Semiconductor stocks pushed higher Friday following comments from Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison, who said the software giant is looking to buy a microchip company.
With mergers and acquisitions having been on the rise in the technology space, investors are speculating on the next takeover target.
Walter Pritchard, an analyst at Citigroup, expects Oracle's move will be very niche. Pritchard thinks Ellison wants get "very deep" in vertical integration, like enterprise information technology services for retail, financials or health care. Pritchard wouldn't speculate on what companies Ellison might be considering, but said they're likely small companies, not large ones. He also thinks the Oracle founder will be looking for the best value.
While the "Fast Money" traders never think it's a good idea to invest in tech on M&A, they did talk about names they like fundamentally.
OptionMONSTER.com co-founder Pete Najarian is seeing a lot of activity in ARM Holdings, which he said is being fueled to the upside. Najarian said there is also a lot of volume coming into NVIDIA's stock. For his part, Najarian recommends buying names that go into popular electronic items, like Apple's iPad.
Zachary Karabell, president of RiverTwice Research, noted that tech has rebounded from some negative news of late. Despite talk of a slowing PC cycle and light consumer demand, the space has benefited from stronger-than-expected demand from outside the US. He thinks there is room in these areas.
Watch the video to see the full conversation on tech—it starts at 1:45.
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GOLD HITS NEW RECORD
Gold rallied to record highs in Europe on Friday, with spot prices knocking on the door of $1,300 an ounce, as expectations grew that further quantitative easing could lead to volatility in the currency markets.
Even at these lofty levels, Steve Grasso of Stuart Frankel said his clients still want to buy the precious metal.
"As long as the Fed continues on this process of discussing QE2 and printing money, they're going to be bullish," Grasso said from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, adding that if the Republicans take control of Congress following the November elections, gold could drop by up to $200 "very quickly."
Joe Terranova, chief market strategist at Virtus Investment Partners, said fear is driving people to gold. He said it's not that they're worried so much about what's happening now, as they're concerned about four years from now.
Watch the video to see the traders' full discussion on gold.
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CALL TO THE FLOOR: EXPRESS