InterDigital Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of mobile technology collector InterDigital (NAS: IDCC) jumped as much as 12.2% today, mainly in a huge-volume spike shortly after lunch.

So what: InterDigital fell on Monday as Google (NAS: GOOG) chose to buyMotorola Mobility (NYS: MMI) rather than investing in this patent cache. Today, Reuters reports that Apple (NAS: AAPL) , Nokia (NYS: NOK) , and QUALCOMM (NAS: QCOM) remain interested in the company and that's good enough for a terrific price jump.

Now what: This stock has been feast or famine over the last few weeks as the value of patent portfolios in the mobile space has risen on the back of very public patent wars. I'd be surprised if InterDigital makes it until Christmas as an independent company, though it's anyone's guess exactly who the buyer might be. Given that the share price has nearly doubled since mid-June, I'm also not sure if there's much room for a buyout premium in this valuation. But a bidding war is not out of the question -- these 8,800 wireless patents are just that useful as offensive weapons or defensive shields.

Interested in more info on InterDigital? Add it to your watchlist.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Anders Bylund owns shares of Google, but he holds no other position in any company mentioned. Click here to see his holdings and a short bio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google, QUALCOMM, and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of InterDigital, Google, and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating a bull call spread position in Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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