- Commentary -

September 22, 2009, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Philip Holmes) - Stocks ended mixed on Monday as investors sold bank, oil & gas and consumer shares amid fears that summer’s exuberance might still prove irrational. We’ll see if the Fed is inclined to agree this week.

The NASDAQ enjoyed signs of heady optimism when PC-maker Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) put in a $30 per share bid for IT outsourcing firm Perot Systems. Many analysts think the deal, in which Dell will pay a 67.5% premium for Perot, strains credibility. But Dell is looking to the advantage that rivals IBM (NYSE: IBM) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) enjoy in the lucrative service sector, and wants a piece.

Perot is specialized in healthcare and federal government customers, both of which Dell covets. Interesting wrinkle to consider: healthcare reform. Whichever way policy turns, there will be massive new business in the air for a firm like Perot as either 1. the Feds scramble to set up a massive public insurance company, 2. insurers scramble to take on millions of new policy holders, 3. state governments are swamped with new Medicaid obligations or 4. any combination of the above.

Forget all of that if no major health-care overhaul gets passed. But it’s a safe bet that something big will pass, and that Perot stands to grow its business in that arena.

Interesting caveat: broke state governments stiff Perot on existing contracts. This, too, could come to pass in the near future. But the health-care angle might justify paying a premium for Ross Perot’s company. Maybe not 67%, but hey, green shoots and all that…

[Go to http://www.financialwire.net/?s=philip+holmes to see more commentaries by Philip Holmes.]

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