Oracle and SaaS: Inevitable

After reporting a solid third quarter that beat estimates and declaring its first dividend, on Monday Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) decided to go on a shopping spree. It started the quarter by acquiring Relsys International, which provides drug safety and risk management software. There are also speculations about Oracle acquiring Red Hat, but the enterprise software giant continues to avoid acquisitions in the SaaS space. Let’s explore why. >>>

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Calling For a Palm-Dell Union

Yesterday, Palm reported a dismal Q3 as losses widened and revenue plunged 71% due to pricing concessions and weak sales of its aging portfolio. The much-awaited Palm Pre, which is expected to bring the company back to profitability, is on track to be launched on Sprint in the first half of the year. >>>

So, Does HP Buy Brocade Now?

On February 19, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRCD), a leading supplier of data center networking solutions with annual revenue of $1.5 billion, reported first quarter results that beat earnings estimates. This was the first quarter report since the company completed the $3 billion acquisition of Foundry in December. With the Foundry acquisition, Brocade offers strong competition to Cisco in the niche area of end-to-end data center solutions. Cisco has been active in this area recently with the introduction of the unified computing system. And IBM apparently wants to stall Cisco’s data center plans with a $7 billion acquisition of Sun. >>>

Marvell Cleaning Up In Tough Times

Earlier in the month, Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ:MRVL), one of the leading chip makers, reported fourth quarter results that beat estimates. However, in response to the deteriorating economic environment, Marvell continued with its cost reduction efforts and cut about 7% of its workforce. For a closer look at Marvell, see Vijay Nagarajan’s strategy series from last year, although the valuation analysis went completely off the rails when the financial crisis hit in September. >>>

Motorola’s Mobile Phone Share Drops Sharply

In the past week, Motorola has released two products: MC55 EDA enterprise smartphones based on Windows Mobile and Stature i9, an iDEN phone, with Sprint. According to a recent Gartner report, worldwide mobile phone sales declined 5% in the fourth quarter and Motorola slipped to the fifth position, its market share crumbling from 11.9% last year to 6.9% due to the lack of 3G products and touchscreen devices in its portfolio. Let’s take a closer look at the company’s recent performance. Earlier coverage is available here and here. >>>

WebMD Refreshingly Healthy

In times when most companies are either reducing their outlooks or even refraining from giving them, health portal WebMD, one of my favorite Internet stocks , not only announced Q4 results that beat the market’s expectations but also reaffirmed its 2009 outlook. >>>

Carriers: Sprint and T-Mobile

After two years of gloating over the iPhone, we finally might have something else to talk about: the Palm Pre, which is to be launched by Sprint on March 15. Both Palm and Sprint have been hit hard by the iPhone, or the lack of a good enough iPhone challenger. There are a lot of hopes attached to the Palm Pre. In this post, let’s take stock of Sprint’s recent performance as well as that of T-Mobile. >>>

Salesforce.com Needs Focus On Margins, Acquisitions

As we saw in our other posts on SaaS companies, the SaaS sector is still doing pretty well. Let’s now examine the results of the leading company in the sector, Salesforce.com. On February 26, Salesforce.com (CRM) reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 results. Despite the recession, Salesforce.com beat estimates and managed to achieve revenue of more than $1 billion in the fiscal year, becoming the first SaaS company to do so. >>>

Be Careful With Tessera

Last month on February 2, Tessera Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA), an IP licensing company and a leading miniaturization technology provider, reported fourth quarter results that beat Street estimates. Despite the economic downturn, Tessera continues to benefit from the convergence device and electronics miniaturization trends. For a better understanding of the company’s strategy, read my earlier post available here. >>>

Autodesk Proceeding With Acquisitions

Autodesk’s (ADSK) stock has been tumbling since last year. The recently announced better-than-expected Q4 results did not bring it any luck, either, a pity because I am a huge fan of this company >>>