Salesforce.com will upgrade its Chatter enterprise social networking (ESN) application for iOS and release one for the first time for Android on Tuesday, delivering in both new capabilities to integrate them with its main CRM software. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Tag Archives: CRM
j2 Global Acquires MetroFax
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
j2 Global Acquires MetroFax
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)– j2 Global, Inc. [NASDAQGS:JCOM] today announced that is has acquired MetroFax, Inc., the Bellevue, Washington provider of Internet faxing services and advanced features.
Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed and the financial impact to j2 Global is not expected to be material.
Vista Point Advisors LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the sellers.
About j2 Global
j2 Global (NASDAQGS:JCOM) provides services through its two divisions: Business Cloud Services and Digital Media. The Business Cloud Services Division offers Internet fax, virtual phone, hosted email, email marketing, online backup, unified communications and CRM solutions. It markets its services principally under the brand names eFax®, eVoice®, FuseMail®, Campaigner®, CampaignerCRM®, KeepItSafe®and Onebox® and operates a messaging network spanning 49 countries on six continents. The Digital Media Division consists of Ziff Davis Inc., which offers technology, gaming and lifestyle content through its digital properties which include PCMag.com, IGN.com, AskMen.com, Toolbox.com and others. Ziff Davis properties reach over 53 million global unique visitors per month. Ziff Davis also operates BuyerBase, an advanced digital ad targeting platform, and Ziff Davis B2B, a leading provider of research to enterprise buyers and leads to IT vendors. As of December 31, 2012, j2 Global had achieved 17 consecutive fiscal years of revenue growth. For more information about j2 Global, please visit www.j2global.com.
j2 Global, Inc.
Laura Hinson, 800-577-1790
laura.hinson@j2.com
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Boston Scientific vs. St. Jude: Is Either Stock Worth a Buy?
By Dan Carroll, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
You wouldn’t know that medical device makers Boston Scientific and St. Jude Medical are having a tough time by checking out their stock charts alone. Boston Scientific‘s hovering near a 52-week high after pulling in gains of nearly 28% to start 2013; St. Jude has also done well, racking up more than 17% year-to-date. But short-term gains can be deceiving, and both companies’ recent financial struggles have kept investors awake at night.
There’s always hope for beaten-down companies looking to turn things around, however. Today, we pit Boston Scientific and St. Jude head-to-head to see which company — if either — is worth your investment.
Boston Scientific: Escaping the CRM market
It’s no secret that Boston Scientific‘s been struggling financially lately. The company’s revenue fell nearly 5% year-over-year in 2012, although it did manage to slow its decline in its most recent quarter. The company’s top two divisions by sales, Interventional Cardiology and Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM), have led things lower.
The CRM market‘s stagnation has crushed every company involved, from Boston Scientific to the largest companies in the medical device market, such as rival Medtronic . Boston Scientific‘s taken a particularly tough blow, however: While Medtronic’s CRM sales have only lost 3% over the past nine months, Boston’s took a crushing 7% blow in 2012. The company needs to move away from this field in the future in order to succeed, as the CRM market has already matured in advanced economies and won’t see much future growth for a while.
Unfortunately, CRM sales make up 26% of Boston Scientific‘s total revenue right now. Interventional Cardiology sales, which fell more than 14% last year, make up another 30% of the total; in all, Boston Scientific‘s exposed to revenue black holes for more than half of its sales. That won’t impress growth investors.
However, the company has been making small but important steps to diversify into higher-growth fields. Boston Scientific‘s inroads into the stent market should appeal to long-term investor. Stents have become a promising field, and Boston Scientific‘s Promus line has ranked among the top-selling drug-eluting stents alongside Medtronic’s Resolute and the clear market leader in Abbott‘s Xience. Boston Scientific also has a next-generation bioabsorbable stent in development, the Synergy, which has already received CE Mark approval. It’s not quite as revolutionary as Abbott’s next-gen fully dissolving Absorb stent, but it’s enough to ensure Boston’s competitiveness in the industry going forward.
