M & A. That's mergers and acquisitions. They're all over the financial pages. Intel (INTC) is buying Infineon's wireless division for $1.4 billion so the chip manufacturer can diversify beyond computers. HP (HPQ) or Dell (DELL) will end up with 3PAR, a cloud-computing company, at a cost of $2 billion or more. Carl Icahn, the billionaire financier, is making a hostile tender bid for Lions Gate (LGF), the film and television producer. 3M (MMM) is buying Attenti Holdings, an Israeli maker of remote monitoring technology used to track people, for $230 million. Exelon (EXC) is picking up a division of Deere (DE), a renewable energy unit, for about $900 million so it can enter the wind-power segment. Sanofi-Aventis (SNYNF) is trying to buy Genzyme (GENZ) but the board won't accept the bid of $18.5 billion. The board is open to better numbers. There are many more.

Is all this good for investors? Or is there some bad in there?

The recent news about Dell, Inc. (DELL), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), and 3Par, Inc. (PAR) is pretty interesting. Check out this article to be brought up to speed about the strange bidding war that's taken place. All of it got me thinking about Dell's equity.

At the moment, Dell is closer to its 52-week low of $11.34 than its 52-week high of $17.52. It finished today's session at $12.13. If you look at the narrow range through the perspective of a one-year chart, you'll note that the stock has experienced a pullback, one that began near the end of April.

Just when the American consumer is about to throw in the proverbial towel on the economic recovery, Dell Inc. (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) erupt into a classic black-heart-of-capitalism, knock down, drag out, donnybrook of a bidding war over data warehousing upstart 3PAR, Inc. (PAR), a Silicon Valley-based company that is an early entrant in the much-ballyhooed cloud computing, virtualization, optimization revolution. Damn the consumer, business is business!

So in the wake of the 3PAR bidding war, which tech stocks are on the auction block as the next buyout targets?

Since its IPO a couple years ago, the shares of 3Par (PAR) have been fairly lackluster. Of course, this changed over the past week as the stock price has surged from $9.50 to $26. To ignite things, Dell (DELL) agreed to buy the company and then HP (HPQ) made a rival bid. And yes, Dell has come back to the table with yet a higher bid. Although, based on the current stock price of 3Par, investors think the bidding may continue.

Stocks were indicated weak all morning after a miserable durable goods figure for July showed a large drop in many segments and after new housing sales were about as equally poor as yesterday's existing home sales. Nouriel Roubini even went as far as to call the double-dip recession being above a 40% chance now. Many stocks rallied after being lower all day, including many counter-intuitive sectors. Most likely that was a result of bottom fishing or bargain hunting. No more, no less.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,060.06 +19.61 (0.20%)
S&P 500 1,055.33 +3.46 (0.33%)
Nasdaq 2,141.54 +17.78 (0.84%)

3Par Inc. (PAR) closed up 94 cents to $27.03. Hewlett-Packard company (HPQ) offered to acquire PAR for $24 per share in cash. 3Par, a provider of utility storage, received an offer from Dell, Inc. (DELL) for $18 per share in cash on August 16. PAR overall option implied volatility of 49 is below its 26-week average of 56 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

EMC Corporation (EMC) closed down 45 cents to $18.08. EMC is trading below its 200 day moving average of $18.31. September put option implied volatility is at 30, December is at 33, April is at 36; versus its 26-week average of 28 according to Track Data, suggesting larger 2011 price movement.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

For investors, Dell, Inc.'s (DELL) latest moves have been somewhat puzzling. Of course, it looks like the company will engage in a bidding war for 3Par (PAR), which is a high-end storage provider. Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) offered $1.6 billion for the company, which was well north of Dell's $1.15 billion offer. If Dell makes a higher bid, it would certainly be a drain on resources. After all, the company's market cap is only $22 billion whereas HP's is $89 billion.

But in the midst of the dealmaking, Dell still has to run its business. Unfortunately, things have not been so great. For example, it is only now that Dell has released a smartphone in the U.S. market.

Today was one of those perfect storms where nothing went right for the bulls. China's oil demand was brought down unofficially, existing home sales was the worst in years, Richmond Fed index data did not have any oomph, and Europe is acting like the problems of May and June are starting back up. The DJIA even momentarily went back under 10,000. Yet the market actually held up considering the run of bad news.

