(Midwest does not have a banking relationship with PeopleSoft.) "I think PeopleSoft is buying back its own stock," he said, explaining the relatively small drop in share prices so far. "But that's just a temporary fix." (In January, the company's board authorized a $200 million buyback.) Indeed, one hedge fund manager said he shorted PeopleSoft stock after Oracle sweetened its bid to $26 a share. "Management has been distracted, the first quarter is typically down, and PeopleSoft has a history of missing first quarters," said the manager, who asked to remain anonymous. Like Chowdhry, he thinks the stock could fall into the teens. But several sell-side analysts said that even without the support of an Oracle offer, PeopleSoft's stock is not expensive. "It's one of the cheapest in the software group," said Richard Williams of Summit Analytic Partners. On a price-to-sales ratio, PeopleSoft is at 6.7, compared to an average of 3.4 for other comparable software companies, he said.