The company’s neuromodulation unit has also shown impressive growth despite its small size — it only makes up around 5% of the company’s total sales — but are these glimmers of hope enough to beat St. Jude?
St. Jude: Beating back the woes
St. Jude isn’t immune to the CRM market‘s woes; if anything it’s in an even worse position than Boston Scientific. Nearly 52% of the company’s total sales came from its CRM business in 2012, and with sales falling 6%, that’s not a statistic that …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Sorin Group Announces Final Financial Results for 2012
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Sorin Group Announces Final Financial Results for 2012
MILAN–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Consolidated results for 2012:
- Revenues were €731.1 million;
- Adjusted net profit° was €41.9 million;
- Net financial debt as of December 31, 2012 was down to €87.8 million,compared to €105.9 million as of December 31, 2011.
For 2013, the Company expects:
- Cardiopulmonary to recover from the earthquakes and to grow revenues by approximately 10%* over 2012;
- The remaining businesses to grow by 3-5%* over 2012;
- Adjusted net profit° of approximately €55-60 million.
For the first quarter of 2013, Sorin Group expects revenues of approximately €178-180 million**.
* * *
At a meeting held today and chaired by Rosario Bifulco, the Sorin S.p.A. (MIL:SRN) Board of Directors approved the Draft of the 2012 Financial Statements.
“2012 final results are substantially in line with the preliminary figures published on February 7, 2013. In 2012 Sorin Group demonstrated the strength of its foundations in successfully recovering from the consequences of the earthquakes in Mirandola and in gaining shares in the CRM and heart valves markets, despite challenging industry dynamics” said André-Michel Ballester, Sorin Group‘s Chief Executive Officer. “In 2013 we are committed to continue executing on our longer-term growth strategy as confirmed by our recent acquisition of Alcard in Brazil and the further investment with option-to-buy in Enopace Biomedical” he added.
CONSOLIDATED RESULTS FOR 2012
In 2012, Sorin Group reported revenues of €731.1 million, a 1.7% decrease (as reported) compared to 2011. Revenues of the product segments not impacted by the earthquakes increased by 5.3% (as reported) or by 2.0%* at constant foreign exchanges over 2011. For a more detailed commentary refer to the press release on 2012 preliminary results dated February 7, 2013 and attached tables.
Wunderman Simplifies Global Structure – Establishes Four Global Divisions – Adds Roles for Creative,
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Wunderman Simplifies Global Structure – Establishes Four Global Divisions – Adds Roles for Creative, Marketing & Innovation and North America
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– After more than a decade of growth, Wunderman, the billion-dollar, number one-ranked digital and CRM agency network, restructured its offer for a new generation of marketers and their need for real-time consumer conversations. WPP (NAS: WPPGY) and part of Young & Rubicam Group.
Chairman and CEO Daniel Morel said Wunderman’s 20+ specialized agencies in social, mobile and data now fall into four divisions each with global reach: Brand Experience, Consumer Engagement, Data & Insights and World Health. This simpler, more transparent organization makes it easier and more efficient for clients to access the expertise they need.
“Our mission is simple. Ensure our clients know what their competition doesn’t, and act upon it quickly. Today, that means tapping into real-time consumer conversations and transactions and connecting them with every bit of data we have accumulated,” Morel said. “Lester Wunderman, our agency founder and chairman emeritus, was prescient in his advocacy for data-driven insights to be at the heart of our business. Today, very few companies can derive as much insight to craft locally relevant communication that can be leveraged globally,” he said.
Wunderman Brand Experience
Focused on brand experience and customer acquisition over digital channels, the Wunderman Brand Experience division provides e-tail environments, online content and mobile innovations, and search and real-time optimization that improve brand image and enhance consumer consideration. It comprises of agencies owned or acquired over the past 10 years and many similar practices we built around the world.
