RE:RAVEN Q3
I think Raven is less relevant today as a potential suitor, largely due to the overlap in some key products. Having said that they would still be interested in adding to their OEM relationships & software capabilities, so an acquisition of AJX is not out of the question.
Here's what Raven had to say today on the conference call when questioned on potential acquisitions:
John Rankin - Boranco Management, L.L.C.
Okay. And my second question, I cut this out of the Wall Street Journal shortly after the last conference call in that Monsanto purchased a privately held company called Climate Corp. for $930 million and then the year before, they purchased Precision Planning for $250 million. As I read the article, it seemed like these companies or companies like them would be a wonderful fit for Raven. My question to you, if you're familiar with these 2 companies, were you looking at these or are you looking at companies like this to bolt on -- as a bolt-on acquisition for growth?
Daniel A. Rykhus - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Oh, we weren't looking at Climate Corp. for just under a $1 billion. That's -- we weren't considering them as an acquisition. We're constantly looking at technology companies that can add to our strategy, particularly within ATD and we have several right now that are under evaluation. But we always have several under evaluation, so that's really not a change. And there's a lot more activity within the development of technology for farming. I mean, it's just become an area that is attracting a lot of attention. So that's great. That's great for the world to produce more food, it's great for companies like Raven because we can find partners that we can either acquire or work with. But not really looking for companies in the size of Climate Corp., in particular.