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Posts Tagged ‘Gerbsman Partners’

Tech leads market optimism

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, boic, Business models, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Here is some good market analysis in regards to topics we covered earlier in the week by way of ITWorld.

“September 17, 2009, 07:33 PM —  IDG News Service —

Optimism about IT helped boost stock exchanges to 2009 highs this week as tech-sector mergers and acquisitions and news about improving demand for hardware buoyed investor confidence.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index hit 2133 on Wednesday, its highest level for 2009, well above the 1630 mark at the start of the year and its low of 1268.64 on March 9. Nasdaq computer stocks were up 50 percent for the year, while Nasdaq telecom stocks were up 48 percent for the year. The broader Dow Jones Composite Index was up 10 percent for 2009.

M&A activity has fueled investor excitement about the tech sector. While the recession has killed the market for leveraged buyouts and private equity deals this year, there has been a steady stream of acquisitions among tech companies, many of which have large coffers of cash.

In one of the larger tech deals announced recently, Adobe said late Tuesday it will acquire Web analytics company Omniture for US$1.8 billion in cash. Adobe said it will incorporate Omniture technology into its own Web-development and document-creation products. Adobe is paying a 45 percent premium over Omniture’s share price, which may account for the immediate reaction to the deal: Adobe shares slipped by $2.27 to close at $33.35 Wednesday.

However, M&A often stokes investor excitement because it is seen as a sign of industry confidence in certain technologies. Vendors will buy companies in order to quickly ramp up in areas of technology that they believe are taking off.

For example, Intuit — the leading personal finance software developer — on Monday announced it would pay $170 million for startup Mint.com. Though Intuit has successfully battled Microsoft Money for years, the company has not had a response to various Web-based financial tools that have sprung up lately. Mint offers free tools to help consumers gather and analyze personal financial information. While Intuit shares dipped by $0.07 to close at $27.78 Tuesday, they bounced back up to $27.89 Wednesday.”

Read the complete article here.

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Adobe to Buy Omniture for $1.8 Billion, Expanding Beyond Design

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Economy, Gerbsman Partners, Intellectual capital, Investments, Market research, tagged , , , , , , , on September 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Adobe´s innovation through aquisition continues, next in line is Omniture. On a larger scale, this indicates a growing market optimism that the time is right for investments. This article is by way of Bloomberg.

“Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — Adobe Systems Inc., the world’s biggest maker of graphic-design software, agreed to buy Omniture Inc. for $1.8 billion, expanding into programs that track the performance of Web sites and online advertising campaigns.

Adobe will pay $21.50 a share for Omniture, 24 percent more than the closing price yesterday. Adobe fell as much as 4.9 percent in extended trading after announcing the acquisition and forecasting sales that missed some analysts’ estimates.

Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen is pushing Adobe into new businesses at a time when customers are pulling back on purchases of the company’s design software. Omniture gives Adobe a steady source of revenue and may mean investors will focus less on periodic upgrades to products such as Adobe Creative Suite, said Michael Olson, a Minneapolis-based analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co.

“Adobe is trying to diversify beyond being just a maker of development tools,” Olson said. “Any time you do a big acquisition, the acquirer’s shares are down because of the element of risk that some investors aren’t comfortable with.”

Others offering opinion on the topic include: Barrons, Zikkir, Econsultancy, Seeking Alpha.

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Intuit to Acquire Mint.com for $170 Million

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Investments, Market research, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Here is an article from Web CPA.

“Intuit has signed a deal to acquire personal finance site Mint.com for approximately $170 million cash.

The privately held Web site, based like Intuit in Mountain View, Calif., has gained popularity, especially among young people who use it to keep track of their spending and budgets. Intuit has been expanding its array of online services as part of its “connected services” strategy. The company said it plans to keep operating both Mint.com and its own personal finance site, Quicken Online.

Mint.com will become the primary online personal finance management service that Intuit will offer directly to consumers. Quicken Online will connect Quicken customers via the desktop, Web and mobile phone. After the transaction is completed in the fourth quarter, Mint.com will become part of Intuit’s consumer group, which includes both the company’s Quicken and TurboTax products.