Sam Landers, who heads Designkitchen, has been promoted to president of the Wunderman Brand Experience division and joins the Wunderman Executive Board. Martin Conneen, the global client lead for Nokia, has been promoted to division COO. Landers’ priorities are twofold: 1) create greater continuity and efficiencies across the units, and 2) seek ways to streamline new business and operations to align more closely with Wunderman’s global resources. The result will be a more flexible and integrated global offering.
Wunderman Consumer Engagement
The engine of consumer retention is the Wunderman Consumer Engagement division, which involves all things CRM at the global, regional and local levels. This includes “always on” social, mobile, loyalty, and both …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Pegasystems Simplifies and Strengthens Data Security With Vormetric
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Pegasystems Simplifies and Strengthens Data Security With Vormetric
Leading CRM/BPM provider deploys scalable solution to automate cloud protection and secure sensitive client data in the Cloud
SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Pegasystems (NAS: PEGA) , the leading provider of business process management (BPM) and customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions, has standardized on Vormetric Data Security to reassure its global customer base that it is securing their data based on security best practices and compliance requirements. Vormetric, the leader in enterprise data security for physical, virtual and cloud environments, was selected for its ability to automate Pegasystems’ data encryption within a leading Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud service provider as well as to increase the processing speed at which Pegasystems can encrypt its volume within a cloud infrastructure.
Click to Tweet
: New client @Pega knows how to #ProtectWhatMatters: http://bit.ly/KgtDYZ (their customers’ sensitive data) with @Vormetric #CloudSecurity
“Our partnership with a recognized data security expert like Vormetric gives us a distinct competitive advantage,” said Jim Walker, Global Head of Pega Cloud Operations and Security. “Our customers are eager to move to the cloud and protecting their data is a foremost concern. With Vormetric Data Security in place, our clients can be confident in the security of our services when it comes to protecting their high-value data. And, our government clients are pleased that we’re using a solution that is already relied upon by major federal agencies.”
“End customers rely on cloud service providers like Pegasystems to protect their data and the best way to do that is to encrypt it at its source,” said Frank Tycksen, Vormetric’s vice president of customer success. “As recent news demonstrates, hackers can break into networks to steal high-value data. Many security products improperly focus on trying to stop threats at the perimeter rather than focusing as close to the data as possible. The Pegasystems deployment is a fantastic example of protecting what matters in a dynamic cloud environment.”
Pegasystems’ cloud offering has grown significantly over the past few years, and managing key rotation processes was becoming unwieldy. Pegasystems needed to simplify its encryption approach with a scalable solution that could keep pace with the company’s rapid growth.
Pegasystems deployed multiple Vormetric …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Spring Release of ServiceSource Renew OnDemand™ Delivers Proven Analytics and Complete View of Custo
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Spring Release of ServiceSource Renew OnDemand™ Delivers Proven Analytics and Complete View of Customer Data to Increase Recurring Revenue
Renew OnDemand Helps Customers Grow their Recurring Revenue Business by Turning Mountains of Data into Actionable Information and Insights
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– ServiceSource® (NAS: SREV) , the global leader in recurring revenue management, today introduced major new enhancements to Renew OnDemand™, the only SaaS application built specifically to maximize recurring revenue.
Renew OnDemand is based on proven best practices and software that ServiceSource has used for 12 years to manage over $8B in annual recurring revenue and leverages the principals of Fast Data and Big Data to analyze large, rapidly changing data sets and provide analytics that drive business decisions. The Spring 2013 enhancements deliver Renewal Ready Data that aggregates, enriches and quality checks renewal data from multiple systems. Also included are advanced business analytics with 15 new recurring revenue-specific metrics and dashboards, and integration with Salesforce.com for an easy-to-access view of potential new and recurring revenue sales opportunities for each customer.
“Customers have relied upon our expertise in maximizing recurring revenue for over a decade. Sitting at the intersection of Fast Data and Big Data, Renew OnDemand is the only cloud application built to help companies make money from the customers they’ve already won”, said Mike Smerklo, ServiceSource Chairman and CEO. “Customers understand that recurring revenue typically accounts for 50% of their profit and traditional approaches to renewal sales leave highly profitable revenue on the table every year due to failed execution, excessive churn and missed opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell.”
