Anne Shields

Oracle was trading at a forward EV-to-EBITDA multiple of ~8.3x on December 8, 2016. This metric was lower than Microsoft’s multiple of ~10.3x.

On November 30, IBM was the largest player by market capitalization in this space, followed by Accenture. Cognizant (CTSH), Infosys, Wipro, and Teradata.

A leader in the data loss prevention space Earlier in this series, we discussed Symantec’s (SYMC) Enterprise Security segment’s performance in fiscal 2Q17. We also learned that Symantec was recognized as a leader in endpoint protection. Additionally, it launched SEP (Symantec Endpoint Protection) 14 and SEP Cloud. These launches ensured that “Symantec the only company with […]

An increase in cyberattacks, the proliferation of IoT, and the increasing requirement to deploy advanced security solutions should drive growth in the APT space.

Trump has planned a reduction in the current tax structure, and both immigration and taxation impact the IT sector—especially software sector.

Along with Microsoft (MSFT), VMware was named a leader in the x86 server virtualization infrastructure space in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant.

Twitter trades at lower multiples than its peers Earlier in this series, we discussed rumors of Twitter’s (TWTR) possible acquisition and how Salesforce (CRM), Google (GOOG), and The Walt Disney Company (DIS) could be contenders. In this part, we’ll compare Twitter’s value proposition with that of other companies in the social media space. As of […]

Adobe’s Document Cloud performance in 3Q16 So far in this series, we’ve discussed Adobe’s (ADBE) performance in fiscal 3Q16. We also looked at Adobe’s increased Creative Cloud subscriptions, which enabled the company’s Digital Media segment to report a 29% revenue growth in fiscal 3Q16. Document Cloud (or DC) also contributed to Digital Media’s record revenue […]

Adobe (ADBE) is the latest tech company to schedule its fiscal 3Q16 earnings for September 2016. Analysts expect Adobe to post revenues and non-GAAP EPS of ~$1.5 billion and $0.72, respectively, on September 20.

VMware’s leadership in the virtualization space will benefit from rapid growth in the cloud IaaS space.

For the past year, uncertainty has been looming over VMware (VMW), primarily due to the impending Dell-EMC deal. EMC has an 80% stake and 97% of the voting rights in VMware.

BeyondCore is a business intelligence data company with expertise in the AI (artificial intelligence), deep learning, and business analytics area.

On August 11, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Beam, a live streaming service that enables viewers to play with other streamers in real time.

Rackspace and other smaller players are losing market share to large players in the cloud space.

Azure retained its position as a top performer in Microsoft’s cloud offerings with triple-digit growth in fiscal 4Q16.

On June 20, 2016, Adobe announced it had again been recognized by Gartner as a leader in the 2016 Magic Quadrant for Mobile App Development Platforms research report.

Earlier in this series, we discussed Salesforce’s (CRM) recently announced fiscal 1Q17 earnings. Now, let’s look at the company’s value proposition.

Earlier in the series, we discussed Salesforce’s (CRM) fiscal 1Q17 results and the company’s growing relationship with Amazon (AMZN).

Salesforce’s subscription and support revenue totaled $1.8 billion in 1Q17.

The Fed’s cautious approach and global growth concerns are weighing heavily on the US dollar, whose decline has impacted SAP’s fiscal 1Q16 performance.

MS Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, is an integral part of its Intelligent Cloud operating segment.

Of the 38 analyst recommendations on Microsoft’s stock, 60.5% were “buys” as of April 6. Meanwhile, ~29% of recommendations were “holds.” The remaining ~10.5% of recommendations on the stock were “sells.”

As of April 6, 2016, Microsoft was the largest software player by market capitalization on a global scale. It was followed by Oracle (ORCL).

Microsoft (MSFT) chose its recent Build developer conference to announce that it garnered BMW AG as its latest Azure customer. Microsoft grew the most in the cloud space in 2015, growing by 124% on a YoY basis.

Office 365 usage continued its upward trajectory in 2015. The company was able to close the gap between itself and Salesforce.com.

Resilient Systems, a heavy hitter in the cybersecurity space, is best known for its “incident response” platform and is IBM’s most recent acquisition.

On February 18, 2016, IBM announced the acquisition of Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion. Truven provides cloud-based healthcare data and analytics.

MS Azure, which is an integral part of Intelligent Cloud, grew 140% in 2Q16.

As of September 30, 2015, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway owned about 81 million IBM shares. With an 8.3% stake, Berkshire is IBM’s largest shareholder.

Apart from acquisitions to further push the chances of Watson Health’s success in the healthcare space, IBM has partnered with Apple (AAPL), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Medtronic (MDT).

Intuit’s tax and accounting software and offerings dominate the very small business (or VSB) accounting market in the United States.

Palo Alto Networks, which operates in the cyber security space, is growing fast. The industry is expected to grow from $77 billion in 2015 to $170 billion in 2020.

With the addition of new features in its Norton Security Suite in September 2015, Symantec has showed that it has no intention of discontinuing Norton Antivirus.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II, a three-year-old game, witnessed engagement growth on a quarter-over-quarter basis to nearly 12 million monthly active users in 3Q15.

On October 22, 2015, Fortinet (FTNT) announced its 3Q15 earnings results. Its revenue of $260.7 million grew 34.5% YoY, the highest revenue growth rate in the past three years.

With the action on the acquisition front, including the SanDisk acquisition, Western Digital is geared up to increase and enhance its presence in the SSD arena.

Western Digital (WDC) and Micron (MU) held 10.2% and 5.1% of the market share, respectively, in the enterprise SSD space.

On August 20, 2015, Oracle (ORCL) announced the acquisition of Maxymiser. The financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed.

HP is considering the sale of its TippingPoint business. Some private equity firms have shown interest in TippingPoint, valuing the business in the range of $200–$300 million.

Intel’s Skylake will offer new wireless charging and data transfer for a wire-free computing environment. Thus, Intel’s Skylake should help the PC market.

Rackspace leads the hosted private cloud space with a 20% market share. This market is a “highly fragmented market.”

The growing preference for open-source technologies and databases plays a crucial role in Oracle’s recent struggles.

Through the sale of H3C, HP became one of the first prominent US technology companies to give control to native Chinese owners.

Oracle’s Rapid Retargeter helps to reconnect with the known customers or registered users who have left or abandoned their shopping carts.

In April 2015, Oracle (ORCL) unveiled new features for the Oracle Marketing Cloud during the Modern Marketing Experience event in Las Vegas.

Along with its move toward the digital space, console upgrades are the reason Electronic Arts stock returned 66% to shareholders in 2013 and 105% in 2014.

Oracle’s strategy of transitioning to cloud seems to be yielding results. The revenue from overall software continues to dominate its top-line revenue.

In this space, companies whose franchises have yet to make a mark spend considerably on marketing to raise customer awareness.

IBM (IBM) intends to fuel its growth in the cloud space through the investment of billions of dollars, as well as strategic acquisitions.

In 3Q15, Electronic Arts (EA) managed to report good revenue growth due to its major sports titles—Madden NFL mobile and FIFA 15 Ultimate Team mobile.