Shares of DoubleClick surged 12% Monday on news that the company may be up for sale.
DoubleClick announced that it had hired Lazard Freres “to explore strategic options for the business in order to achieve greater shareholder value, including a sale of part or all of its businesses, recapitalization, extraordinary dividend, share repurchase or a spin-off.”
The news comes a week after DoubleClick warned that its fourth-quarter results will be below Wall Street expectations. DoubleClick sold off its media business during the dot-com bust to focus on technology, a move that left it behind when online advertising rebounded.
As of June 30, the company had $261 million in cash, compared to $135 million in debt. Its stock peaked at $135 a share in January 2000. It closed Monday at $7.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $900 million and trades at 30 times earnings estimates.
The broader market edged higher Monday on falling oil prices, as traders remained cautious ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election.
The Nasdaq climbed 4 to 1979, the S&P 500 gained fractionally to 1130, and the Dow rose 26 to 10,054. Volume declined to 1.4 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.54 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 19-13 on the NYSE, and 16-15 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 52% on the NYSE, and 65% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 192-13 on the NYSE, and 119-42 on the Nasdaq.
After the close, National Semi warned. FindWhat
beat estimates but offered guidance at the low end of analysts’ forecasts. Macrovision
and Commscope
beat estimates but warned. Hutchinson
met estimates and hiked guidance. Kronos
beat earnings estimates. Maxim
missed revenue estimates, and Rudolph Tech
warned.
During the day, PeopleSoft soared 10% after Oracle
upped its offer for the company to $24 a share.
PalmSource fell 9% on a downgrade.
Leadis and West Corp.
climbed on upgrades.
Nam Tai , LTX
and Compugen
fell on their results.