Unlike information for new sales, which is typically housed in one CRM system, maximizing recurring revenue often requires extensive data from 5-7 different systems. Renewal sales teams can spend 30-40% of their time pulling this data together, rather than selling. Renew OnDemand imports needed data – including asset, customer contact, contract entitlement and offer history data – from a myriad of systems, then merges and enriches that data to create renewal-ready customer records. Renew OnDemand scores data quality, identifies questionable data and quarantines it for corrective action by the customer or by ServiceSource’s expert data analysts.
ServiceSource pairs Renew OnDemand with Data Services provided by a team of data management experts. With extensive experience managing data from the largest companies in the world, these teams specialize …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Analyst Moves: TDG, CRM
By MarketNewsVideo TransDigm (TDG) was upgraded by Deutsche Bank (DB) to buy from hold with a price target of $175 due to better aftermarket comps and the stock has lagged its peers. A $175 price target was increased. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
Salesforce Stock Soars Into The Cloud With Nosebleed P/E
Salesforce.com (CRM) surged to new all-time highs after reporting a Q4 FY2013 adjusted loss per share of 2 cents, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a 3 cent loss. If that’s the not-so-awful result investors were hoping for as they drove the stock up 10% from under $170 to over $186 since last Friday, then maybe they are happy with this company who could take another year to slowly return to profitability. Salesforce.com is the giant $27 billion leader in on-demand business software services. The company’s Salesforce suite of on-demand CRM applications allows customers to manage and share all of their sales, support, marketing and partner information on-demand. Let’s take a look at what might have cheered investors about their recent report and then we’ll see why it fell to a Zacks #5 Rank (Strong Sell) afterwards. Special Offer: Stock picks from Forbes Dividend Investor are up 12.7% vs. 7.6% for identically timed buys of the S&P 500 index since July. Average yield is 5.8%. Click here now to try Forbes Dividend Investor free for 30 days. Revenue Picture Encouraging Revenues in the quarter were $834.7 million, up 32.0% from the year-ago quarter. The quarter’s result was also above the company’s guidance range of $825.0 million to $830.0 million. Salesforce witnessed an improvement in revenues from all its business segments. Subscription and support revenue was $785.5 million, up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis, while the Professional services and other revenue was $49.2 million, up 31.0% year over year. Geographically, the company witnessed decent revenue growth in all of its operating regions. Revenue in the Americas was up 34.0% to $583.0 million, while Europe grew 37.0% to $149 million, and Asia logged a 17.0% boost to $103 million. Company Guides Sales into the Clouds For the first quarter of FY2014, the company expects revenue in the range of $882 million to $887 million, expecting an increase of 27.0% to 28.0% year over year. This is clearly driven by their ability to upgrade business service offerings with new cloud-based applications in addition to attracting new clients. For the full year 2014, revenue is expected in the range of $3.82 billion to $3.87 billion, up 25%-27% year over year. While there are a handful of analysts maintaining price targets over $200, like Deutsche Bank who praises the recent acquisition and integration of Heroku technology (no, I don’t know what that is but it has something to do with developers being able to write programs that work with CRM stuff), the Street hasn’t clamored to raise EPS estimates for the new year. Until we see the estimates picture stabilize, I can’t see adding to positions here, much less chasing new ones. And with the stock 23% over its 200-day moving average, those with profits might consider taking some off the table. Based on the consensus EPS forecast of $1.97, CRM trades at a mighty lofty 94 times expected January 2014 earnings. The Costs of Being the Giant CRM‘s gross profit expanded 31.4% year over …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (A, BBY, BFAM, DF, ICE, JCP, MA, QCOM, CRM, SKX, VVUS)
Filed under: Earnings
These are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) started as Outperform at Leerink Swann.
Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions LLC (NYSE: BFAM) was started in new coverage as follows: Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch, Overweight at Barclays, Outperform at Credit Suisse, Buy at Stifel Nicolaus and Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) raised to Outperform at KBW.
