Did Hewlett-Packard Become A Day Trader?

Last week, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) made the decision to spin off its computer business, and discontinue supporting and creating new products based on its acquisition of Palm, and its WebOS operating system.

WebOS was supposed to save HP and let it compete with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android platform. After paying $1.2 billion for Palm, many thought HP was just going to throw it away, but after the recent developments in patent acquisition by Google, Apple, and others, could HP have realized that it is better off selling the patents, and perhaps acting like a daytrader?

Eric Jackson, of IronFire Capital certainly thinks so.

Jacskon wrote an article for Forbes, and said that according to ZDNet, HP could have acquired as many as 4,000 patents from Palm. Based on the $750,000 per patent price Google paid for Motorola Mobility, HP could get as much as $3 billion for its Palm patents.

While no one is expecting HP to go into the patent flipping business, it is certainly an interesting development that proves Leo Apotheker and his team might be smarter than many have initially given him credit for.

It has been a tough time for Apotheker, as growth has slowed to a halt in the PC business, and the company is feverishly trying to expand into software and services. Software has higher margins than the PC business, which is notoriously low margin. Some have even gone so far as to speculate that Apotheker may regret taking the job from Mark Hurd. Hurd left after a scandal, and joined Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]).

If HP is able to at least get back the $1.2 billion it paid for Palm, and then some, it could very well prove to be the "best worst" acquisition in corporate history. We are seeing patent wars, as companies try to own as much of the smartphone and tablet revolution as they possibly can. There is also the major headache of being sued, an outcome, which companies are certainly trying to avoid.

HP may not ever live up to the reputation of Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, Paul Tudor Jones, and others, but a 150% return on your investment is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Those are numbers even Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Citadel are envious of.

ACTION ITEMS:

Bullish:
Traders who believe that HP can sell its Palm patents for a huge profit might want to consider the following trades:

• Go long HP, as it could see a huge boost in the share price on the sale should it materialize.

• Also consider patent plays, such as InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC), Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and potentially Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM).

Bearish:
This is bearish for patent law. The patent laws need to be reformed, to prevent the potential lawsuits that stem from patents.

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