Posted Jun 29th 2009 7:45AM by Paul Foster
Filed under: Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Options
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced in April the acquisition of Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) for $9.50. Sun Microsystems closed at $9.01. Oracle issued the following statement, attributable to Dan Wall, counsel to Oracle. "We've had a very good dialogue with the Department of Justice and we were almost able to resolve everything before the Second Request deadline. All that's left is one narrow issue about the way rights to Java are licensed that is never going to get in the way of the deal. I full expect that the investigation will end soon and not delay the closing of the deal this summer." JAVA August option implied volatility of 22 is near its 13-week average, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Posted Jun 27th 2009 9:40AM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings reports, Walgreen Co (WAG), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Kroger Co (KR), ConAgra Foods (CAG), Darden Restaurants (DRI), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), KB HOME (KBH), Lennar Corp'A' (LEN), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Red Hat Inc (RHT), CKE Restaurants (CKR), Rite Aid Corp (RAD), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Nike, Oracle, Kroger, Walgreen, Monsanto, KB Home ...
Posted Jun 21st 2009 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Walgreen Co (WAG), Darden Restaurants (DRI), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), KB HOME (KBH), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Economic data
Continue reading The week in preview: End-of-quarter earnings expectations: Nike, Oracle, Walgreen ...
Posted Jun 15th 2009 9:50AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Market matters, Adobe Systems (ADBE), Oracle Corp (ORCL), EMC Corp (EMC), salesforce.com inc (CRM), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Technology
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says these stocks have become too expensive without takeovers and a more robust economy. One after another after another, these software charts are amazing. And, I might add, a bit scary. How did
McAfee (NYSE:
MFE) (
Cramer's Take) make that kind of move just on security software? Didn't
Microsoft (NASDAQ:
MSFT) (
Cramer's Take) just say -- admittedly for the 4 millionth time -- that it was going to give away free anti-virus software? Or
Citrix (NASDAQ:
CTXS) (
Cramer's Take)? What's that all about? How could it return to those levels?
There were rumors of a
Cisco (NASDAQ:
CSCO) (
Cramer's Take) takeover a week or two ago, and, amazingly, when it didn't come true, the stock hung in.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Tech's unjustified super bull market run
Posted May 29th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Intel (INTC), Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Research in Motion (RIMM), Oracle Corp (ORCL), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says markets are up big worldwide, and hedge funds will be scrambling to keep up. Let's say you're a hedge fund manager. You check your screens in the morning. You look around the world. And you know what you see? Green arrows everywhere. Markets up huge: Canada up 27%, Mexico up 16%, Brazil up 62%, Hong Kong up 26%, U.K. up 10%, China up 59% and just about every Asia market up gigantically.
Oh, and the Nasdaq up 11%.
Double digits everywhere.
And you realize, "Oh boy, am I behind."
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Get ready for some buying panic
Posted May 15th 2009 2:20PM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Analyst reports, Deals, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), International Business Machines (IBM), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Novell Inc (NOVL), Red Hat Inc (RHT)
First it was
Barron's on Monday saying
Red Hat (NYSE:
RHT), a provider of Linux open-source operating-system software,
will likely be in play.
"What makes it strategically important is that it sells the dominant operating system (other than Windows) favored by big corporate users,"
Barron's Mark Veverka said. The possible interested parties?
IBM (NYSE:
IBM),
Oracle (NASDAQ:
ORCL) and
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:
HPQ).
Then, today, Jefferis analyst Katherine Egbert
supported that argument, saying that it is "inevitable that Red Hat will be subsumed into a larger entity, probably IBM." Egbert reiterated her Buy rating and upped her price target to $21, from $18.
