24/7 Wall St. » CRM

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 25, 2012 (EBAY, LULU, SI, CRM, FSLR, CRMT, MENT, POST, FRO, AMSC, DRYS, KUTV, SAFM, SHIP, GAME, TLB, PAY, FB)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:04:01 +0000

Today’s edition of the Closing Bell is being published shortly after 2:00 p.m. US markets are closed Monday to observe the Memorial Day holiday. We’ll resume our normal schedule next Tuesday.

The three major US stock indexes opened marginally higher this morning as more European countries come out in support of a eurobond, a proposal Germany has flatly declined to discuss. The impasse weighed on European markets and the weight crossed the Atlantic when US markets opened today. The only new data point in the US today was better-than-expected reading on Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index (our coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.07% at 82.406. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 618.78, with commodities prices mixed. WTI crude oil is trading up 0.12% at $90.77/barrel, and Brent crude trades up 0.31% at $106.88/barrel. Natural gas fell -4.4% today to $2.53/thousand cubic feet. Gold is trading up 0.52% today, at $1,567.90/ounce.

At 2:00 p.m. ET, the DJIA is down about 45 points at 12,484.68 (-0.36%), the NASDAQ is up more than 3 points (0.12%) at 2,842.72, and the S&P 500 is down -0.02% or less than 1 point at 1,320.43.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) maintained as ‘buy’ with a target price of $44 at BofA/ML; Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) cut to ‘hold’ at KeyBanc; Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) raised to ‘outperform’ at Oppenheimer; and First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) maintained as ‘buy’ with a target price of $30 at BofA/ML.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: America’s Car-Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: CRMT) is down -7.8% at $41.52; Mentor Graphics Inc. (NASDAQ: MENT) is down -12.7% at $13.28; Post Holdings Inc. (NYSE: POST) is up 6.8% at $29.89; and Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) is up 8.8% at $5.42.

On Tuesday, we are scheduled to get earnings reports from American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC), DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), Ku6 Media Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: KUTV), Sanderson Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFM), Seanergy Maritime Holdings Group Corp. (NASDAQ: SHIP), and Shanda Games Ltd. (NASDAQ: GAME).

We’ve also reviewed this week some potential value stocks among major oil companies, gold & silver miners, conglomerates, industrials, retail, semiconductor, and solar stocks.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) is down -38.9% at $1.57. The clothing retailer failed to reach a deal with a potential private equity buyer.

Verifone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) is down -15% at $38.27. The electronic payment systems company forecast a weaker-than-expected third quarter.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is down -3.8% at $31.78. The social network company continues to seek a floor for its stock price.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. US markets are closed Monday to observe the Memorial Day holiday. We have also noted the following events on the schedule for Tuesday (all times Eastern):

9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Schiller housing price index
10:00 a.m. – Conference Board consumer confidence survey
10:00 a.m. – State Street investor confidence index
10:30 a.m. – Dallas Fed manufacturing survey
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auction

Have a great long weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AMSC, CRM, CRMT, DRYS, EBAY, FB, FRO, FSLR, GAME, KUTV, LULU, MENT, PAY, POST, SAFM, SHIP, SI, TLB

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFL, CRZO, EBAY, EJ, FSLR, HAIN, LULU, PCAR, RCI, CRM, SI, SRDX, SYMC)

Administrator — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:45:23 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday. No analyst calls will be made on Monday in the United States as it is a market holiday in observance of Memorial Day.

Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Maintained Buy but cut target price down from $75 to $63 at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) Reinstated as Neutral with $30 target at Credit Suisse.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Maintained Buy with $44 target at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

E-House China Holdings Limited (NYSE: EJ) Reinstated as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Reiterated Buy with $30 target at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) Started as Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphreys.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

PACCAR (NASDAQ: PCAR) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Rogers Communications (NYSE: RCI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

SurModics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Maintained Neutral with $20 target at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Here were Thursday’s Five Highly Unusual Upgrades and Downgrades which really stood out or which moved stocks.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFL, CRM, CRZO, EBAY, EJ, FSLR, HAIN, LULU, PCAR, RCI, SI, SRDX, SYMC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANGI, RATE, IRE, DNDN, LVS, LNKD, MU, MS, PSX, CRM, SNDK, S, TUP, YELP)

Administrator — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:37:11 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday.

Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) Started as Outperform at Raymond James.

Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Sell at Maxim.

Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Reiterated Buy with $135 target at Canaccord Genuity.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Started as Buy at ThinkEquity.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) Started as Buy at UBS.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Reiterated Buy with $180 target at Canaccord Genuity.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Started as Hold at ThinkEquity.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) Raised to Buy at Guggenheim.

Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) Cut to Hold at Argus.

Yelp, Inc. (NYSE: YELP) Started as Market Perform at Raymond James.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ANGI, CRM, DNDN, IRE, LNKD, LVS, MS, MU, PSX, RATE, S, SNDK, TUP, Yelp

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (CHK, LVLT, QCOM, CRM, DSX, COCO, APA, WNR, YRCW, SHOO, SRE, SLE, RGLD, OWW, GM, MGM, AES, LNG, DUK, EL, PGR, WPO, GMCR, KNSY, HLF)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:08:03 +0000

The major US stock indexes opened mostly flat this morning following a softer-than-expected report from the Institute for Supply Management on non-manufacturing growth (our coverage here). The report on new unemployment benefits claims came in better than expected, but not enough to overcome the ISM numbers (more coverage here). Retail sales reports were also weak, with growth of just 0.8% compared with an estimate of 1.5% (more coverage here). The energy sector has been particularly hard hit today on reports that supply is keeping up with demand, some weak earnings reports, and a comment from OPEC that it would like to see Brent crude at $100/barrel, not $120 or more (our coverage here).

The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.11% at 79.221. The GSCI commodity index is down about -1.3% at 678.65, with commodities mixed on the small gains in the dollar. WTI crude oil closed down -2.6% at $102.54/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -1.84% at $116.02/barrel. Gold settled down -1.2% today, at $1,634.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 62 points to 13,206.59 (-0.47%), the NASDAQ fell more than 35 points (-01.16%) to 3,024.30, and the S&P 500 fell -0.77% or nearly 11 points to 1,391.57.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) maintained as ‘buy’ but target price cut to $31 at BofA/ML and raised to ‘outperform’ at Bernstein; Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) reiterated ‘buy’ at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and cut to ‘neutral’ at Piper Jaffary; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) reiterated as ‘buy’ at BofA/ML; and Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) raised to ‘outperform’ with a $185 target price at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX) is down -4.4% at $7.63; Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) is down -21.6% at $3.05; Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) is down -3.7% at $91.99; Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) is down -2.6% at $18.42; YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) is down -8% at $6.79; Steve Madden Ltd. (NASDAQ: SHOO) is down -1.7% at $43.54; Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) is up 0.6% at $64.29 after posting a new 52-week high of $65.37 earlier today; Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) is down -1% at $22.10; Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) is down -2.6% at $59.43 (more coverage here); Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW) is up 4.9% at $4.09; General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is down -2.3% at $22.42 (more coverage here); and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is down -4.4% at $12.95.

Tomorrow we get earnings from AES Corp. (NYSE: AES), Cheniere Energy Inc. (AMEX: LNG), Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK), Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL), Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR), and The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is down -47.3% at $26.11. The company reported earnings last night, and lowered guidance. More coverage here and here.

Kensey Nash Corp. (NASDAQ: KNSY) is up 32.2% at $38.35. The company is being acquired by a Dutch firm for $360 million. More coverage here.

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) is down -12.7% at $46.02. The nutrition products company flubbed some questions at last night’s conference call. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Friday. San Francisco Fed President John Williams is giving a speech. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payrolls
3:00 p.m. – Treasury STRIPS

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AES, APA, CHK, COCO, CRM, DSX, DUK, EL, GM, GMCR, HLF, KNSY, LNG, LVLT, MGM, OWW, PGR, QCOM, RGLD, SHOO, SLE, SRE, WNR, WPO, YRCW

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALGN, BHI, CACI, CAB, CHK, DVA, GMCR, LVLT, MSCI, ONXX, PCLN, QCOM, QIHU, CRM, TTM)

Administrator — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:18:17 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Thursday.

Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Baker Hughes, Inc. (NYSE: BHI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

CACI International. Inc. (NYSE: CACI) Cut to Neutral with $53 target at Credit Suisse.

Cabela’s, Inc. (NYSE: CAB) reiterated Strong Buy and named as value stock of the day at Zacks.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) maintained Buy but cut target to $31 from $38 at BofA/ML; Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) Cut to Neutral at R.W. Baird.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) Cut to Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey; Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) Reiterated Buy with $37.50 target at BofA/ML.

MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI) Raised to Outperform with $42 target at Credit Suisse.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) maintained Buy but removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) reiterated Strong Buy and named the Aggressive Growth stock of the day at Zacks.

QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd (NYSE: QIHU) Started as Buy at Jefferies.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NASDAQ: CRM) Raised to Outperform with $185 target at Credit Suisse.

Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM) Started as Overweight at HSBC.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALGN, BHI, CAB, CACI, CHK, CRM, DVA, featured, GMCR, LVLT, MSCI, ONXX, PCLN, QCOM, QIHU, TTM

Strongest and Weakest S&P Technology Stock Charts (CCI, VRSN, RHT, INTU, CRM, FSLR, EA, SNDK, WIN, FTR)

Administrator — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:07:11 +0000

24/7 Wall St. has partnered with The Chart Lab to bring exclusive technical analysis. This report is on the five weakest and five strongest stock charts in the technology sector of the S&P 500 Index. A 5 is generally listed as the strong buy rating in technical analysis, while a 1 indicates a sell rating. The strong and weak readings are based upon the closing price of April 19, 2012. The rankings are not picked by the actual stock returns, but rather by their technical strength under the ChartLab Pro methodology.

The 5 strongest charts in the technology sector are as follows: Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI); VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN); Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); and salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM). These strongest names are up 31.4% year to date against a 8% gain for the S&P 500 Index.

The 5 weakest charts in the technology sector are currently the following: First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ: WIN); and Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: FTR). These weakest names are down 22.5% year to date and down almost 10% so far in April.

If you click on the chart and open it the chart can expand on your screen for a larger resolution for easier viewing.

The methodology here generates visual and contextual results for technical trading analysis and trading opportunities based upon custom criteria for investors. You can try the Chartlabpro.com for 30 days using promo code Chartp2p8i.

Filed under: Charts, Index, Semiconductor, Software, Technical Analysis, Technology Companies Tagged: CCI, CRM, EA, FSLR, FTR, INTU, RHT, SNDK, VRSN, WIN

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARNA, AONE, CIM, DTV, FSL, HTS, IACI, KMI, NVDA, PGR, CRM, VZ, WTW)

Administrator — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:21:13 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday.

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

DirecTV, Inc. (NASDAQ: DTV) Raised to Buy at Citigroup; Reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Freescale Semiconductor Holdings (NYSE: FSL) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Hatteras Financial Corporation (NYSE: HTS) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) Started as Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

NVIDIA Corporation (NYSE: NVDA) Raised to Market Perform at JMP Securities.

Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Reiterated as Buy and raised target to $180 at Canaccord Genuity.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.

Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE: WTW) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AONE, ARNA, CIM, CRM, DTV, FSL, HTS, IACI, KMI, NVDA, PGR, VZ, WTW

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARMH, AVB, GCI, DECK, FSLR, FST, MNST, MAR, NBR, POL, RRGB, SUN, CRM, TGT, TSL)

Administrator — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:22:03 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) Started as Equalweight at Barclays.
Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NASDAQ: DECK) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy with $105 target at Canaccord Genuity.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Neutral at Susquehanna.
Forest Oil Corporation (NYSE: FST) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) Reiterated Conviction Buy List and raised estimates by Goldman Sachs.
Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) Raised to Buy with $30 target at Argus.
PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL) named as Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (NASDAQ: RRGB) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Sunoco, Inc. (NYSE: SUN) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $145 on Credit Suisse; Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $170 at Canaccord Genuity.
Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo; Cut to Negative at Susquehanna.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: ARMH, AVB, CRM, DECK, FSLR, FST, GCI, MAR, MNST, NBR, POL, RRGB, SUN, TGT, TSL

5 Big S&P 500 Tech Stocks Outperforming Apple in 2012 (AAPL, CA, TDC, CRM, A, BRCM, DELL)

Administrator — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:53:30 +0000

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been on fire in 2012 and has hit new high after new high. If you just benchmark the $500 price, Apple shares are up 23.4% so far in 2012. What is amazing is that there are some surprises in technology stocks in the S&P 500 Index which have managed to outperform Apple so far year-to-date.

As it turns out the stocks of CA Inc. (NYSE: CA), Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A), and Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) have all outperformed Apple so far in 2012. Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is even a runner-up as its gain is only 1% less than Apple’s great 2012 run.

