Guitar Center sale in trouble?

That's what the chatter suggests - and considering that the stock is trading at a whopping 10 percent below the $63-a-share buyout offer by Bain Capital, well, you have to wonder. Deal Journal raises a couple of the doubts: One is that Bain is using lots of leverage to do the deal (10.4 times estimated 2007 cash flow), and under terms of the proposed purchase, it would only have to shell out $58 million to walk. More strategically, guitars are generally not considered essential items (rock bands notwithstanding), which means that an economic downturn could cause problems. “On the flip side,” Deal Journal notes, “Guitar Center boasts stable cash flow and had three different business units, any of which could be sold if revenue declined.”