The truth is, any of these companies could do much more with Zynga, than Zynga can do alone.
One of the main things a larger company could do is, they could blend Zynga’s research and development spending into their own. In the current quarter, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) spent 49% of their revenue on R&D. By comparison, Activision spent 9.44%, EA spent 23.74%, and Facebook spent 20.1%. There is little question that these larger companies could get Zynga’s R&D spending to a more reasonable level and be equally as effective.
The 1.67 billion Pound Elephant In The Room
Everything else that I’ve said about Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is dwarfed by one simple fact, the company is cash flow positive, and has $1.67 billion in net cash and investments. Just to give you an idea of how large this cash pile is, Zynga’s current market capitalization is only $2.68 billion. This means an acquiring company could buy Zynga at today’s prices, and the company’s operations are only being valued at about $1 billion.
If Zynga had any debt, this would be a potential deal breaker, but they don’t. If Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) were burning through cash, I would say stay away. However, Zynga produced $23 million in free cash flow in the current quarter. The most logical suitor to me would be Activision-Blizzard. The company has $4.6 billion of cash on their balance sheet, and the company’s Blizzard division is the class of subscription gaming. Imagine if Blizzard had the ability to promote hit casual games like Farmville 2, Cityville, Words With Friends, and more along with Diablo III, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft.
That being said, EA might snatch Zynga away, but they would have to do either a stock and debt deal, as they only have $1.12 bil. in net cash. Facebook could use Zynga’s games to increase engagement and diversify their revenue. With over $9 billion in cash, Facebook could certainly afford an all cash deal. The bottom line is, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA)’s market cap. is primarily made up of cash. The company is cash flow positive and retiring shares. They may not be the perfect company, but it’s easy to see why a larger player would want to acquire the company. If you are an investor who likes risk arbitrage, I would put ZNGA on your Watchlist right now.
The article There Are 1.67 Billion Reasons This Company Is a Buy originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Chad Henage.
Chad is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
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