Monday, December 5, 2011

What's In The News: December 5, 2011 SAP (NYSE:SAP) Acquires SuccessFactors for $3.4 Billon (potential upside 3.6%)

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This is what's in the news for Monday, December 5th. The Wall Street Journal reports SAP's (NYSE:SAP) $3.4B agreement to acquire SuccessFactors (NYSE:SFSF) points to how big a threat online products are becoming to conventional software, and raises the possibility of more acquisitions. Bloomberg reports AMR's (NYSE:AMR) $4.1B in cash as it enters bankruptcy may help the parent of American Airlines remain independent. Finally Reuters reports GM (NYSE:GM) Vice Chairman Steve Girsky reportedly said its strategy for turning around Opel, its European auto unit, is a failure, according to Financial Times Deutschland.
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Icahn's Bid Rejected by Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) On Undervaluing

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Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is bidding again with the same result, another rejection. Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) has dismissed his $1.73 billion takeover offer saying the proposal undervalues the company.

The scrap-metal processor denied Icahn on Friday after he said the company's board of directors had until Monday at 9 a.m. to set up a metting to discuss his $15 per share offer, which was a 7 cent per share premium to Commercial Metals' closing stock price on Friday.

Anthony Massaro, the company's lead director said in a statement, "It's important that our stockholders understand that Mr. Icahn is making an aggressive push to acquire the company at this time in an attempt to achieve a bargain basement price for Commercial Metals."

The company added that the offer "is opportunistic and not in the best interest of Commercial Metals' stockholders."

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) has potential upside of 10.3% based on a current price of $13.99 and an average consensus analyst price target of $15.43.
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SAP (NYSE:SAP) Acquires SuccessFactors for $3.4 Billon (potential upside 3.6%)

Uploaded by on Dec 5, 2011
The largest maker of business-management software has made a big purchase that is increasing competition in the cloud-computing market.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) has agreed to buy software company SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion in cash, paying $40 per share, a 52% premium on the company's closing price on Friday. With SuccessFactors being a leader in the employee performance software business, the deal will extend SAP's reach in the cloud computing market. Cloud computing is a way for companies to rent software over the internet rather than installing it on their own machines.

SAP is promoting the idea as a safe way to outsource data centers and reduce the need for hardware. SuccessFactors has more than 3,500 customers with more than 15 million subscribers in 168 countries. The company is predicted to have $502 million in revenue in 2013.

This announcement comes after rival company Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) bought RightNow Technologies for $1.5 billion dollars.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) has potential upside of 3.6% based on a current price of $59.54 and an average consensus analyst price target of $61.67.
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ITC to Rule on Google Apple's Infringement Case Against Android
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The International Trade Commission will rule tomorrow on a case between Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Android device maker HTC over more patent infringements, making it the first of Apple's many ongoing cases to reach a final verdict.

The leading tech company saw another setback after it was denied an injunction on Samsung's Android devices for patent infringements in a U.S. federal court. But, if the ITC rules in Apple's favor, there could be a ban on the import of smartphones and tablets from HTC into the U.S., something Apple couldn't accomplish with Samsung.

HTC would be hurt if the ITC rules in Apple's favor with the company being the largest smartphone company in the U.S. in terms of smartphone sales. HTC last year made about $5 billion in sales in the U.S., more than half of its overall revenue.

There are many other Android-related cases being investigated by the ITC including cases against Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) and Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) as well as cases brought by Apple also against Motorola.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has potential upside of 30.5% based on a current price of $389.7 and an average consensus analyst price target of $508.73.
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Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Topped Earnings For Q3, Rose 11.5% Year-Over-Year (potential upside 3%)

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Dollar General (NYSE:DG) reported Q3 EPS of $0.50, better than analyst estimates of $0.47, per share. Revenues for the quarter rose 11.5% year-over-year to $3.60 billion, better than consensus estimates of $3.57 billion.

Rick Dreiling, chairman and chief executive officer said, "Dollar General delivered another great quarter, and we expect to continue to build upon our strong track record of delivering excellent results for our shareholders. Our same-store sales increased 6.3 percent in the third quarter, representing our third consecutive quarter of accelerating same-store sales growth and demonstrating our ability to balance the challenges of pricing and rising input costs. Based on these results, we are raising our full year adjusted earnings per share guidance to the range of $2.29 to $2.32."

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) has potential upside of 3% based on a current price of $39.94 and an average consensus analyst price target of $41.13
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Insight Enterprises (NASDAQ:NSIT) Surpasses 1 Million Cloud Seats Managed Across the Globe (potential upside32.7%)

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Insight Enterprises (NASDAQ:NSIT) has surpassed a significant milestone in the emerging area of cloud computing, having now sold more than 1 million seats in various cloud offerings.

Insight offers a collection of Cloud solutions including messaging, security, infrastructure and collaboration.

Ken Lamneck, Insight President and CEO said, "Industry trends continue to point to cloud adoption as part of the overall IT strategy for businesses. We anticipate this shift will accelerate growth in all client segments including public, private and hybrid clouds, as clients migrate their selected workloads away from traditional on-premise IT infrastructure and into the cloud."

Insight Enterprises (NASDAQ:NSIT) has potential upside of 32.7% based on a current price of $15.07 and an average consensus analyst price target of $20.
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American Airlines (NYSE:AMR) Obtains Interim Stock, Claims Order for Trading Requirements (potential upside1126%)

Uploaded by on Dec 5, 2011
On Nov. 29, AMR Corp. (NYSE:AMR) and certain of its subsidiaries, including American Airlines and AMR Eagle Holding, filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking an order to prevent certain transfers of AMR Common Stock and certain transfers of claims against the Debtors that could impair the ability of one or more of the Debtors' estates to use their net operating loss carryovers and certain other tax attributes on a reorganized basis.

On Nov. 30, the Bankruptcy Court entered an order on an interim basis granting the Motion. A final hearing on the Motion and requested relief is scheduled for Dec. 22.

AMR (NYSE:AMR) has potential upside of 1126% based on a current price of $0.39 and an average consensus analyst price target of $4.78.

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