Why National Instruments Stock Popped 10% Today
Shares of scientific software maker National Instruments (NASDAQ: NATI) soared 9.7% through 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday -- but if you want to buy into this rally, you had better act quickly. The stock is flying today because the company is being bought out.
This morning, National Instruments rival Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) announced it has signed a "definitive agreement" to acquire National Instruments for $60 per share in cash -- or $8.2 billion in total.
Emerson noted that National Instruments did $1.66 billion in business last year, which results in a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 4.9 on the acquisition -- or roughly twice the valuation of Emerson's own shares (which sell for a P/S ratio of 2.5). Curiously, Emerson appears to be willing to pay this very high premium for an inferior business.
Source Fool.com
