Palm Shares Rise on Wall Street Rumors

Posted By: Ryan Thursday, February 15, 2007 4:44:06 PM

Palm Inc takeover/buyout/merger rumors are being tossed around again on Wall Street this week, which has sent Palm's stock price to a four month high. Shares closed today at $16.45 up $1.06, or about 7 percent according to Reuters. These rumors seem to come up at least once or twice every year, this time Motorola is being pitched as the possible suitor.

"The strength today in Palm shares is being attributed to rumors ... that Motorola could make a bid for them," said William Lefkowitz, options strategist at vFinance Investments, brokerage firm in New York.

Also of note in Palm financial news, a major hedge fund company, Galleon Management, has recently acquired 6.345M shares of Palm stock, which is about a 6.2% stake in the company.

Article Comments

 (40 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Start a new Comment Down

Motorola still interested...

nexus6 @ 2/15/2007 8:33:11 PM # Q
As far as I can tell from my experience, Motorola really might be interested in purchasing Palm. They failed in the PalmSource bidding, but then they claimed Good and Symbol... And any Palm-related question I tried to ask anyone from Motorola is answered by "no comment" or "bla bla bla...."

The point is, that I can't see why Motorola might be interested. They've lost the operating system (PalmSource with their linux just fitted perfectly in those days), now they have smartphones on 3 OS (linux, WM, Symbian), so why bother with a hardware company nowadays...

RE: Motorola still interested...
Tuckermaclain @ 2/15/2007 9:29:08 PM # Q
That would be great if it were true. For Palm certainly, but who knows about Motorola. Motorola has made some of the greatest phones ever (in terms of acceptance by the general public--forget the geek squad that inhabits this site for a while). Imagine if a Razr got melded with a Zire 72? If done well it would be as big of a hit as the Razr, StarTac, MicroTac.` Motorola could easily pull it off with their resources. Would it be worth it to them? Wouldn't it be easier/cheaper to become another Garnet licensee because they have in-house talent? If so, why hasn't it happened yet? Possibly because they are not interested? Too bad. They have what it would take to KO the i-phone.
RE: Motorola still interested...
ChiA @ 2/15/2007 10:28:26 PM # Q
Exactly what does Palm have to offer to any cellular company other than the Treo name and a generous licence to Garnet, are these things worth Palm's $1 billion market cap? All being said there are plenty of suckers in business too: let's not forget Time Warner with AOL or dare I say it, Ebay with Skype.


I think Palm can only appeal to:

- A tech company which is totally and utterly clueless about mobiles, maybe Google but if Apple can do it without help, why not Google? Besides, Google can always chat with the friendly people at HTC.

- some brave (foolhardy?) private equity or investment consortium who feel they can do a better job managing Palm than Palm.

- an Asian mobile company who need a quick foot into the door of the North American market; as if China, India, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia etc aren't large enough!

RE: Motorola still interested...
painted_dog @ 2/15/2007 10:52:41 PM # Q
..ya, i don't see why Moto would be interested. As was pointed out above they gobbled up 'good' & Symbol. They already license Windows Mobile. Not very enticing for them buy Palm just for Garnet. Palm's devices especially the WM ones aren't that much more compelling that the Qs Moto's been putting out. Actually IMHO the new Q9 is quite the cool device (3G US version of course as it comes in 3 flavors)& i would get that over a WM Palm.

...but that is just my 2 cents.

-painted dog

RE: Motorola still interested...
twrock @ 2/16/2007 12:04:30 AM # Q
- an Asian mobile company who need a quick foot into the door of the North American market; as if China, India, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia etc aren't large enough!

My sources tell me that it's ACCESS.

(There you go Kris, it was a six letter name after all.)


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt

RE: Motorola still interested...
PenguinPowered @ 2/16/2007 1:21:29 AM # Q
Moto's not interested in Palm -- unless some division other than cellphones is trying to get into cellphones.

Google can't get a cellphone out for exactly the same reason that Cobalt failed, but buying Palm won't work. Of course, after M$ the goog has the biggest cash-to-burn pile, so who knows what they might try.

