Fusion-io (FIO) Moves Higher as M&A Target; Here's Some Candidates...

FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com!

FIO Hot Sheet

Overall Analyst Rating:
NEUTRAL (= Flat)

Fusion-io (NYSE: FIO) is ripping Friday on rumors it might be a takeover target. The company produces products that improve datacenter performance through a process called shared data decentralization...basically, it moves the junk out of the way to make room for more important stuff to get processed first.

That said, one StockTwits blogger listed four companies which might be interested in the company. With it coming public only last June, but being in existence for much longer than that, it's a wonder why one of these larger companies didn't make a move sooner.

A list, in no particular order:

Dell (Nasdaq: DELL). With Michael Dell being a fan of Fusion-io for a while now and the two continually in partnership, this might be the best candidate. Dell also just recently lost a bid for 3Par to Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ). 3Par was another enterprise storage provider. Dell is clearly looking to make a bigger splash in the Enterprise market and Fusion-io might be a great fit for that purpose.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC). Earlier in February, EMC unveiled VFCache, which it hopes will best Fusion-io in the data storage sector. However, the StockTwits blogger says analysts think the technology is still about 2 years behind Fusion-io...meaning it needs a better solution now. Fusion-io CEO David Flynn even poked a little fun at EMCs offering shortly after the announcement.
NetApp (Nasdaq: NTAP). NetApp is also looking to take some market share away from EMC and doesn't currently have a decent SSD product. It might make sense for NetApp to acquire Fusion-io in lieu of developing their own product.
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC). Intel has great SSD products, but those don't necessarily translate into the enterprise market. Further, Fusion-io has a lot of engineering talent, meaning they could load up on SSD tech and keep the pipeline rolling with strong R&D.