J.C. Penney Co. (NYSE: JCP) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup and was cut to Perform from outperform at Oppenheimer.
MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) cut to Hold at Argus.
Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was maintained as Buy but was removed from the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) named Bear of the Day, while all-time highs are nice but outlook may be lower at Zacks Investment Research.
Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE: SKX) named Bull of the Day as new styles and global reach are returning it to profitability at Zacks Investment Research.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Here are 11 stocks which analysts expect to rise 50% to 100% (or more) over the next year.
Also, here is how only seven of the 30 DJIA stocks will take the market to 15,000.
Oppenheimer listed two transportation stocks that will keep confirming Dow Theory with transports leading the way.
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: A, BBY, BFAM, CRM, DF, ICE, JCP, MA, QCOM, SKX, VVUS
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Gartner: CRM software top priority for IT spending in 2013-14
CRM (customer relationship management) software will be the top priority for additional spending on enterprise applications around the world this year and next, according to newly released data from analyst firm Gartner. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Beyond The Rack to Unveil New App, ExactTarget MobilePush Integration at SXSW
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Beyond The Rack to Unveil New App, ExactTarget MobilePush Integration at SXSW
Retailer Among First to Drive App Engagement with ExactTarget Push Messaging and Email
INDIANAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Online shopping giant Beyond the Rack will unveil its new mobile app at South By Southwest in Austin Saturday, highlighting the power of real-time engagement through its integration with global cross-channel digital marketing provider ExactTarget (NYS: ET) .
Presented during the event’s inaugural Mobile Saturday hosted by Urban Airship, the retailer will showcase its new app on stage with ExactTarget’s Vice President of Mobile Products R.J. Talyor, as the two discuss the role of push messaging and email in driving app engagement during a 5 p.m. session entitled Seamless Customer Experiences.
“To create engaging experiences for hyper-connected consumers, brands must transform their digital marketing campaigns to deliver personalized, timely communications across the channels consumers use most,” said Kevin Murphy, Beyond the Rack’s senior director of business intelligence and CRM. “With ExactTarget, we anticipate increased engagement and ROI by seamlessly integrating experiences across email and push messaging.”
Beyond the Rack is among the first enterprises to add ExactTarget’s new MobilePush application to its existing ExactTarget-powered email and digital marketing efforts. Launched in January, ExactTarget’s MobilePush application enables marketers to power push notifications to tablets and smartphones through a standalone application or integrate the push messages with campaigns across email, social and the Web via ExactTarget’s cross-channel digital marketing solution, the Interactive Marketing Hub.
“The proliferation of smartphones and tablets is accelerating the need for brands to integrate mobile experiences into their broader digital marketing strategy,” said Talyor. “ExactTarget’s expanded suite of mobile applications empowers brands to unlock the power of data and the cloud to deliver relevant and engaging experiences across SMS, push, email and the Web.”
In addition to MobilePush, ExactTarget’s suite of cloud-based mobile applications also includes mobile optimized email and MobileConnect, an SMS messaging application that makes it easy for marketers to integrate mobile-originated or mobile-terminated messaging into the digital marketing mix. Like all of ExactTarget’s products, the company’s mobile applications are available as standalone applications or fully integrated with campaigns across email, social and the Web.
“Mobile’s momentum continues to accelerate in 2013 — more than 1 million apps available, more than 150 million tablets sold, and more than 1 billion smartphones in consumers’ pockets globally,” according to Forrester …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Cegedim: 2012: An Improvement Relative to 2011
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Cegedim: 2012: An Improvement Relative to 2011
Growth in the Second Half
- CRM and Strategic Data Margin Maintained
- Robust Growth in the Healthcare Professionals and Insurance and Services Sectors Continued R&D Efforts
PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Regulatory News:
Cegedim, a global technology and services company specializing in the healthcare field, posted consolidated 2012 revenues of €921.8 million, up 1.1% on a reported basis, and operating income from continuing operations of €90.1 million, up 7.4%. Operating margin was 9.8%, up from 9.2% a year earlier.