May You Live in Interesting Times

RE: Motorola still interested...chia is spot on
SeldomVisitor @ 2/16/2007 6:50:05 AM # Q
PALM is not a hardware company - per the CEO they are a "virtual company". Their quarterly filings have said over and over again that they outsource essentially everything INCLUDING design and engineering to a variety of companies including uber-phone-maker HTC among others.

Any company big enough to buy PALM could easily contract with HTC or Inventec or Solectron or whomever themselves.

Today is options expiration day (the day options make money or lose their value); think that could have anything to do with yesterday's rumor?...

Whatta racket!

Reply to this comment

Hedge Fund Manipulation

Gekko @ 2/15/2007 8:50:52 PM # Q

Don't be so naive. Galleon probably planted the story.

Pump and Dump, Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



RE: Hedge Fund Manipulation
LiveFaith @ 2/16/2007 11:34:18 AM # Q
Hehe. Yeah, you may very well be right about that one.

Nevertheless, if I were the Palm goldfish swimming among the MotoSamsuNokiSony sharks, I would take any suitor I could.

Pat Horne

Reply to this comment

I think it's a load of BS

legodude522 @ 2/15/2007 9:56:35 PM # Q
Seriously, only investors would believe this crap. Palm is gonna be on their own for a long time.

Palm m125 > Palm Zire 71 > Tapwave Zodiac 1 > Palm Zire 72 > Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000 + 4gb MicroDrive + Palm Tungsten T|3 (1100mah)
My T|3 is too [i]sexy[/i] for me.
RE: I think it's a load of BS
LiveFaith @ 2/16/2007 12:34:33 AM # Q
Lego,

I don't know where / what Palm will be in a long time. But, I think this is an absolute ... Palm aint gonna stay anything for very long. Their corporate history in a decade makes ATT look like child's play.

Pat Horne

Reply to this comment

Yeah, one or two ehdge fnds bought in shortly ago but...

SeldomVisitor @ 2/16/2007 6:57:05 AM # Q
...why don't any of those article writers who disclaim their articles by saying they have long positions in PALM or PALM options ALSO mention that a number of funds have DUMPED PALM, most notably Fidelity, Oppenheimer, longterm private investor Nelson and even the hedge fund Sagio?

Gee...how....strange!

Giggle.


RE: Yeah, one or two hedge fnds bought in shortly ago but...
SeldomVisitor @ 2/16/2007 7:31:17 AM # Q
Someone who is purporting to be the SeekingAlpha author is pumping PALM like crazy on the Yahoo PALM financial board - no bias there, alrightee!!

== "...I'm author of article that boosted PALM by 800 bps in 3 days..."

-- http://tinyurl.com/3x8cpo

and, in general:

-- http://tinyurl.com/yst8rb

Say, Ryan, are you SURE you want to link to that SeekingAlpha article?

Whatta racket!

RE: Yeah, one or two ehdge fnds bought in shortly ago but...
mikecane @ 2/16/2007 9:57:45 AM # Q
People at SeekingAlpha's message board have linked to articles on my blog to excite Apple stock activity. Sheesh.

RE: Yeah, one or two ehdge fnds bought in shortly ago but...
hengeem @ 2/16/2007 10:34:55 AM # Q
SeldomVisitor,

Provide proof that Fidelity, Oppenheimer, Nelson or Sagio "recently dumped PALM."

Thank you.

hengeem

RE: Yeah, one or two ehdge fnds bought in shortly ago but...
SeldomVisitor @ 2/16/2007 10:45:02 AM # Q
Please note that an Obsessed Fan of myself has joined PalmInfocenter using my Yahoo ID - the above is not me but for SURE is someone who is seriously no-kidding ill.

Be Careful Out There!

RE: Yeah, one or two ehdge fnds bought in shortly ago but...
hengeem @ 2/19/2007 4:01:55 PM # Q
SeldomVisitor,

Provide proof that Fidelity, Oppenheimer, Nelson or Sagio "recently dumped PALM."

Thank you.

hengeem

RE: Yeah, one or two ehdge fnds bought in shortly ago but...
cervezas @ 2/19/2007 8:13:36 PM # Q
Oh for Pete's sake... don't you know how to use a search engine? http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=PALM


David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Yeah, one or two ehdge fnds bought in shortly ago but...
hengeem @ 2/19/2007 10:28:52 PM # Q
Mr. Beers,

My request was not directed to you. My request was directed to SeldomVisitor.

