Remarks
Dover Corp. Should Be Glad It Said Goodbye to Energy
Industrial conglomerates have spent much of the past five years spinning off or selling assets.
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There’s never been a better time to not be in the energy business.
With the coronavirus pandemic crippling demand and a dearth of storage capacity complicating the technicalities of trading contracts, the price of crude oil crashed into negative territory for the first time on April 20. But when industrial conglomerate Dover Corp. held its earnings call the next day, executives barely touched on the subject. That’s because Dover—a $13 billion company that makes gas station pumps, bar code printers, and refrigerated displays for grocery stores, among other things—spun off its Apergy Corp. energy business in May 2018.