A Potential Suitor for Hewlett-Packard - NYTimes.com

The case for Oracle buying HP: “Analysts reckon H.P. will pull in $13 billion of operating profit in the 2012 fiscal year. Add in a fraction more from Autonomy, and that would bring Oracle a 16 percent annual return on its total investment off the bat. Oracle might be able to squeeze out some costs. If it cut 10 percent of H.P.’s selling, general and administrative expenses and its research and development costs, that would bring $1.6 billion in annual savings. Throw those in, and pro forma for the 2012 fiscal year Oracle’s return on investment would be 18 percent.

Along the way, it is possible that H.P. could slightly ease the burden for an acquirer by selling businesses it bought last year in its $1.2 billion purchase of Palm. The mobile operating system may be in limbo, but the related patents are a hot commodity.”

Yesterday I read that Amazon is angling to buy Palm, so that cash is looking solid.