Jumps $3.625 to $53.125 in Heavy Volume : RCA Stock Rises on New Rumors

The stock of RCA, buffeted for months by rumors of imminent mergers, jumped $3.625 to $53.125 in heavy trading Tuesday amid new speculation that the electronics and entertainment giant might be a takeover target or might be preparing to divest itself of more businesses.

With 2.51 million shares changing hands, RCA’s volume was the sixth heaviest for the day on the New York Stock Exchange. An RCA spokesman said the company had no idea what caused the jump, “though we’ve heard 14 new rumors today alone.”

The spokesman said no news announcements were planned.

Analysts said Wall Street recently has been swept by rumors that RCA stock has been bought by the Bass brothers, the wealthy Fort Worth investors who aided Burbank-based Walt Disney Productions in its struggle to escape an unfriendly takeover last year. A spokesman for the Basses said the family had no comment on the RCA rumors.

Separately, analysts said rumors have circulated on Wall Street that the company plans a major repurchase of its own stock or a restructuring that includes the sale of its National Broadcasting Co. unit and other assets.

Interest in the stock has been sharpened since last spring by intermittent behind-the-scenes merger discussions between RCA and Los Angeles-based MCA that have yet to produce any results.

The company has been viewed as an attractive takeover candidate for several reasons.

The company owns NBC, a television network that has enjoyed improving fortunes at a time when media assets generally have sold at high premiums. RCA has a strong balance sheet and is cash rich, holding about $1.1 billion, according to the company’s spokesman.

Many analysts, moreover, contend that the company’s stock price is far below what it should be considering the value of the company’s assets. Several maintain that RCA’s stock should be valued between $60 and $90 a share.

“The stock price should be jumping on the fundamental value of the company alone,” said Alan Kassan, an analyst with First Manhattan brokerage in New York.

In addition to NBC radio and television networks, RCA has defense and aerospace businesses and makes televisions and phonograph records, electronic parts and broadcast and satellite equipment. It has been cutting back weaker divisions, including its semiconductor and broadcast equipment operations.

RCA’s own concern about the prospect of a takeover has been apparent in the last two years as it has adopted a series of anti-takeover devices.

Only last September, the company adopted a so-called poison pill anti-takeover provision. The provision is designed to give RCA shareholders special share purchase rights in the event of a takeover attempt, thereby making such an attempt prohibitively expensive.