Palm, in case you hadn't noticed, is still a free and independent republic, despite rampant speculation that the Treo maker would be snapped up by a handset maker or private equity company this week.
Following the company's not-as-bad-as-it-could-have-been financial report Thursday, a different crew of prognosticators are now saying a buyout probably isn't imminent, reasoning the company is too expensive and too healthy.
"There is no way a large company would be buying Palm as a strategic play at its current price," said Rob Sanderson, an analyst with American Technology Research. "It would be easier to beat them up in the marketplace and then buy the operation on the cheap later."
Palm CEO Ed Colligan helped dampen merger zeal when asked about the prospect during a conference call with financial analysts Thursday, saying exactly what'd you'd expect a besieged executive to say, but with the steely resolve of King Leonidas. "As far as what you need to understand is that we are running the business," Colligan said on the call. "That's what this management team is 100% focused on, is running an independent supplier of mobile computing products into the marketplace. End of story."
Palm's Fortunes: Cloudy Again[BusinessWeek]
Palm shares up following 'solid' results [MarketWatch]
