The business stories that matter, by Fortune's Colin Barr
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May 12, 2008, 3:23 pm

EDS thunders higher on HP deal report

EDS (EDS) shares spiked after The Wall Street Journal reported Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is near a deal to acquire the computer services company for $12 billion to $13 billion. A deal, which the Journal reports could be announced as soon as Tuesday, would value EDS shares in the mid-$20s, up from $18.86 at the close Friday. Update: HP confirms it is talking with EDS about a “possible business combination.”

The acquisition would be HP’s biggest since CEO Mark Hurd took over in 2005, eclipsing the company’s 2006 purchase of software company Mercury Interactive. HP shares have more than doubled since Hurd arrived - but as Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky recently pointed out, Hurd is never satisfied with what others might deem success. “You should think of HP as a company of transformation with a bunch of mini-transformations within that,” Hurd said back in February. While HP shares dropped 3% on word of the possible deal, EDS shares jumped 25%, hitting $23.70 in afternoon trading.

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Colin Barr covers business and finance for Fortune.com. Previously he was an editor at TheStreet.com and author of the weekly Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street column, and an editor at Dow Jones Newswires.
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