“Shares of biometric sensor technology maker Authentec (AUTH) are up $3.45, over 68%, at $8.52, after the company this morning said Apple (AAPL) agreed to acquire it for $8 per share,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s. “Why is the stock price higher than the offer price? The company said it is restricted from soliciting offers, but not from entertaining unsolicited competing offers.”
Ray reports, “In a note this afternoon, Beating Wall Street Financial Inc.’s Hamed Khorsand, who rates Authentec shares a Buy, with a $5 price target, thinks the company may well get other bids. ‘Our assumption is based on the competitive nature of the mobile market between AAPL, Samsung Electronics, and Google. AAPL is validating the technology AUTH has developed, and with an acquisition of AUTH, AAPL could cause competitors to be shut-off from using such features. Therefore, there could be other parties interested in taking a serious look at purchasing AUTH. If not for the technology AUTH owns, then for forcing AAPL to pay up.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wonder if Apple will let themselves get “AdMobbed” again? And, who’s the “Quattro” of the biometric sensor market?
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