Will 3Com Go Private?
Mary Crane, 10.05.06, 5:22 PM ET

3Com
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Shares of 3Com surged as much as 15% Thursday on rumors that the networking hardware and software company may be bought by a private equity firm.

The stock, which has traded between $3.47 and $5.70 for the past 52 weeks, closed at $5.02 after a day of heavy trading on Wall Street.

Rumor has it that an unnamed private equity group is willing to pay $7 per share for 3Com (nasdaq: COMS - news - people ).

But Manuel J. Recarey, an analyst with Kaufman Brothers, was skeptical.

"It just a rumor," he told Forbes.com. "ItWall Street being Wall Street."

3Com has a 51% stake in a joint venture with China&＃39;s Huawei. The venture is called H3C.

In a report to investors Thursday, UBS analyst Long Jiang wrote that 3Com efforts to up its stake in H3C could be a potential stock catalyst, he said.

3Com has its problems, said Jiang, who maintained a "buy" rating and $5.60 price target on company stock. An interested buyer would have to take into account 3Com depressed operating structure, ongoing cash burn, and its lack of near-term growth catalysts, according to the analyst.