Continue reading Red Hat 'inevitably' a target -- stock jumps 8%
Posted May 7th 2009 1:30PM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), FedEx Corp (FDX), Oracle Corp (ORCL), United Parcel'B' (UPS), DJIA
No one can deny the horror that was
General Motors' (NYSE:
GM) first quarter financial results . . . even if it did
beat estimates. The automaker reported its eighth consecutive quarterly loss today -- this time in the amount of $6 billion. It also burned $10.2 billion in cash, its sales plunged 40% and it lost market share pretty much everywhere.
On that note, it's not surprising the guardians of the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
The Wall Street Journal editors, despite trying to keep to a minimum any changes in the component stocks, are finally considering removing the lowest priced stock on the index.
John Prestbo, the editor and executive director of Dow Jones Indexes, said in an
interview with Bloomberg Wednesday: "There are two choices for GM: bankruptcy or increased government ownership. Definitely the trend is in the direction that would force us to remove it."
Continue reading Will GM finally be kicked out of the Dow?
Posted May 6th 2009 2:30PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Dell (DELL), Oracle Corp (ORCL)
Back in 2002 to 2003, Oracle's (NASDAQ: ORCL) CEO, Larry Ellison, realized that the tech industry was maturing -- and the best strategy would be to engage in aggressive mergers & acquisitions (M&A). It was certainly prescient.
However, other major tech operators have been slow to the game. Just look at Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). While the company has struck some deals -- such as for EqualLogic in 2007 -- the activity has been muted.
Continue reading Dell gears up for M&A action
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 10:40AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), Intel (INTC), Market matters, International Business Machines (IBM), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Best Buy (BBY), Corning Inc (GLW), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Cramer on BloggingStocks
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: It's go with the flow on tech stocks
Posted Apr 21st 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, International Business Machines (IBM), Bank of America (BAC), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Texas Instruments (TXN), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the good developments in the space got lost yesterday amid all the hubbub over banks. We are so focused on the endless one-time gains at
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) (
Cramer's Take) that made the quarter look better than it should that we forgot about some other obvious positives that were occurring right before our eyes. I am talking about tech, and tech mergers and tech earnings.
No, I am not minimizing the problems of the banks -- did anyone think that Ken Lewis would choose to show a loss if he had a chance, as the bears seemed to urge? I am saying that when you have both
Oracle (NASDAQ:
ORCL) (
Cramer's Take) and
IBM (NYSE:
IBM) (
Cramer's Take) interested in something that we thought was worth very little just a few weeks ago --
Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:
JAVA) (
Cramer's Take) -- when you have
Broadcom (NASDAQ:
BRCM) (
Cramer's Take) interested in buying
Emulex (NYSE:
ELX) (
Cramer's Take) -- another left-for-dead tech company -- and when you have
Texas Instruments (NYSE:
TXN) (
Cramer's Take) saying inventories are lean, mostly because of Asian demand, you are not getting a picture of despair.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't miss this moment in tech
Posted Apr 21st 2009 9:30AM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Private equity, Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Oracle Corp (ORCL)
Back in early 2007, KKR Private Equity Investors -- along with
Citigroup (NYSE:
C) -- invested $700 million in
Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:
JAVA). The investment structure was a convertible senior note (both firms split the investment).
And, just like many other private equity deals,
KKR wrote down the investment -- by about $167 million. This was as of last year.
Well, in light of
Oracle's (NASDAQ:
ORCL) announced $7.4 billion buyout of Sun yesterday, there is a nice surprise for KKR. You see, according to the note agreement, KKR is entitled to get its investment repaid. In fact, this also includes payment of accrued interest, according to
Reuters.
Continue reading KKR gets some juice from the Oracle/Sun deal
Next Page »
The FOMC decision to keep rates at near-zero and 
Even the mighty 
This week brings a small flurry of end-of-the-calendar-quarter earnings reports. And for the most part, the expectations of the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters aren't very high. Companies expected to report declining earnings in the most recently concluded quarter include 
Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't paint everything with the jobs brush
Seven banks go up in smoke ahead of the holiday weekend
Sears offering hedge for consumers who lose their job -- good idea?
