Trading sparse as Dana's stock back on NYSE

2/7/2008

It's been almost a week since Dana Corp. made its triumphant return to the New York Stock Exchange, but trading in the shares has been thin.

The firm's creditors, which hold the new stock trading as DAN, apparently want to retain it for now, given that its price is only slightly above half of the $22 the firm projected.

The stock closed yesterday at $12.40 a share, about where it closed on its first day last Friday. Volume has been anemic, averaging about 14,400 shares a day.

But no members of the public will own the stock until the creditors, who helped finance the Toledo auto supplier's emergence from bankruptcy, sell.

"I would imagine that there are a lot of investors who are extremely mad at Dana because of what they did to the shareholders during the bankruptcy," said Dock Treece, of Treece Investment Advisory Corp. in Sylvania Township.

As the city's largest corporation came out of bankruptcy Feb. 1, it canceled all its previous stock, which ended at less than a penny a share but which once traded near $60.

Stockholders were given no compensation.

Dana's stock at one point was coveted as a comfortable local performer that paid a dividend.

But that era is probably over, said Mike Wilcox, of Wilcox Financial in west Toledo.

"I think there's speculation that you've had a lot of trauma," among all types of investors, he explained. "I think some people are just taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"The old Dana is certainly not the new Dana. The old Dana style and dependability, I think it's just a wait and see if that can be replicated."

It is unclear who is buying the shares being traded, but experts said people may be wary that the firm is still dependent on the sale of automobiles and that industry is struggling.

Dana spokesman Chuck Hartlage said the company would not comment on its stock price. Its annual earnings report is expected in March, he said.

Still, Mr. Wilcox advised caution in the early trading days.

"Frankly, I thought there would be more demand," he said.

Contact Larry P. Vellequette at:

lvellequette@theblade.com

or 419-724-6091.