Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) is once again rumored to be in the crosshairs of the Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) buyout machine.
Twitter expert Sean Udall doesn't think the deal is likely to happen -- but if it does, it won't come cheap.
"If somebody wants to buy Twitter and actually gets the deal done, I think they're gonna have to pay double what it's currently trading at, which would be roughly $65 billion ," Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, told Benzinga.
Udall said that his "skeptical spidey sense antenna goes through the roof" whenever he hears one of these rumors. He believes the reported deal between Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) makes sense, but he is not sure about Google linking up with Twitter.
"I'm sort of surprised that Twitter didn't get acquired...when it was a $30 stock," said Udall.
Shares of Twitter closed at $52.87 , up 3.99 percent.
Related Link: Jim Cramer Tweets Why People Should Own Twitter
Why Settle For Less?
If a suitor came forward and offered $80 a share, some investors might be intrigued.
"That'd be a nice short-term gain," said Udall.
However, he would prefer that Twitter remain an independent player.
"It's a very powerful company already," he said. "I don't want Twitter to get bought out. I don't think most shareholders who believe that story want Twitter to get [acquired]. I think you'd have to pay 100 percent premium. I don't see shareholder approval happening at anything less than $60-$65 billion ."
Even then shareholders could be missing out. Long-term, Udall believes that Twitter could be worth several times its current value and become one of the most important companies in the world -- if it isn't already.
"Twitter has a lot of upside on its own," Udall added.
Few Could Afford Twitter
Not many companies could afford the social media empire. Aside from Google, Udall pointed to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) as the most affluent companies that could realistically acquire Twitter.
"I don't think Twitter wants to be bought," he said. "I think they'd rather do deals with [other companies]."
Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
jmho, John
