Qualcomm (QCOM) (EMC) (SAP) (AKAM) Among Top Tech Picks for 2012

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), EMC (NYSE:EMC), SAP (NYSE:SAP), Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) and Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) were among the top picks in the tech sector for 2012, as analysts and advisors look to larger and more stable companies at this time.

All of the companies listed are among the market leaders in their respective categories, and that is what is being looked for after the extremely volatile 2011 year, where top lists were hammered throughout 2011.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) are other top picks for 2012, which along with Oracle, are among the overall favorites of all sectors for 2012.

Akamai Technologies was trading at $32.10, down $0.02, or 0.06 percent, as of 11:10 AM EST. SAP was at $53.05, gaining $0.16, or 0.30 percent. EMC was at $21.82, up $0.23, or 1.07 percent. Qualcomm was at $54.87, rising $0.02, or 0.04. Oracle was at $25.78, down $0.02, or 0.08 percent.

Ex-Dividend for (SAP) (SLF) (STM) (SYA) (VLCCF) (WSC) is May 23

The ex-dividend date for Sap AG (NYSE:SAP), Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF), STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE:STM), Symetra Financial Corporation (NYSE:SYA), Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. (NASDAQ:VLCCF) and Wesco Financial Corporation (AMEX:WSC) is May 23.

Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) pays a dividend of $0.38 with a yield of 4.75 percent.

Luxottica Group S.p.A. (LUX) pays a dividend of $0.47 with a yield of 1.44 percent.

STMicroelectronics NV (STM) pays a dividend of $0.09 with a yield of 2.92 percent.

Symetra Financial Corporation (SYA) pays a dividend of $0.06 with a yield of 1.78 percent.

Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. (VLCCF) pays a dividend of $0.50 with a yield of 8.75 percent.

Wesco Financial Corporation (WSC) pays a dividend of $0.42 with a yield of 0.43 percent.

Lawson Software (LWSN) Gets $1.8 billion Bid

Lawson Software (NASDAQ:LWSN) announced it had received an unsolicited bid from privately held software company Infor and Golden Gate Capital to acquire all its outstanding common stock at $11.25 a share in cash.

Shares of the software maker closed on Friday at $11.55, after having risen 18 percent since Tuesday, when Reuters reported it had hired Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) to explore a sale of the business.

The offer price from Infor and Golden Gate Capital would value Lawson at $1.8 billion.

Lawson said in a release it is conducting talks with Infor and Golden Gate, but there is no guarantee an agreement will be reached.

Other possible bidders mentioned by sources are Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and SAP (XETRA:SAPG.DE).




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AMD (AMD): Take Me To Your Leader

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) is starting to make some shareholders a little nervous, as after the company quickly got rid of CEO Dirk Meyer in January, there has been nothing to indicate there is a serious search going on, especially with the vulnerability of competitors Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), which strong leadership could have been able to exploit.

"You'd think it was in AMD's best interest to plug this glaring hole in its leadership structure, and I mean pronto. But it's almost two months later, and we haven't heard a peep about CEO candidates yet. In the meantime, several of Meyer's most trusted lieutenants have either left AMD outright or at least announced their intentions to move on," said Motley Fool.

"To put that delay into perspective, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) was leaderless for about six weeks after the Mark Hurd debacle before bringing aboard Leo Apotheker from his cushy CEO post at SAP (NYSE:SAP), a global giant in enterprise software. AMD's search is about to roll into week number nine, making it slower than what the arguably more bureaucratic HP processes could muster.

"Sure, AMD has less clout than giant HP and will probably not be able to pry a reigning CEO away from a rival. That makes for a slower search. I'd also hate for AMD to rush into a bad decision for obvious reasons - the medicine has to be better than the disease."

AMD closed Wednesday at $8.67, down $0.32, or 3.56 percent.




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SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) Battling $211.7 Million Interest Charge in Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL) Case

Although SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) intends to battle the overall verdict in the copyright case they lost to Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL), they added that the $211.7 million in interest also awarded by the jury is "duplicative."

SAP said, “Even if prejudgment interest were not duplicative, the jury’s award, if it stands, more than adequately accomplishes the goals” in relationship to copyright protections, concluding the jury award “fully compensates, and, really, overcompensates Oracle."

In November a jury ruled that SAP AG did infringe upon a copyright of Oracle and awarded them $1.3 billion, including the $211.7 million in interest.

Oracle maintains the interest should go back as far as 2005 and 2006, when SAP should have at that time negotiated for a license for the software copyrights they infringed upon.