Snap, crackle, pop!
That's the soundtrack to InterDigital's
Wireless patents are hot, hot, hot right now after a treasure trove of Nortel patents sold for a whopping $4.5 billion. The ragtag yet ritzy consortium of buyers includes unlikely allies Apple
Google
Given the buyout electricity crackling around InterDigital, you'd think that an earnings report might not make much of a difference to the stock -- and you'd be right.
Second-quarter revenue fell 23% year-over-year to $70 million, mainly due to a one-time back payment from LG Electronics in the year-ago period. Earnings dropped about 50% to $0.37 per share. None of that mattered, and share prices shot up 6% in early trading only to settle down at a small one-day loss later on.
Google is clearly hungry for defensive patents, having just bought a basket of more than 1,000 technology patents from IBM
It's a strategy of mutually assured destruction. "Sue us and we'll sue you right back," followed by back-and-forth negotiations and perhaps a settlement. Woe betide those who come to this gunfight equipped with anything less than a howitzer.
Will InterDigital become Google's little friend? Investors seem to think so, and it does make a ton of sense. To follow the company into perhaps its last days as a stand-alone business, just click here to add InterDigital to your watchlist. It's a great way to stay on top of news and analysis of any stock you'd care to investigate.