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Von Aldo

LPL Goes Public; Shares Rise

Would you buy shares in a financial company that trades at about 40 times trailing earnings (based on Q3 numbers) and boasts (if that’s the right word) a net profit margin of not even 2 percent? That’s rich. Oh, and none of the proceeds will go to the company, but instead will go to two private equity funds and insiders who are cashing out. And the company has $1.4 billion in debt. On the other hand, LPL is adding advisors like mad, and assets too. Also, EBITDA grew at double digit rate from 2005 through 2009, which include one very terrible year to be in the securities business. Shares were priced at $30, according to the Nasdaq website, giving it a market cap of $3.2 billion against $23 billion in sales in first nine months of 2010. Shares opened late, and promplty rose to $33.04 at the time of this writing.

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