Here were today's unofficial closing levels:

Dow Jones 10,040.45 -133.96 (-1.32%)
S&P 500 1,051.88 -15.48 (-1.45%)
Nasdaq 2,123.76 -35.87 (-1.66%)

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Despite a positive open after much selling last week, the markets could not hang on to gains. The Chicago Midwest manufacturing data was not as negative as the Philly Fed from last week. It was another strong mergers and acquisitions day. Still, investors sold stocks on another dog day of August. The end of day trading showed that sellers still had a bit more power than buyers. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,174.41 -39.21 (-0.38%)
S&P 500 1,067.36 -4.33 (-0.40%)
Nasdaq 2,159.63 -20.13 (-0.92%)

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It appears that computer firm Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) was not going to sit idly by and allow Dell (DELL) to purchase data storage firm 3Par (PAR). Reportedly, HP is bidding $1.5 billion for 3Par, more than Dell's offer of $1.13 billion.

This potential bidding war between California-based HP and Dell demonstrates that both companies are attempting to find larger profits by moving beyond personal computers. HP's offer comes to $24 per share, which is a 33% premium over Dell's $18-per-share bid.

Early Monday morning, Dell (DELL) announced that it is buying data storage company 3Par (PAR). The price tag for the transaction is roughly $1.13 billion in cash, which translates to $18 per share for 3Par. Compared to Friday's closing price ($9.65), Dell is paying an 87% premium for 3Par. 3Par specializes in products that are designed to minimize the costs of greater capacity and energy.

Dell expects the deal to help its adjusted profit during fiscal 2012. The boards of both companies approved the deal, which should close by the end of the year. Obviously, we will see shares of 3Par advance to the $18 region, as Dell has assigned this price on the firm's shares. However, what will we see out of Dell?

Analyst upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded Hospira (HSP) to Outperform from market Perform based on valuation, expectations that the company will be able to fix manufacturing issues quickly, and views Propolfol and biosimilars as underappreciated. The firm has a $63 price target on the stock.
• Citigroup upgraded eBay (EBAY) to Buy from Hold citing valuation and improvements to Marketplace. The firm keeps a $28 price target for shares.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Coca-Cola Femsa (KOF) to Hold from Sell citing lessening acquisition risk and raised its target for shares to $66 from $61.
• Blackstone (BX) and Simon Property (SPG) were upgraded to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman.
• BreitBurn Energy (BBEP) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• SL Green Realty (SLG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Over the years, Dell (DELL) has seen a relentless attack on its PC business. Then again, in the tech industry, it is common for high fliers to wind-up in the dust bin of history. Unfortunately, Dell seems to be moving in this direction -- and shareholders have suffered mightily.

Traditionally, Dell's main threats have come from major PC operators like HP (HPQ) and Lenovo. But perhaps Apple (AAPL) is the biggest threat now. After all, the company's Mac business is gaining momentum and the iPad has become a runaway top seller.

Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) closed down $3.70 to $42.60. HPQ's CEO resigned on August 6. HPQ sees FY10 revenue $125.3B-$125.5B vs. consensus of $124.52B. HPQ is expected to report EPS on August 19. Call option volume of 77K contracts compares to put volume of 84K contracts. August put option implied volatility of 34, September and November is at 32; above its 26-week average of 28 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Dell, Inc. (DELL) is expected to report Q1 EPS on August 20. DELL August 15 straddle is priced at 77 cents, November is at $2.00. August put option implied volatility is at 42, September is at 35, November is at 39; verses its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement after EPS.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

A rise in jobless claims was trumped by a housing number that was not so bad. There was also a rise in oil prices after NOAA released the path of Tropical Depression Three, revealing that it could be a threat to the Gulf of Mexico oil infrastructure. Regardless of the market move, this was another light-volume trading day. Ben Bernanke's testimony acted as a wash between yesterday and today because his lack of growth stance yesterday was negated today with more certain comments about new tools for the FOMC to use to counter a slowdown.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,345.76 +225.23 (2.23%)
S&P 500 1,093.66 +24.07 (2.25%)
Nasdaq 2,245.89 +58.56 (2.68%)

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