In the end, Laureate Education proved to be quite profitable for investors.
Laureate, an international provider of higher education based in Baltimore, announced Aug. 17 that the group completed a $3.82-billion deal to take the company private.
Shares of Laureate ? one of 10 area companies in The Examiner Top 10 portfolio ? traded for the last time on the NASDAQ stock market that Friday, ending trading at $61.97 per share.
The portfolio, with the hypothetical purchase of one share of several of the largest publicly traded companies in the Baltimore region, began on Jan. 3. Laureate?s shares traded at $48.60 per share at the time.
In about 8.5 months, Laureate?s stock price jumped $13.37 ? 27.5 percent ? making it the greatest gainer to date of the 10 stocks in the portfolio.
“While we recently became a private company, our commitment to serving the higher education needs of students remains unwavering,” Aimee Leishure, vice president of financial planning and analysis for Laureate, said last week.
Laureate was acquired by a private investment group headed by Laureate Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas L. Becker.
DEFENSE FIRM ADDED
With Laureate no longer listed on the NASDAQ, a new Baltimore-area company will join the portfolio ? defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin, with headquarters in Bethesda, employs about 140,000 people worldwide and researches, designs, develops and manufactures advanced technology systems, doing the majority of its business with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. federal government agencies.
In 2006, Lockheed Martin reported sales of more than $39 billion.
“The firm is the largest player in a heavily concentrated military industry, with nearly 20 percent more in revenue than its next-largest competitor,” according to a recent report on the company by Morningstar, a Chicago-based investment research company.
The hypothetical purchase of Lockheed Martin will date back to Jan. 3, when its price per share was $91.60.
