Stock Market

With Microsoft’s recent purchase of online advertising firm aQuantitave, shares for another online advertisement company, ValueClick, have also been rising over the past few days on speculation that Google is interested in snapping up the $2.49 billion company. This week, VCLK has seen its share price rise from about $20 to almost $25 in just two days of trading. The fact that Microsoft paid an exorbitant premium for aQuantitative is driving speculation that if Google does decide to buy ValueClick, they too will pay a premium. On Tuesday, this speculation drove the price up $2.85 per share, or just under 13%.

Although there may be a sell-off of VCLK coming soon–this is all speculation, after all–many analysts view the company as a buy, regardless of whether or not one of the big boys comes knocking. Vishesh Kumar in an article on the subject at thestreet.com, says :

. . .investors have a reason to take a close look at ValueClick even if a deal is not in the works. As the last major independent player in the space, ValueClick may serve as a haven to. . . customers who do not want to take the risk of having their online stats shared with Google and Microsoft — companies they see as competitors.

Google snatched up another online ad company last April, when it outbid Microsoft for DoubleClick, and was bidding on aQuantitative as well.  With Microsoft having won the latest round, investors certainly feel that VCLK is likely the next up on the auction block, and are rushing to get in early.  Only time will tell if this will pay off, but the company’s share price is certainly rising…for the moment.

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