Filed under: Forecasts, Deals, Ford Motor (F), China, Russia

Finding a buyer for Jaguar and Land Rover has taken a long time. But, it appears that Indian car company Tata now has the poll position to purchase them from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F). The price will be about $2 billion. According to The Sunday Times, “sources close to the negotiations say an announcement could come in the next fortnight, bringing to an end a six-month auction.”

Even with its need to fund a new health care pool for the UAW, it is not clear that the move is a good idea.

Ford is being hurt by a falling market share in the U.S., and the total car market here is also falling. Higher fuel prices and a damaged housing market are prone to take a further toll on the auto industry in 2008.

In Jaguar and Rover, Ford has two premium, global brands. As a strong middle class emerges in China and Russia, these are the kind of vehicles that are likely to sell well. Ford only has modest operations in these countries.

Selling the two brands might end up being very short-sighted.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Deals, Industry, Apple Inc (AAPL), Palm Inc (PALM)

Silicon Alley Insider has an interesting take on Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) The company has a market cap of $573 million. As of its last earnings report, the company had $369 million in cash and $259 million in short-term investments.

Although the news is deeply insulting to Palm’s board and management, it might make the company an excellent investment.

Palm runs close to breakeven. In the last quarter, it last $841,000 on $361 million in revenue. The company has brought in the former CFO of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), along with one of the executives who helped create the iPod.

With the company’s balance sheet and market value being so close together, where is the risk in Palm? The answer is that there probably isn’t much.

The ratio also makes the company a better talkover target. The net cost to buy the company is next to nothing.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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