PeopleSoft Inc’s shares have surged 25% in the last week on fresh conjecture that the enterprise resource planning software vendor is about to be taken over. Its stock closed at $17.833 yesterday, up more than 10% on the day. IT services and systems management software vendor, Computer Associates International Inc, which is known to be interested in selling ERP applications, is cited by many as a potential buyer.
The stock has also been buoyed by expectations that many of PeopleSoft’s corporate clients, now largely free of Year 2000 code conversion, will begin to order ERP software again. A Y2K moratorium on purchases plus corporate focus on e-commerce and customer relationship management software have blighted many ERP vendors this year.
