RE:Fahrenheit 451 (google it)I suspect:
1) Investors who held (or still hold) CTS shares for the sole purpose of making a quick buck on a takeout are getting discouraged. It's been 3 months since the Strategic Review was announced, the "preliminary" financial results fell flat in terms of the market's verdict on the numbers, and the March 16 release date for the full Q4 financial results is getting closer by the day.
2) The longer it takes the Special Committee to publicly release its recommendation from the Strategic Review, the more the market may be convinced that no takeout offer will be presented to shareholders and will price CTS based on the assumption that it will be business as usual (perhaps with some cost cutting and/or asset sales) in the face of current interest rates and the possibility of recession in 2023.
3) If no takeout offer is recommended by the Committe, the public will not know what if any firm takeout offers were made (barring a subsequent hostile takeover offer by a suitor), and if one or more firm bids was put on the table, how much the best offer was re. takeout price per share...$12....... $10........ $8........ $7....... less.......? It might be the case that any firm offer was not palatable because it was so lowball that most in here would even scoff at it. Or, as mentioned, perhaps it was for an amount most in here would have supported (say $8 for sake of argument) but the Committee felt they weren't getting fair value and decided the company would be better off proceeding on their own.....?
OR.......
Perhaps there is in fact a bidding war taking place and CTS's financial advisors are milking it for all its worth to maximize the payoff, believing that it's worth waiting a while longer as they expect higher bids....? All interested parties would likely have signed non-disclosure agreements, got access to the inner workings of CTS, then be given time to mull over whether they are at all interested in putting in a firm bid, and if so, were/are they willing to go further should a rival superior bid(s) be made....?
Bottom line: If there will be no takeout, I think the Committee should rip off the band-aid and announce it right away. Otherwise, they risk further decline in the share price as the market does not like uncertainty and may keep driving down the share price.
My own personal rule of thumb is, if a company announces a review of operations, I would only invest if I wanted to own the company anyway regardless of whether it was taken out or not. In other words, a takeout would be a bonus.To bank on a takeover is not a great strategy in my view and it typically signals that you are not big on the company itself.