PE and synergy

When you consider the statements made by both Cellestis and Qiagen executives regarding synergy there seems little doubt that for both companies they are comparable.

"We believe QIAGEN as an industry-leading company provides the best strategic fit in terms of capabilities and resources. As part of QIAGEN, we will be able to accelerate our growth much faster than as a stand-alone company and offer even greater benefits to patients and healthcare providers."

Tony Radford, Reuters

One would then (reasonably) think that the performance of both companies would be comparable - and to some extent they are. Consider their respective PE ratios,

QGEN $19.07 PE 32.07
CST $3.12 PE 32.70

At $3.12 Cellestis looks to have reached a fair market value comparable with Qiagen. As far as we know Qiagen is not for sale so the fair market value does not include a premium for control. We can only assume what the current earnings of Cellestis are.