CA Inc. (NYSE: CA) closed out 2011 at $20.03 and at $26.79 the stock is the best of the technology sector stocks in the S&P 500 with gains of 33% year-to-date after adjusting for a dividend payment. Speaking of which, that dividend yield is close to 3.7%. The mean price target is $27.50 from analysts, so that implies only about 3% more upside as it stands today.

Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) closed out 2011 at $48.51 and after earnings the stock is now up to $61.75 for a year-to-date gain of just over 27%. Enterprise data storage remains in demand. Thomson Reuters has a price target of $67.42 and that implies just under 10% upside left in the stock.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) closed out 2011 at $101.46, and shares are up 29.6% year-to-date with the stock at $131.50. With SaaS, CRM, and the cloud, the valuation here remains an astronomical 94-times next year’s forward earnings estimates. The consensus price target of $147.70 leaves an implied upside of almost 13%.

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) is diversified enough in a number of sectors that it might not feel like a true technology company even though it is in the S&P 500 Technology screens. After closing 2011 out at $34.93, its shares are up 25.5% at $43.85. The consensus analyst mean target of $49.79 leaves an implied upside of 13.4% over the next year. That would not even be a 52-week for the stock.

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) has so far lived up to when Jim Cramer touted it as a tech smartphone value stock. Even with a drop so far on Monday of almost -1.5% it is trading at $36.50 for a year-to-date gain of 24.3% from the $29.36 closing price of 2011. The consensus analyst mean target of $41.77 leaves an implied upside remaining of 14.4%.

There is a surprise runner-up status by Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL). With a 0.8% gain so far on Monday to $17.90, Dell is up 22.35% year-to-date from the $14.63 close of 2011. Boy, Dell? Really? Dell has barely 1% of upside left before running into the mean consensus analyst target of $18.17.

As far as how all of this compares to Apple, a $500 Apple share price leaves an implied 13.7% upside to the consensus analyst price target of $568.49 on the stock even if some analysts are actually expecting far more upside.

Is it ironic that S&P downgraded the technology sector today calling the group overextended on a historic basis? Keep in mind that we still have over ten months until the end of the year.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Consumer Electronics, PC Companies, Software, Technology Companies, Trading Alert Tagged: A, AAPL, BRCM, CA, CRM, DELL, TDC

After Taleo, Looking at Other Cloud M&A ‘Hopefuls’ (SKYY, TLEO, ORCL, EQIX, AKAM, RAX, TDC, NTAP, CRM)

Administrator — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:03:57 +0000

It is a bit surprising that First Trust ISE Cloud Computing (NASDAQ: SKYY) is not trading higher than it is after a ‘cloud acquisition’ even if it is a thinly traded ETF compared to other technology funds. After the Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ: TLEO) acquisition by Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and with the market still holding gains, it would seem likely that investors and speculators would say “more cloud mergers and buyouts are coming this way.”

What is interesting is that Taleo was not even part of this cloud ETF, and many of the ETFs components are not exactly all cloud space players. Is it fair to lump in all cloud players as targets when one is software and one is hardware? Be advised, there are some stocks which have had buyout rumors in the past listed below but there are no current rumors we have heard.

Here is the weighting of the cloud ETF’s more cloud-centric companies, with the most recent weightings and some commentary on some of the names:

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) 3.80%…probably too expensive to acquire now on valuation metrics and with a $6.1 billion market cap.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:: AKAM) 3.72%… surged after earnings, now unlikely to be bought on the cheap by would be acquirers.

Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE: RAX) 3.39%… has been called a buyout candidate before but the company’s line is that it wants to remain independent.

Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) 3.35%… still considered a special situation by some investors but no buyout rumors have proven true, and shares are up big after earnings.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) 3.22%… “The one that got away.” This used to be a buyout dream stock, but valuation got in the way. Now at over $14 billion the time may have come and gone.

Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) 3.08%… way too expensive to acquire on a valuation basis. Cloud is everywhere here in effect as a great benefit, but this one is diversified into CRM and SaaS.

Where this gets interesting is that Taleo is a human resources software maker and perhaps not just cloud software as some of the media headlines would have suggested. The 18% premium also suggests that paying up for the cloud players is only a limited value.

Just because one buyer buys a loose cloud play in software does not translate to buyouts in hardware.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Mergers and Buy Outs, Rumors, Software Tagged: AKAM, CRM, EQIX, NTAP, ORCL, RAX, SKYY, TDC, TLEO