Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, November 2, 2018

Article Excerpt

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $115.67, New York symbol IBM, is one of the world’s largest computer companies, with operations in over 175 countries. This week, the company agreed to acquire Red Hat Inc., $172.24, New York symbol RHT. That firm is a leading developer of software for cloud-based computing systems, which let users access files and programs stored on remote servers over the Internet. Red Hat’s programs use the open-source Linux operating system. That lets it adapt its software to work on a wide variety of computer hardware and cloud systems. IBM will pay $190.00 a share in cash for Red Hat. That a 62% premium over the share price before the offer. If you include Red Hat’s debt, the total purchase price is $34 billion. This is the biggest acquisition in IBM’s history. To put that amount in perspective, IBM’s market cap (the total value of all outstanding shares) is $105.1 billion. The company held cash and investments of $14.5 billion (as…