Is Apple (AAPL) thinking about buying Adobe (ADBE)?
That’s columnist Robert Cringely’s theory.
Not for the first time, Cringely asserts that an Apple deal for Adobe
could be in the offing. By way of evidence, he asserts that Apple was
“quietly shopping around its entire professional application business”
- which includes Final Cut Pro, Aperture, Logic and Shake - “to
prospective buyers at the recently completed National Association of
Broadcasters show in Las Vegas.”
Those applications help drive Mac sales; why would Apple want to sell them? Cringely says that “there is only one real reason why Apple would sell off its professional applications and that’s to avoid antitrust problems when/if Apple buys Adobe Systems.”
I suppose it is possible, but such a move would be hugely out of character for Apple, which has done very few substantial acquisitions over the years. And while Apple certainly has plenty of cash - $19 billion and change - the entire pile would not be enough to buy Adobe, which has a market cap of $21.3 billion. Throw in a decent premium, and you would be looking at a $30 billion deal. Possible, I would say, but not probable.
Adobe shares today were up $1.18, or 2.8%, to $40.38 at close, although I suspect the rise has less to do with Cringely’s rumor-mongering than with a well-received meeting with analysts yesterday that triggered a flurry of bullish analyst notes this morning. UBS analyst Heather Bellini notes that Adobe yesterday said Q2 results should be at the high end of its previous revenue and EPS guidance range; she raised her FY 2009 EPS estimate by a penny to $1.91, and upped her price target on the stock to $38 from $35, and other analysts made similar moves.
Meanwhile, Apple shares were up 63 cents on the day, to $180.94.
Related Articles
|
Hedge Fund Jobs
Job Seekers: Search jobs by category, get job alerts by email or live feed, apply online See full list of jobs »
Employers: See all recruitment options, get applications online or by email Post a job »






This article has 7 comments:
- NJgolfer
- 13 Comments
May 02 05:16 PM- Shaun
- 4 Comments
My Website
May 02 08:39 PMwww.stocks-simplified....
- Zach Bass
- 78 Comments
My Website
May 02 10:06 PM-zach bass
www.zachbass.com
- PK de C'ville
- 98 Comments
May 03 08:28 AMYour thought about Cringely are commendable.
Here's my plea: Apply your critical thinking to other analysts you cover! I'm thinking of Toni, the Counter, Sacconaghi and Scott, the 'Informed Wall Streeter', Morritz. These guys MAKE UP THINGS out of thin air, just as wild ass crazy as Cringely, YET YOU ONLY REPEAT THEIR DRIVEL w/o commenting critically as you have here.
Please Eric, do this for your readership; you'll sleep better knowing you did the RIGHT THING. (We're suspecting you'd rather get clicks than be thoughtful. Is that true?)
- effectsdroid
- 2 Comments
May 03 04:53 PMI doubt it will happen.
- brewer
- 392 Comments
May 03 10:19 PM- steveballmer
- 141 Comments
My Website
May 03 11:06 PMMore by Eric Savitz