When one tiny company takes out another, there can be only one winner.
Accuray
The cash-and-stock deal values TomoTherapy at $4.80 per share, a 31% increase over the previous closing price. Or at least it was before Accuray fell 10% yesterday. Apparently Accuray's investors weren't all that excited about the acquisition.
On one hand, this reminds me of Intuitive Surgical's
But the radiation system business isn't the same as the robotic surgery business because there are a couple of really big players in the space. Intuitive Surgical had -- and still does have -- the market all to itself. Accuray is still going to have to compete with Varian Medical Systems
Having two models to sell should help the combined company work more efficiently; the new company will essentially have double the sales force selling each product. But I'm not sure it'll be enough to get Accuray on a level playing field.
TomoTherapy shareholders are clearly the big near-term winners, but the biggest winner in the acquisition may end up being a company like General Electric
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