In addition, your link does not provide proof that Fidelity, Oppenheimer, Nelson or Sagio "recently dumped PALM."

SeldomVisitor has provided no proof.

hengeem

Hengeem, you want the proof, well can you handle it?
ChiA @ 2/20/2007 12:34:49 PM # Q
Provide proof that Fidelity, Oppenheimer, Nelson or Sagio recently dumped PALM.

Be very, very careful what you ask for, you may not like what you see.

Oppenheimer:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/728889/000072888907000150/palm13g.htm

Fidelity: they've offloaded some of their stock:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/315066/000031506606005531/filing.txt

Nelson: they've offloaded all but 19000 of their 6.8 million shares:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100389/000119312506194949/dsc13da.htm

Sagio: most damning of all seem to have dumped Palm stock a mere month or so after aquiring it:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100389/000095012306011763/y25291a3sc13gza.htm

These transactions have been over the past six months, some in the past month.


I'm not SeldomVisitor but this is unequivocal proof.

God bless the SEC and publically traded stock. Now you know why it's called public - the info's all there, you just have to do your research.

Re: Hengeem, you want the proof, well can you handle it?
SeldomVisitor @ 2/21/2007 5:36:09 AM # Q
Please note that the "hengeem" of the Subject is one of my Obsessed Fans who have taken on "my" Yahoo ID here and elsewhere because they are...well...obsessed with me.

Not me, though.

Just a nut who can't stand blaming the guy in the mirror for his "investing" mistakes.

Be Careful Out There!

[to chia - I purposefully had not answered because it was simply a stupid naive taunt by the Obsessed Fan who apparently REALLY doesn't know how to find out this kind of information (great investing technique, eh!? HA HA HA!) - but thanks anyway!]

Re: Hengeem, you want the proof, well can you handle it?
SeldomVisitor @ 2/21/2007 5:45:18 AM # Q
BTW - minor correction - I believe Nelson remains a 5+% shareholder - their filing simply showed a dramatic dump, not a complete dump (except for the peculiar Oppenheimer one that appears to show a total dump, all the other filings showed dramatic dumps to the point where the entities don't have to tell us anymore - sub-5% ownership).

Note that those are all marked "We're filing this because we dumped below 5%"...

Reply to this comment

If anyone bought Palm...

mikecane @ 2/16/2007 9:58:39 AM # Q
... it'd be the death of the PDA. At least as far as *Palm* is concerned.

And I don't see anyone coming along to license ALP just for a PDA.

Reply to this comment

It is all about the mass market...

jfme @ 2/16/2007 12:26:34 PM # Q
Rumors...rumors...rumors...

I do not think Palm is about to be sold. I think they discovered by accident that selling treos for $400 instead of $700 is a fantastic business.

Keep a watch on the news for the One-Millon-Treo680-Sold Headline...

Reply to this comment

What nobody mentions new products?

philpalm @ 2/16/2007 2:42:57 PM # Q
Now that Palm can control the garnet OS, ready to make a new TX2 and more Treos on the way, you think this insider information accidentally leaked? Maybe the SEC should investigate the new investors? Somebody is going to get rich if there is inside informantion and/or poorer if there isn't....

Reply to this comment

best thing that could happen to PDAs/Smartphones

all74 @ 2/16/2007 8:00:27 PM # Q
- some brave (foolhardy?) private equity or investment consortium who feel they can do a better job managing Palm than Palm.

my pet fish could manage Palm better than Palm! Taking this company and what cache the Palm/Treo name has left AWAY from the people trying their best to make the company go belly up sounds like a very good idea to me.



Reply to this comment

Latest Palm takeover rumor

mikecane @ 2/20/2007 12:03:51 PM # Q
>>>According to an article at Unstrung, PDA pioneer Palm Inc. appears to be in play again, with sources saying the likely buyers could be Nokia Corp. or Motorola Inc.

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=3652

Yeah, it'd be just like Nokia to buy it -- just to drive me fekkin INSANE!

OTOH, if they ditch the current crap on that (anti-)Internet Tablet, they could adapt PalmOS and replace it with that and *begin* to have something...

RE: Latest Palm takeover rumor
SeldomVisitor @ 2/20/2007 12:10:09 PM # Q
The thought that Nokia or Motorola somehow need whatever PALM has (what DOES PALM have that they don't!!!?) is beyond silly.

