Quest, RIM, SanDisk: Tech Premarket

This story has been updated with RIM's response.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Quest Software (QSFT) climbed 5.42% to $27.64 in premarket trading Monday after announcing the receipt of a "superior proposal" to acquire the company for $27.50 a share.

The software maker was also the most active premarket Nasdaq stocks on share volume of 842,532.

Research In Motion (RIMM) was another big gainer, rising 2.69% to $10.12 after U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times reported that the embattled handset maker is considering splitting itself in two. The plan would involve separating the company's handset manufacturing from its messaging network, according to media reports, which cite The Sunday Times article.

RIM, which reports its first-quarter results after market close on Thursday, nixed the rumor of split.

"RIM has hired advisers to help the Company examine ways to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives," explained a spokesman, in an email to TheStreet. "As [CEO] Thorsten [Heins] said on the Company's fourth-quarter earnings call, 'We believe the best way to drive value for our stakeholders is to execute on our plan to turn the company around.' This remains true."

SanDisk (SNDK) also climbed in premarket trading on Monday, lifted by an upgrade from Goldman Sachs.

Shares of the Flash storage specialist rose 1.49% to $36.90 on Monday after Goldman upgraded the company to buy, citing an attractive entry point for the stock.

"We think the stock can move meaningfully higher through year end as we expect reduced supply growth to drive improved NAND industry fundamentals, which should lead to a gross margin recovery for SanDisk in the second half of 2012," explained Goldman analyst James Schneider, in a note.

SanDisk, which specializes in NAND Flash storage products, closed up 1% during Friday trading.

Facebook (FB) slipped 1.18% to $32.66 before market open on Monday. The social networker was also one of the most active premarket Nasdaq stocks on share volume of 358,280.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers

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