We know the companies have war chests. Cisco (CSCO) has raised a lot of money, NetApp (NTAP) has raised money. EMC (EMC) has raised money. The last two are in a bidding war for Data Domain (DDUP) that seems to be incapable of producing a loser, as all of the stocks involved have been in the move.

If EMC (EMC) keeps raising its bid for Data Domain (DDUP), could it possibly have to sell the rest of VMware (VMW) to raise some capital? (We've been thinking that's possible as we pick away forAction Alerts PLUS.)

Forward PE: 70.26 Short Ratio: 27.9

0.1%

Buy - Price 26.34 on Jan. 2
by Needham & Co.

Our 32 target [is] based on 6 to 7 times our '09 revenue estimate of $300 million plus net cash of about $3 a share. End-user surveys indicate that data de-duplication is one of the top storage technologies gaining rapid adoption...DDUP has an early lead, with about 50% share, in a category estimated to reach $1 billion by '09. Its technology keys include global compression (20 times data reduction), invulnerability architecture and ease of integration into existing infrastructure....DDUP provides a compelling value proposition versus tape [and]... disk systems...Market cap: $1.8 billion.

Data Domain

Data Domain

Recent IPO was way overvalued by both the Underwriters and the street.

he is short Data Domain (DDUP), which provides back-up disk- storage products. He says the company faces "a ton of competition," and he finds its $1.9 billion market cap way too high; the stock trades at more than 17 times expected 2007 revenue.