After Taleo, Looking at Other Cloud M&A ‘Hopefuls’ (SKYY, TLEO, ORCL, EQIX, AKAM, RAX, TDC, NTAP, CRM)

It is a bit surprising that First Trust ISE Cloud Computing (NASDAQ: SKYY) is not trading higher than it is after a ‘cloud acquisition’ even if it is a thinly traded ETF compared to other technology funds.  After the Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ: TLEO) acquisition by Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and with the market still holding gains, it would seem likely that investors and speculators would say “more cloud mergers and buyouts are coming this way.”

What is interesting is that Taleo was not even part of this cloud ETF, and many of the ETFs components are not exactly all cloud space players.  Is it fair to lump in all cloud players as targets when one is software and one is hardware?  Be advised, there are some stocks which have had buyout rumors in the past listed below but there are no current rumors we have heard.

Here is the weighting of the cloud ETF’s more cloud-centric companies, with the most recent weightings and some commentary on some of the names:

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) 3.80%…probably too expensive to acquire now on valuation metrics and with a $6.1 billion market cap.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:: AKAM) 3.72%… surged after earnings, now unlikely to be bought on the cheap by would be acquirers.  

Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE: RAX) 3.39%… has been called a buyout candidate before but the company’s line is that it wants to remain independent.

Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) 3.35%… still considered a special situation by some investors but no buyout rumors have proven true, and shares are up big after earnings.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) 3.22%… “The one that got away.”  This used to be a buyout dream stock, but valuation got in the way.  Now at over $14 billion the time may have come and gone.

Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) 3.08%… way too expensive to acquire on a valuation basis.  Cloud is everywhere here in effect as a great benefit, but this one is diversified into CRM and SaaS.

Where this gets interesting is that Taleo is a human resources software maker and perhaps not just cloud software as some of the media headlines would have suggested.  The 18% premium also suggests that paying up for the cloud players is only a limited value.

Just because one buyer buys a loose cloud play in software does not translate to buyouts in hardware. 

JON C. OGG