The second half was more favorable, with reported revenues up 3.4% and a 23.6% increase in operating income from continuing operations compared with the second half of 2011.
As a result, the CRM and strategic data margin was stable over the full year despite a drop in revenues, whereas the Healthcare professionals margin rose and the Insurance and services margin dipped slightly.
Continued sales momentum, ongoing R&D efforts, innovative new product launches and the effects of the Performance Improvement Plan will all boost Group revenues and operating income from continuing operations in 2013.
Eloqua Publishes First Ever Modern Marketing Study
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Eloqua Publishes First Ever Modern Marketing Study
Findings Reveal Top Concerns for Marketers and Where Companies Should Make Future Investments
VIENNA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Eloqua, the marketing system of record for modern marketers, today announced results from a comprehensive survey of U.S.-based B2B marketers, which was published in a report entitled “Defining the Modern Marketer: From Real to Ideal.” The report,* created in conjunction with BtoB Magazine, Crain Communications offers in-depth insight into how marketing’s role has evolved to include both art and science and more specifically, what skills and technologies marketers need to improve ROI.
Modern Marketer Defined
The study found that the modern marketer persona is ideally three-fold – a hybrid of content marketer, brand marketer and web marketer. These three “marketer types” were chosen by survey participants when asked about the current modern marketer role. Successful marketing, however, includes more than three roles and should factor in the use of marketing technology (CRM systems, marketing automation), analytics, targeting, conversion (prospect to customer) and engagement (the right content through the right channels). These five marketing areas were chosen to make up the ideal modern marketer scorecard. The ideal modern marketer has the optimal percentage of all five skill areas – adding up to 100 percent. However, when it came time for survey respondents to rate themselves based on the five core skills, their current performance was barely passable, adding up to only 65 percent.
The Right Blend of Art and Science
Respondents recognize it’s crucial to have both art and science as part of their marketing efforts. But while today’s modern marketer needs to be equal parts creative, analytical, and tech savvy, survey participants feel unprepared to handle the science side of the equation. The scorecard revealed that marketers gave themselves the lowest ratings in the areas of analytics and marketing technology. Marketers need to focus on getting the right tools and technologies in place to address the science of marketing in 2013 and beyond.
Traditional Marketing Tactics Dominate While Content is On the Rise
Insurance: Building a Customer-Centric Business
By Chad Hamblin, AdVoice There’s a shift in the insurance industry being brought on by an increasingly competitive marketplace and the growing demands of more sophisticated customers. And with those dual competing pressures, there is an increased awareness by insurance companies that they need to move from a policy-centric business to one centered on customers. This shift requires not just a change in mentality but also technologies employed. With the potential to make insurance companies not only more productive but more importantly more responsive to their customers and agents, this shift in mindset can in turn boost profitability. And that is exactly where CRM comes into the picture. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Oppenheimer Sees Bullish Spending Trends for Enterprise Software Stocks (CALD, CRM, DWRE, LPSN, ORCL)
Filed under: Technology, Earnings
We have heard it on Wall St., in Las Vegas, even in the movies: “show me the money.” There is a good reason why. Corporate spending is the fuel that drives profits, and strong profits drive higher stock prices. Oppenheimer recently surveyed 35 mostly domestic enterprise (about $2.6 billion in annual sales) chief information officers, vice presidents and managers with information technology (IT) purchase decision-making authority for their companies to gauge new SaaS/applications software spending trends and enterprise information technology priorities. Their interpretation of the results point to a very constructive spending environment.
The analysts at Oppenheimer believe their survey results show that bullish corporate spending intentions and top priorities for big data analytics and marketing technologies cannot be ignored. They suggest that a momentous wealth creation opportunity exists for the most innovative marketing software suppliers with a product suite vision. By crunching the data, and looking into the enterprise software universe, five stocks look to benefit from the increase in corporate spending.