“With this transaction, Intuit will gain another fast-growing consumer brand and a highly successful software-as-a-service offering that helps people save and make money,” said Intuit CEO Brad Smith in a statement. “This move will enhance Intuit’s position as a leading provider of consumer SaaS offerings that connect customers across desktop, online and mobile.”

Launched in September 2007, Mint.com has attracted over 1.5 million users. The site claims to track nearly $200 billion in transactions and $50 billion in assets. Mint.com has received over $17 million in financing from venture capital firms including Shasta Ventures, Benchmark Capital, First Round Capital, DAG Ventures and Sherpalo Ventures”

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Insiders sell like there’s no tomorrow

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, tagged , , , , , , on September 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »

“Corporate officers and directors were buying stock when the market hit bottom. What does it say that they’re selling now?”

Here is an article from CNN Money on the topic.

“NEW YORK (Fortune) — Can hundreds of stock-selling insiders be wrong?

The stock market has mounted an historic rally since it hit a low in March. The S&P 500 is up 55%, as U.S. job losses have slowed and credit markets have stabilized.

But against that improving backdrop, one indicator has turned distinctly bearish: Corporate officers and directors have been selling shares at a pace last seen just before the onset of the subprime malaise two years ago.

While a wave of insider selling doesn’t necessarily foretell a stock market downturn, it suggests that those with the first read on business trends don’t believe current stock prices are justified by economic fundamentals.

“It’s not a very complicated story,” said Charles Biderman, who runs market research firm Trim Tabs. “Insiders know better than you and me. If prices are too high, they sell.”

Biderman, who says there were $31 worth of insider stock sales in August for every $1 of insider buys, isn’t the only one who has taken note. Ben Silverman, director of research at the InsiderScore.com web site that tracks trading action, said insiders are selling at their most aggressive clip since the summer of 2007.

Silverman said the “orgy of selling” is noteworthy because corporate insiders were aggressive buyers of the market’s spring dip. The S&P 500 dropped as low as 666 in early March before the recent rally took it back above 1,000.

“That was a great call,” Silverman said. “They were buying when prices were low, so it makes sense to look at what they’re doing now that prices are higher.”

Read the full story here.

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Investing in Technology M&A

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Here is an interesting article by Aaron Pressman at BusinessWeek.

“The conventional wisdom used to be that investors should run from technology companies that did too many mergers and acquisitions. But over the past decade, a group of top-tier tech wheelers and dealers has emerged that increased shareholder value with their acquisitiveness. Companies such as Oracle, IBM, and Adobe Systems have successfully used acquisitions to get into new lines of business, expand their customer bases, and grab hot new technologies. Still, some companies consistently overpay or buy yesterday’s big breakthrough. An informal survey of tech fund managers, analysts, and consultants yielded a list of companies investors will likely favor on more deal news—and a few they may shun.

Once mainly a hardware vendor of computers large and small, IBM (IBM) has used a sharp acquisition strategy to expand into software and information technology services. After a string of successful additions, including performance management software maker Cognos, and Rational, which makes tools to help programmers write code, IBM announced in July it would pay $1.2 billion for SPSS, a leading developer of software to analyze statistical data. “All the software acquisitions have helped shift the company toward higher margins and faster growing areas,” says Ken Allen, manager of the T. Rowe Price Science & Technology Fund. IBM was his 15th largest holding as of June 30.

Salesforce.com (CRM) has always been a poster child for the move from desktop applications to Web-based products. As more computing and data storage have migrated to online servers—the clouds in “cloud computing”—Salesforce has used a series of small acquisitions to keep pace. In 2006 it grabbed wireless software developer Sendia, for example, helping make all its offerings available over mobile phones. “They’re doing a good job of pushing each acquisition into their services,” says Jeff Kaplan, founder of tech consulting firm Thinkstrategies.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) is the king of bolt-on acquisitions. In a typical deal, Cisco purchases a much smaller company, such as voice-over-Internet gearmaker Sipura, which it bought for $68 million in 2005. Then it uses its manufacturing smarts and sales force to promote cutting-edge products that often fit into existing lines of business. Cisco also uses purchases to diversify and get into new businesses. This year it added Pure Digital Technologies, maker of the Flip digital video camera. “Their goal is to become a larger player in the consumer electronics and networking business,” says Ned Douthat, an analyst at Ockham Research in Roswell, Ga.”

Read the full article here.

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