Nutanix stock rockets toward a 5-month high after WSJ report of buyout interest

Shares of Nutanix Inc.
NTNX,
+0.76%
soared 20.2% toward a five-month high in premarket trading Friday, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the cloud services company has received buyout interest and is exploring a sale. The WSJ report, which cited people familiar with the matter, said Nutanix is expected to target private-equity and industry players for a sale. It is still very uncertain if a deal can be made, the WSJ report said, as a buyer would likely have to pay a large premium to Nutanix’s stock closing price of $21.15 on Thursday, which implied a market capitalization of $4.80 billion. The stock, which is on track to open at the highest price seen during regular-session hours since May 5, has run up 48.7% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+2.60%
has slipped 3.2%.