After the unexpected death of founder and CEO Frank Lanza, L-3 Communications has been the regular subject of buyout rumors. The latest analyst to throw its hat into the ring is Standard & Poor’s, which offers a titillating conclusion on this Election Day. BusinessWeek.com posted its sister's recent report about L-3's prospects on its site. The report includes some obvious details like L-3's decade-long acquisition spree. However, some of the more interesting details are buried at the end. While the report states upfront the premise that L-3 is bait for larger defense firm BAE Systems, which has been growing in the United States through acquisitions, the best detail appears in the last paragraph. S&P concludes that a Democrat-controlled Congress could slash defense spending, which in turn could escalate L-3's already slowing revenue growth. Considering the polls suggest the Democrats will take the House of Representatives, maybe BAE can get L-3 on the cheap. —Matthew Wurtzel
See S&P report on BusinessWeek
See related Postmortem from The Deal
See L-3 Dealwatch
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