A one-year chart of $NSAM (blue) vs. the S&P 500 (red) Shares of the recent Northstar Realty Finance $NRF spinoff Northstar Asset Management $NSAM sold off precipitously last week when news broke that the U.S. Labor Department is investigating revising its rules for retirement brokers. In short, the changes that the Labor Department is considering making would require brokers who offer consumers advice for retirement accounts to enter into "best interest" contracts, with the goal being to ensure that they aren't just steering consumers towards the funds that have the biggest kickbacks. $NSAM reacted negatively to this news because the company is heavily involved in the creation of non-traded REITs. U.S. Labor Department unveils retirement brokers rule http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/14/us-labor-consumer-plan-idUSKBN0N51O620150414 I have been bullish on $NRF for quite some time (see my earlier article on the company Buy this REIT, sit back and relax while spinoffs lead to multiple expansion and big gains), but the recent drop in $NSAM created an interesting buying opportunity there as well. To begin, how restrictive the new rule would actually be or whether it will even actually be implemented remain to be seen. Furthermore, they only impact a small portion of $NSAM's actual business. 80% of the company's profits still come from its management of $NRF. Many people who follow $NSAM, including myself, believe that the recent selloff in the company's stock was overdone. A Deutsche Bank analyst who covers the company published a note (link) on it last week reiterating his Buy rating on the stock and giving it a price target of $28, versus the $20 and change that it is trading for today and less than that after the selloff. Furthermore, in a separate note the same Deutsche Bank analyst Stephen Laws stated that the potential inclusion of $NRF in the MSCI REIT index is bullish for both companies. Laws explained, "Yesterday, the MSCI changed NRF s Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) from Mortgage REIT to Diversified REIT, with the change being effective at the market close on April 30. The reclassification makes NRF eligible to be added to the MSCI REIT index on the May 12 rebalance. If NRF is added, the change will be implemented as of the close f May 29 (effective June 1), and Deutsche Bank estimates it would result in roughly 23 million shares to buy." "We believe inclusion in the MSCI REIT index will result in increased interest from dedicated equity REIT investors. Additionally, once NRF is added to the index, we believe there is an increased likelihood the company will consider spinning out the healthcare, hotel, manufactured housing, and/or mortgage assets into stand-alone companies," added the analyst. Anything that encourages more spinoffs at $NRF is bullish for $NSAM because such moves generate more fees for the company. Apparently we're not the only ones who thinks that $NSAM's shares are cheap after the recent selloff. The company does itself. This morning $NSAM's stock is up nearly 2% after announcing a $500 million share buyback. If it completes the entire repurchase, it would represent approximately 10% of the shares outstanding. NorthStar Asset Management Group Announces $400 Million Stock Repurchase Program http://finance.yahoo.com/news/northstar-asset-mana... $NSAM shares have bounced back several percent after the initial post-Labor Department announcement selloff. I believe that they have more room to run, at least until the recover the 20% or so that they sold off recently on what I view to be very little negative news.