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- The Accelerator Conundrum
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Technology Stocks
Baidu and Alibaba Delivering on China’s Mobile Explosion
According to a Pew Research Center report, nearly 79% of China’s 590.6 million Internet users accessed the Internet through a mobile device. A year ago, China had 564 million Internet users of which 74% were using a mobile to access the Web. During the same period, the research firm estimates that desktop usage slipped from 70.5% to 69.5%. Chinese online players are ensuring they tap early into this growing mobile trend.
LivingSocial: Fall From Grace
Last year, daily deals market leader, Groupon announced that their CEO and founder would step down from his position. Earlier this year, competitor LivingSocial made a similar announcement with CEO and co-founder Tim O’Shaughnessy announcing his plans to exit from the company. He leaves behind a company still struggling to find a sustainable business model.
Electronic Arts is Delivering Across Platforms
The recent launch of new video game consoles of Xbox One and PS4 have resulted in slowing down of game software sales as the publishers are yet to create games geared for these consoles. However, publisher Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) does not have much to worry about. According to NPD, during December, three games by Electronic Arts were in the top ten listing. Shooter game Battlefield 4 was the second highest selling game with Madden NFL 25 coming in fourth and FIFA 14 at the ninth place. As Electronic Arts continues to expand their digital offerings, their revenue growth is returning.
SAP Targets Revenue of $30 Billion by 2017
According to a report published last year, the worldwide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) market continues to be dominated by SAP which holds a 24.6% market share. Overall, in 2012, the ERP market grew 2.2% over the year and SaaS-based ERP offerings accounted for 13% of the global ERP market. Gartner projects that the contribution of SaaS-based ERP solutions will continue to increase and expects it to account for 20% of the global ERP market by the year 2016.
Workday’s Latest Acquisition
Pacific Crest analysts peg the global addressable market for SaaS-based Human Resource Management offerings to grow from $50 billion last year to $70 billion by 2015. The market is dominated by three key players – SAP, Oracle, and Workday. In 2011, IDC estimated SAP to own 17.4% of the market, followed by Oracle’s 12.4% share and Workday’s 3.5% market share. Since then though, the landscape has changed significantly with both SAP and Oracle adding to their portfolios SuccessFactors and Taleo, respectively and Workday going public.
Salesforce Delivers on Mobile
According to a Forrester research report, worldwide IT spending is projected to grow 6.2% this year. The growth is driven by IT spending on the software segment, which will grow 7.8% this year. Forrester believes that the software market growth is attributed to spending on SaaS, mobile app development, business intelligence, and analytics solutions. As CRM provider Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) delivers on this trend, their stock continues to soar to new heights.
Angie’s List Struggles, More Woes Ahead
After a minor turnaround earlier last year, local business reviews site Angie’s List (Nasdaq: ANGI) seems to be back in the rough. Recently released dismal financial results continue to spell gloom for the company. And there doesn’t seem to be a revival in sight.
YuMe’s Recent IPO
According to an eMarketer report, the advertising market in the US was estimated to be worth $66 billion last year, of which nearly $4 billion was spent on digital video ads. The digital video ad market is projected to grow 40% this year compared with a comparatively meager 3% growth in the TV ad industry. The digital video ad spending is driven by the increasing demand of consumers to cut the cord and shift to digital streaming services such as Hulu. Additionally, products such as IP-connected televisions, set-top devices, gaming consoles, and the Chromecast product launched by Google are making it easier for the consumer to shift to online streaming as a source of entertainment.