California-based Callidus Software Inc. (NASDAQ: CALD) offers CallidusCloud Sales Selector solution, which delivers online video interviewing, assessment testing and social benchmarking. This could be a top percentage winner for investors. The Oppenheimer price target is $7, almost 50% higher than yesterday’s $4.75 close. The Thomson/First Call estimate is also at $7.
Customer relationship management leader Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM) makes the list and has a 12 to 18 month price target of $200. That is above the Wall St. consensus of $190.
Demandware Inc. (NYSE: DWRE) helps its customers build, manage and implement websites, mobile applications and digital storefronts. The Oppenheimer price target is $35. The consensus estimate is $36.
LivePerson Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) trades at the deepest discount to its rivals. By connecting business with customers through a variety of options, LivePerson is showing faster organic growth and profitability than its competition. The price target is $16. The consensus is higher at $16.50.
Industry giant Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) rounds out the top names. This software and hardware leader never seems to generate the respect it deserves on Wall St. and Oppenheimer agrees. Its price target is $37, while the consensus price target is $38.
One thing was clear in the Oppenheimer research report. Corporate America is utilizing every software advantage and advance to enhance, enlarge and engage customers. With current technology and trends moving at breakneck speeds, companies cannot be outspent by their competition and hope to succeed.
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Software, Technology, Technology Companies Tagged: CALD, CRM, DWRE, LPSN, ORCL
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Gartner Predicts Infrastructure Services Will Accelerate Cloud Computing Growth
By Louis Columbus, Contributor
As public cloud computing gains greater adoption across enterprises, there’s an increased level of spending occurring on infrastructure-related services including Infrastructure-as-a-Service(IaaS). Enterprises are prioritizing how to get cloud platforms integrated with legacy systems to make use of the years of data they have accumulated. From legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, integrating legacy systems of record to cloud-based platforms will accelerate through 2016. I’ve seen this in conversations with resellers and enterprise customers, and this trend is also reflected in Gartner’s latest report on public cloud computing adoption, Forecast Overview: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2011-2016, 4Q12 Update Published: 8 February 2013. Below are the key take-aways from the report: Global spending on public cloud services is expected to grow 18.6% in 2012 to $110.3B, achieving a CAGR of 17.7% from 2011 through 2016. The total market is expected to grow from $76.9B in 2010 to $210B in 2016. The following is an analysis of the public cloud services market size and annual growth rates: Gartner predicts that Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.3% through 2016, the fastest growing area of public cloud computing the research firm tracks. The following graphic provides insights into relative market size by each public cloud services market segment: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) will achieve a 27.7% CAGR through 2016, with Cloud Management and Security Services attaining 26.7% in the same forecast period. Software-as-a-Service’s CAGR through 2016 is projected to be 19.5%. The following graphic illustrates the differences in CAGR in the forecast period of 2011 – 2016: Gartner is projecting the SaaS market will grow at a steady CAGR of 19.5% through 2016, having increased the forecast slightly (.4%) since its latest published report. Global SaaS spending is projected to grow from $13.5B in 2011 to $32.8B in 2016. CRM will continue to be the largest global market within SaaS, forecast to grow beyond $5B in 2012 to $9B in 2016, achieving a 16.3% CAGR through 2016. The highest growth segments of the SaaS market continue to be office suites (49.1%), followed by digital content creation (34.0%). The following graphic rank orders CAGRs across all public cloud services segments from the forecast period: 59% of all new spending on cloud computing services originates from North American enterprises, a trend projected to accelerate through 2016. Western Europe is projected to be 24% of all spending. A graphic comparing total spending by geography and corresponding growth rates is provided below: …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Using Black Swan and Antifragile Analysis for Tech Stocks (UBS, VMW, CRM, AAPL, FB, LNKD, HPQ, NTAP, FIO, IBM, EMC)
Filed under: Technology, Earnings, Telecommunications
Nassim Taleb is well known for his work as a trader and professor, as well as the author of the book ” Black Swan.” He often concentrates his work on market volatility and the likelihood of extreme situations or occurrences that can radically move stock prices. The 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center were a black swan event, devastating and totally unpredicted. His new book “Antifragile” focuses on things that gain from disorder. Are there tech stocks that can gain from disorder as well?
