ValueClick gets even more value

Posted May 21st 2007 2:57PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Major Movement, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Time Warner (TWX), IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), aQuantive Inc (AQNT), ValueClick Inc (VCLK)

Today (around 1 p.m.) ValueClick's (NASDAQ: VCLK) stock is up a healthy 15% to $34.50. Back in January, the stock was trading at about $23.

Of course, the betting is that this online advertising operator will get scooped up like its peers, such as aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT), 24/7 Real Media (NASDAQ: TFSM), and DoubleClick. Hey, why not?

The problem is that the mega cap internet players such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) have already made deals in the space. Instead, the suitors that are left can't really muster the premium pricing. These companies include the likes of IAC/InterActieCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX).

While Microsoft or Google may want to bulk up even more, the fact remains that this is pure speculation. In fact, ValueClick is a hodge-podge of different sites and is more a technology play. It's like 24/7 Real Media, which didn't snag a big premium on its deal.

So, as always, investors need to be very careful on this one.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Tags: aqnt, Buyout rumor, BuyoutRumor, goog, iaci, msft, Online advertising, OnlineAdvertising, tfsm, twx, vclk