Economics is known, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as the dismal science. When economists start seeing the glass as half-full, though, you can rest assured that the overall situation of the country must really be improving. Many economists believe that hindsight will show that the recession has ended. However, the recession started in December 2007 when things [...]

Despite the turbulent markets in which we find ourselves, merger and acquisition activity involving door and window companies has been relatively brisk in 2009. There have been 19 transactions year-to-date, versus 31 for all of 2008. The 19th and most recent acquisition was the purchase of Superior Homes in Watertown, S.D., by storm door and [...]

Our recent analysis of activity in the door and window industry shows that plant closings and bankruptcies have slowed and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity continues at a reasonable clip. Plant expansions peaked in 2006 at 28 separately reported expansion projects. By 2008, that number had fallen to 12 expansions. We predicted last year [...]

Regardless of whether you think the recovery will be long and shallow or more rapid, as recoveries have been in the past, signs point increasingly to the beginning of a recovery. Interestingly, the motivations behind the search to acquire other companies remain largely the same as they were during the go-go period the market enjoyed [...]

If you lean out the nearest window (or door), you’ll hear the sound of the sky not falling. In rereading some of my publications over the last year, I have to acknowledge that I’ve been calling the start of the bottom for quite some time. So I’m an optimist, sue me. Now, though, if conditions [...]

In my last blog, I discussed the ways in which troubled companies are valued by the market. Now I’d like to explore the ways in which the value of a company and the value of its underlying real estate affect each other.One of the most obvious ways in which real estate can impact the value [...]

Since there are currently a larger than normal number of financially troubled companies in the door and window industry, I thought it would make sense to discuss the drivers of valuation for a troubled company that may seek to be sold. First, though, let’s look at the valuation of a company that is not troubled [...]

I recently read the results of Bank of America’s 2009 CFO Outlook, which is an annual survey of some 600 chief financial officers of manufacturing companies (most of which are privately held with less than $200 million in revenue). As with most economic outlooks today, there was no shortage of negative opinions. The average [...]

With the International Builders Show coming up, I thought I’d share some thoughts regarding getting the most out of a trade show like this. One of the basics is to remember your business cards. I’ve met scores of people at trade shows who had forgotten theirs. The reason to bring a business card is to [...]

In the interest of being timely, I’m going to steal a little thunder from an upcoming installment in my three-part series of DWM articles regarding what businesses should do to navigate this environment. In a soft market like this, it is critical to keep generating new business. So what exactly is it that we should [...]