Spin-Offs
When a company splits off a division as its own stock, the new company files a Form 10 with the SEC first. Spin-offs are often sold by investors who never wanted them, which can leave them cheap.
This list will appear after the next weekly data update.
Why spin-offs get attention
Shareholders of the parent company get shares of the new company, often without having asked for them. Index funds and managers whose rules do not allow the new stock sell it in the first weeks, whatever the price. Joel Greenblatt's You Can Be a Stock Market Genius (1997) and studies such as Cusatis, Miles and Woolridge (1993) found spin-offs did better than the market on average over the following years, with large differences from one to the next.
The Form 10 describes the new business, its debt and who will run it. Read who gets the debt: a parent sometimes uses a spin-off to move liabilities out.
Form 10-12B registrations from the EDGAR daily index. Not every Form 10 is a spin-off: some are companies listing without an IPO. Returns use weekly closing prices from the first full week of trading. Not investment advice.
About this page
WallStPal explains public SEC filings and congressional stock trade reports in plain English. Nothing is for sale; the site is free and supported by ads.
How to read it
- Form 4
- The form a company insider (officer, director or owner of more than 10%) must file with the SEC within two business days of buying or selling the company's shares.
- 13F
- A quarterly list of U.S. stocks held by an investment manager with more than $100 million, filed within 45 days after each quarter ends.
- STOCK Act
- A 2012 law that requires members of Congress to report stock trades by themselves, a spouse or a dependent child within 45 days.
A real example
In January 2016, when bank stocks were falling, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon bought 500,000 JPMorgan shares with his own money, worth about $26 million. His Form 4 made the purchase public within days, and investors read it as a strong sign of confidence.
Explain it like I'm 13
We read the long, boring forms that grown-ups file with the government and tell you what they say in normal words.
Data from public SEC filings and congressional reports. Information, not investment advice. Check every number against the filing linked on the page.