Dell’s planned purchase of enterprise data-storage giant EMC (EMC) for $67 billion could kick off a new round of mergers and acquisitions in the information-technology hardware sector, analysts say. The deal, announced Monday morning, would be the largest-ever pure-technology acquisition, topping chipmaker Avago Technologies’ (AVGO) pending $37 billion agreement to acquire Broadcom (BRCM). Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners agreed
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) will buy data center chipmaker PMC-Sierra (PMCS) for $2 billion, following fellow Apple (AAPL) iPhone suppliers Avago Technologies (AVGO) and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) in making acquisitions. Skyworks also gave strong early Q4 earnings. Skyworks announced late Monday that it will pay $10.50 a share in cash for PMC-Sierra, a 37% premium to Monday’s close at 7.69. Skyworks expects the deal to boost annual EPS by 75 cents.
Earnings season is coming back around the bend, and Facebook (FB), Starbucks (SBUX) and Avago Technologies (AVGO) are just a few of the notable stocks on this week’s IBD 50 roundup. While many IBD 50 companies are expected to report a quarter-over-quarter earnings slowdown, Wall Street expects Facebook’s earnings growth to accelerate to 21% from the previous quarter’s 16% EPS gain. The social networking heavyweight, which reports Q3 results on