Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) gets lift from patent sale speculation

Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) shares rallied 11.5% to $3.00, a day after The Wall Street Journal reported the company had begun exploring a possible sale of digital-imaging patents. Volume for the stock totaled 58.7 million shares, crushing a daily average of 13.1 million.

The Journal reported Wednesday that Kodak, through investment firm Lazard, had begun shopping around a portfolio of 1,100 patents. Kodak advertised the move a month ago, but investors appear to be paying closer attention now that Google Inc. said it would pay $12.5 billion to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., chiefly for its patents.

The Journal, citing anonymous sources, reported the patents have drawn interest from a “strategic buyer in the wireless industry looking to use the patents for defensive protection.”

Kodak declined to comment on the patent sale.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 18th, 2011 at 3:42 pm by Glenn and is filed under Consumer Discretionary Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.