The tech analysts at UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) decided it would be interesting to apply some of the principles of Taleb’s book to tech stocks they cover. They point out in their report released today that Taleb advises using optionality to your advantage in finding situations with limited downside but undetermined upside. What matters is not the frequency of being right but the magnitude when you are correct. Also, to favor a barbell approach, both in specific companies that avoid the mushy middle of markets and in your portfolio by mixing low and high-risk assets.
Fragile things hate volatility and uncertainty, while the antifragile thrives on it. The UBS team believes that technology stocks, especially large caps, are inherently fragile, given that the industry structure changes every 15 years or so. They looked for companies riding emerging trends, and point to VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) and Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) as examples.
Vendors creating new product categories also scored high as antifragile. This category included names like tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), social media leader Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and business networking site operator LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD).
One area that the spectrum of fragility did not favor as well was information technology (IT). The UBS analysts pointed out that computing as a service may present more risk than upside for many of the names that they cover. In their coverage universe, they consider Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) particularly fragile, given its size and share losses. They also see NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) as caught in the middle as it remains concerned about Fusion-io Inc.’s (NYSE: FIO) niche status. However, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) scored much better and are well-positioned large vendors.
At the end of the day, technology in always changing and evolving. Companies that look to past successes and not to future growth often can find themselves in the stock graveyard. Antifragile tech stocks might be the way to protect a portfolio from rapid technology and consumer shifts.
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Technology, Technology Companies, Telecom & Wireless Tagged: AAPL, CRM, EMC, FB, FIO, HPQ, IBM, LNKD, NTAP, UBS, VMW
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Are Marketing Automation Tools Right for Your Business? 5 Insights
By Young Entrepreneur Council, Contributor Arguably the most sophisticated (and misunderstood) development for B2B business sales and data management recently is the marketing automation tool. Marketo, Eloqua and Genius are three such tools. After integration with your CMS and CRM, marketing automation tools automate as much of your digital marketing as possible.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Oracle Gets More into Products with Acme Packet Acquisition
Filed under: Technology, Mergers & Acquisitions
Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) has promised no more large mergers for the near-term, although buying a $1.6 billion company still appears to be fair game for Larry Ellison and his team at the world’s largest CRM player. Acme Packet Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT) is being acquired by Oracle for $29.25 per share in cash. Acme’s Net-Net product family fulfills security, service assurance and regulatory requirements in service provider, enterprise and contact center networks.
This represents close to a 22% profit over the weekend, compared to Acme’s closing bell price of $23.94 on Friday. We will just go ahead and throw out there that law firms probably are already putting up their “notice of investigations,” or perhaps are already preparing formal class action suites, as Acme’s 52-week trading range is $13.26 to $36.27 per share. Oracle said that this represents a fully diluted equity value of $2.1 billion, but net of cash this represents an enterprise value of $1.7 billion. Oracle’s market capitalization rate of $171 billion makes this acquisition hardly even a footnote, and Acme’s expected sales of almost $300 million for 2013 versus the $38 billion or so expected from Oracle makes this deal too small to move the barometer very much.
Here is how the companies describe the combination and the benefits of the deal:
The combination of Oracle and Acme Packet is expected to accelerate the migration to all-IP networks by enabling secure and reliable communications from any device, across any network. Users are increasingly connected and expect to communicate anytime and anywhere using their application, device, and network of choice. Oracle Communications along with Acme Packet can help service providers and enterprises meet these demanding requirements by delivering an end-to-end portfolio of technologies that will support the deployment, innovation and monetization of all-IP networks.
This particular transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2013, but the deal is of course subject to Acme Packet stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Acme’s board of directors already has approved the deal.
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mergers and Buy Outs, Technology, Technology Companies Tagged: APKT, ORCL
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance