In turning down a rather rich bid from Emerson (EMR), Rockwell (ROK) certainly signaled that the board has a lot of confidence about where this leading automation player is heading. Although Rockwell isn’t, and never has tried to be, “all things to all customers”, the company’s strong presence in process and hybrid automation and its emerging industrial IoT platform doesn’t make that confidence completely unfounded.
As is so often the case with Rockwell, valuation continues to be my primary concern. While there are some valuation approaches that suggest Rockwell’s valuation isn’t