M&A Activity: The Invisible 'Tuck-in' Deals

The M&A market can be one of feast or famine. Take Jim Cohen, executive vice president of mergers and acquisitions for Houston-based Consolidated Graphics (CGX), who characterizes the current state of industry transactions as "slow and ugly, with a smattering of attractive opportunities." Declining or recovering earnings, meager growth prospects, eroding gross margins and delayed capex moves are all continuing to cloud the M&A forecast.