Reply #6: PeopleSoft earnings rise

[jamesinca]

PeopleSoft earnings rise
Stocks gain; Oracle may have to offer more for takeover bid

Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, October 7, 2003

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Shares of PeopleSoft Inc. rose 3.1 percent Monday after the software company said its third-quarter earnings will exceed previous forecasts, creating another wrinkle in Oracle Corp.'s hostile takeover bid of the Pleasanton firm.

PeopleSoft's stock finished regular trading up 62 cents at $20.43, lifting it further past Oracle's buyout offer of $19.50 per share. Analysts said that if Oracle executives want to continue with the takeover plans, they will probably have to pay more.

"PeopleSoft's shareholders have no interest in selling at a discount,'' said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst for FTN Midwest Research, a financial research firm in Cleveland. "I think they'll have to go to $26.''

Jennifer Glass, a spokeswoman for Redwood City's Oracle, tried to shoot down such speculation. In an interview, she said that "Oracle believes $19.50 is still a full, fair offer.''
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They are not going to make it easy for Oracle are they!

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/10/07/BUG9Q26KPH1.DTL