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To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (647)	9/16/2000 8:25:35 PM
From: Jack Hartmann	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6897

W) Aching for Olin - quick and loose Rated a WATCH Been meaning to DD this. Olin Corporation, incorporated in 1892, is a manufacturer concentrated in three business segments: Chlor Alkali Products, Metals and Winchester. Chlor Alkali Products include chlorine and caustic soda, sodium hydrosulfite and high strength bleach products. Metals products include copper and copper alloy sheet, strip, welded tube and fabricated parts, and stainless steel strip. The Metals segment also includes a network of metals service centers in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico. Winchester products include sporting ammunition, canister powder, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and industrial cartridges. Chart show tight stack with consolidation for nearly a year. Huge gap down in Jan99. Went from $40 to $10 in the few months then. 06-Jan-00 15:00 -- 16:00 ET Olin (OLN) 20 11/16 +9/16: Bear Stearns raises their target price on conglomerate to $24; more positives to come, including a Q4 conference call and rising prices in the industry; rating is "buy"..... Four small buys in April. Rev 314.8M to 354.1 to 341.3M to 362.4M to 378.1M Jun dailycharts EPS 0.05 to 0.06 to 0.20 to 0.43 to 0.52 Jun 00 daily charts 52-Week Low on 7-Oct-1999 $12.125 Recent Price $16.438 52-Week High on 6-Jan-2000 $21.50 Market Capitalization $741.8M Shares Outstanding 45.1M Float 28.4M Price/Book (mrq) 2.23 Price/Earnings (ttm) 13.76 Price/Sales (ttm) 0.52 Debt/Equity (mrq) 0.69 Total Cash (mrq) $39.0M Short Interest As of 8-Aug-2000 Shares Short 327.0K Percent of Float 1.2% Shares Short (Prior Month) 200.0K Internet posts I don't have any knowledge about this at all, but let me make an observation. Olin is about to become a 1/3 owner in a JV with Oxy, a company with a very different corporate culture than either Olin or DuPont. It has also been announced that Oxy, not Olin, will run the JV. 9/5/00 on yahoo Rambo is right that the FTC blocked several transactions that Olin tried to make. These included the proposed sulfuric acid deal with Rhone Poulenc, and the Alliant Tech deal. They also eventually turned down Olin's 1985 or 86 purchase of the Isos plant in Charleston, WV and Olin was forced to sell that plant years later after losing all court battles. Clearly, Olin does not have a great track record before the FTC. As to what happened following the FTC decisions, Olin spun off the ammunition business in Primex and eventually included the sulfuric business in the Arch spin off. As already stated, Olin sold the Isos plant to, I think, Dead Sea Bromine or some such Israeli company. Except for this sale, neither of the spin off moves were directly caused by the FTC decisions and the sulfuric move was totally unconnected. As far as potential FTC problems with the Oxy deal, it's not so much the overall market percentage of the combined venture but, rather, the location of the two firm's facilities. Together, they will dominate the market in the northeast, and they're also close together on the Gulf Coast and the Tennessee Valley region. You've got to look at this on a regional basis, not a national basis. 8/25/00 Summary A value play, but revenues are growing much slower than earnings. I would like to see them much closer together as cost cutting may be the underlying reason. Jack