NCR hasn't been dissuaded by Cardtronics' acceptance of another offer
The shares of NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) are waffling at the breakeven level this morning, last seen down less than 0.1% at $37.15. This comes amid news that the company offered to acquire all outstanding shares of Cardtronics (CATM), the world's largest ATM operator, for $39 per share, or about $1.73 billion in cash. The offer trumps a bid by Apollo Global (APO) and investment firm Hudson Executive Capital of $35 per share, which Cardtronics has already accepted.
On the charts, NCR has been cooling off from its recent three-year high of $39.30, and just breached support at the 10-day moving average, though the 20-day moving average is still on standby as a potential floor for this pullback. Despite this dip, in the last six months NCR is up over 120%.
The brokerage bunch is wholly bullish on the equity, with all eight of the analysts in coverage sporting a "strong buy" rating. Plus, the 12-month consensus price target of $39.89 is a 7.2% premium to current levels.
However, its also worth noting that the increasing short interest now represents 5.1% of NCR's available float. In other words, it would take nearly five days to buy back these bearish bets at the security's average pace of trading. Should some of this pent up pessimism begin to unwind, it could help push NCR back toward its three-year peak.