
Electric vertical take-off and landing — or eVTOL — developer Joby Aviation (JOBY) receives the first $250 million of Toyota's (TM, 7203.T) $500 million investment. Also watch Yahoo Finance's interview with Joby Aviation CEO JoeBen Bevirt from October 2024.
President Trump says he plans to take US mortgage lenders Freddie Mac (FMCC) and Fannie Mae (FNMA) public, affirming that he will keep government guarantees. Catch Whalen Global Advisors Chairman Chris Whalen weigh in on the restructuring these two firms may need to see from the Trump administration for successful public spin-offs.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here.
It's now time for some of today's trending tickers. We are watching Honeywell a deal between Toyota and Joby. Plus mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. First up, Honeywell adding an executive from activist investor Elliott Management to its board. That's according to the Wall Street Journal. This does come as the companies been preparing to split into three separate entities separating its Aerospace division, Automation Business and advanced materials arm. Elliott originally did call for that breakup after revealing a $5 billion stake in Honeywell last year. Steve Sosnick still here with us for some insights, and it's interesting, Steve, looking at the market action here when you look at peers in the space that are a little bit more specific. The way that Honeywell aims to be after this breakup, they do trade at higher multiples than Honeywell, so I wonder how much upside there is in this breakup.
It worked for GE. Basically a very similar type of divestiture program. And I guess, you know, that's probably I I I certainly can't get into Paul Singer's head, but I think that's got to be largely what's driving him is is the success of GE, which had fallen to become a real laggard, which Honeywell isn't a total laggard. But um, but you know, when you think of the sum of the parts of GE after all after they you know, after they started to divest into pieces, it's worked. And so Honeywell is probably, you know, we're looking at the same type of sentiment, the same type of model, and we'll see if the market embraces it the same way.
Right. Taking a page out of that book and out of the activist investor playbook as well here. But let's take a look over at Toyota. Now, the top shareholder and air taxi company Joby Aviation, following a $250 million investment, this payment bringing Toyota stake to over 15%, surpassing Joby's CEO. This is part of a previously announced $500 million commitment from Toyota, Joby saying recently, it's aiming to start commercial services in Dubai by early 2026. That is later than the previous target of the end of this year. I was able to speak with Joby CEO out in one of their headquarters in California and Steve, what's interesting is that their assembly line they say models Toyota's and that it's very much so meant to, you know, mirror the way that cars put together with these EV tools being put together in the same way. But the question is, when these EV tools will be able to take flight, I think that's the key question for the revenue perspective.
Well, the stock chart today is definitely got that vertical that vertical liftoff. You know, at some level, I always sort of wonder, you know, how much is buy the rumor, how much is sell the news? I mean, you know, if it's $250 million out of out of $500 million that you knew is coming, you might argue this is a little much. Um, but in general, I think if you can pardon the pun, get these things off the ground, um, this is, you know, it's good news. These are highly speculative stocks, and you know, I'll believe it when I see like my investment banker friends taking taking Joby's out to the Hamptons. But in the you know, Dubai certainly seems like a good place to start because you have, you know, the right sort of audience for that.
Different regulatory framework as well, with the FAA has a lot on their hands at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see what that certification process is going to look like. But finally here, let's move over to Fannie and Freddie here. President Donald Trump vowing that the government will maintain guarantees and an oversight role over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the president moves to take the mortgage giants public. Trump writing in a post on Truth Social that he's working on taking the company's public, but quote, the US government will keep its implicit guarantee. Steve Sosnick still here with us for insight. Steve, what do you make of Fannie and Freddie going public here?
Well, I mean, it's, you know, return to what it was before. These were you know, the problem before the global financial crisis was to a certain extent, we were we were privatizing gains and socializing risk. You have to wonder if we're sort of going back to that model and and and you know, setting up for that type of situation down the road. This has been a good bet for people who've, you know, who believed in the story, who, you know, when you think about it, just about a year ago, the stock was trading between one and $2. So it was essentially like buying a warrant, you know, a very long term option. You could say, all right, what am I going to lose? A dollar or two. And what can I gain? A lot. And they're gaining a lot because the stock last I looked was about $11 or something like that. So it's worked. I think, you know, we're still a little light on details here, um, and we'll see how that all works out. And I'm sure Congress has to get involved in something of this nature as well. But, you know, in the short term, you know, there's a lot of sizzle to the story, and I understand why people are embracing it.
But I'm curious too how much risk there is for those investors who might get in on these names before a potential.
Well, because you don't know what the details are. So so we don't know so yes, the privatize. What does that mean? Does the government issue a whole? You know, do you get diluted by by stock? You know, by by the government issuing tons of stock against you? I I don't I, you know, investing off of making a long term investment, a corporate investment off of a truth social post or any social media, I don't mean to pick on that one. These you know, they're light on they're they're somewhat light on details. And so I wouldn't necessarily go too crazy on this. But yeah, as a theme, it worked so far. I mean, it's you know, this is this has been what people have been looking for some sort of move in this direction. And you know, they they got they definitely got something that plays in their favor today.
Yeah, absolutely. And you can see those tickers moving to the upside here. You can scan the QR code below to track the best and worst performing stocks with Yahoo finances trending tickers page.