RE: Latest Palm takeover rumor refutation
SeldomVisitor @ 2/20/2007 1:16:21 PM # Q
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011569&pageNumber=2

RE: Latest Palm takeover rumor
SeldomVisitor @ 2/20/2007 1:17:19 PM # Q
Apologies - this is the correct page one link:

-- http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011569&pageNumber=1

RE: Latest Palm takeover rumor
ChiA @ 2/20/2007 2:15:45 PM # Q
These takeover "rumours" are probably sneakily thrown around by institutions hoping to offload their stock to clueless day traders and private equity before the share certificates turn to confetti.

I'll be very surprised if any mobile company buys Palm. The only thing Palm has to offer them is the Treo trademark and I doubt it can generate $1 billion worth of revenue, ie Palm's current market capitalization and therefore minimum purchase price. It may still be worthwhile if it opens the door to the North American market; the fact that Palm itself is in the process of trying to widen its marketshare beyond North America implies that North America may not be all that lucrative after all.

Reply to this comment

NoCal rumblings

surfmaniac @ 2/20/2007 10:35:38 PM # Q
I've heard from some of my friends up north that there have been rumblings about a merger or an outright acquisition. According to these guys (and they would know) a big bank is working with them to make a deal happen by this summer. They did give me more but that's it for now... and it will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

Mr Beers, since you are the only person here how seems to know what he's talking about when it comes to Silicon Vallley, I'd be very interested to get your insights/thoughts.

thanks


btw, I am long this stock but nothing major, only a couple thousand shares. Good enough?

RE: NoCal rumblings
SeldomVisitor @ 2/21/2007 5:31:19 AM # Q
Well, damn! If some message board poster with thousands of shares of PALM stock (like, say, 5000 @ $20+/share?) says that someone told him that someone told them that PALM is about to be bought out (why? why?) then it MUST be true!

To the moon, Alice!

RE: NoCal rumblings
mikecane @ 2/21/2007 10:47:05 AM # Q
>>>To the moon, Alice!

ROTFLMAO.

RE: NoCal rumblings
surfmaniac @ 2/21/2007 1:35:01 PM # Q
Try ten bucks a share. And still long (although admittedly trading opportunistically at certain times.)


Reply to this comment

W.r.t. PALM 'marketshare' in...say...Canada

SeldomVisitor @ 2/21/2007 1:05:41 PM # Q
TreoCentral ran an article that is beginning to get noticed elsewhere (pump 'er up!).

Interestingly, TreoCentral "forgot" to mention the article came from PALM Canada's PR firm.

Giggle.

RE: W.r.t. PALM 'marketshare' in...say...Canada
SeldomVisitor @ 2/22/2007 9:19:01 AM # Q
The plot sickens...not only did they forget to say the article's contents came out of PALM's PR firm, they somehow (...) forgot to mention that the numbers were for QWERTY-keyboard smartphones only.

No Blackberry Pearl for you! (among a cast of thousands of other smartphones like HP's)

"How to Lie with Statistics" - great book - mandatory read.

Sheesh

RE: W.r.t. PALM 'marketshare' in...say...Canada
SeldomVisitor @ 2/23/2007 10:08:10 AM # Q
The author of the article has posted a clarification in the discussion forum about the subset of smartphones that were included in the numbers obtained from the Canadian PALM PR firm. Though not a QWERTY phone (as the (purported) PR Firm's person posted was the set of phones used) the author says the Pearl WAS included in the numbers.


Reply to this comment

As always, take wtha grain of salt, but...

SeldomVisitor @ 2/23/2007 7:37:05 AM # Q
-- http://www.mobilitysite.com/2007/02/dell_rumor_update_rip_dell_axim.php

Scratch Yet Another Potential Suitor.

Uh...who's left?

Kodak?

RE: As always, take with a grain of salt, but...
ChiA @ 2/27/2007 6:11:10 AM # Q
Uh...who's left?

Ebay?

BenQ Mobile to be Sold Off in Pieces on Ebay
http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=3185

Reply to this comment
Start a New Comment Thread Top

Account

Register Register | Login Log in
user:
pass:

Latest Comments

  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000