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Technology Stocks
Ancestry.com Taps Into a Deep-Rooted Passion
According to a survey by Harris Interactive, 87% of American adults are interested in learning about their family histories. Researchers have also notices that the majority of genealogy website users are women aged 45 or older. Further, a Bank of America report found that of the 9 million Internet users who identified genealogy as their core passion or hobby, 7.5 million were 45 years or older. Genealogy companies in the country are targeting that demographic, which in the U.S. includes more than 120 million people.
As IPO Approaches, Facebook Addresses Weaknesses
Social networking giant Facebook finally filed their much-anticipated S-1 in February 2012. Analysts believe that the stock will probably list next month. Facebook’s IPO will list on the Nasdaq under the ticker FB and is expected to raise $5 billion, pegging the company’s valuation at more than $100 billion. That would make their IPO the biggest in the history of Silicon Valley.
Demandware Riding High on IPO
Analysts estimate that global e-commerce revenues will grow from $316 billion in 2010 to $653 billion by 2015. Further, they estimate that the market for cloud-enabled e-commerce platform services will grow 21% annually from 2010-2015 to reach $11.3 billion, from $4.3 billion estimated in 2010. Counting on this growth, e-commerce platform services provider Demandware recently made their IPO.
Accenture Benefits from Very Strong Outsourcing Growth
According to research firm Information Services Group, for the quarter ended December 2011 markets saw strong growth in global outsourcing contracts. The total contract value (TCV) of contracts executed during the period grew 7% over the year to $26.4 billion. Growth was led by deals in the business process outsourcing (BPO) space and in the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets. The TCV of contracts in 2011 grew 3% to $95 billion, the biggest increase since 2005. EMEA markets helped drive growth as full-year TCV for the region grew 27% to $55 billion. By segment, BPO contracts grew 32% over the year to $29 billion for the year 2011. However, contracting activity within the IT outsourcing (ITO) segment fell 6% over the year to $66 billion.
Adobe Powering A Growing Premium Video Ad Market
According to a comScore report, 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus, in 2011, 4.8 trillion display ad impressions were delivered across the web in the U.S. as brand advertisers shifted to digital marketing. The report says that large brand advertisers continued to invest in digital advertising last year. In the quarter ended December 2011, the number of advertisers delivering more than one billion display ad impressions grew 38% over the year to more than 145. The number of advertisers delivering more than three billion impressions grew 77% over the year to 46. The researcher believes that the growth of digital investment among these advertisers suggests increasing comfort with the medium in terms of delivering effective, brand-building advertising to the desired consumer targets. To catch onto this growing market, digital media giant Adobe is expanding their product portfolio.
Is BlackBerry 10 the Light at the End of the Tunnel?
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) performance continued to disappoint the market. The company is fighting a losing battle against Apple and Google. Last year, Apple’s share in the mobile device segment grew from 16% to 24% ,while RIMM’s share slipped from 14% to 8%. Google is also making strong progress in the segment, especially because they recently purchased Motorola Mobility.
Diverse Acquisitions For Oracle
Gartner may have projected a grim view of global IT spending this year by reducing growth projections to 3.7% over the year compared with earlier estimates of 4.6%. But technology giants like Oracle don’t seem to be too concerned. After a rather disappointing second quarter, Oracle reported an impressive third quarter performance. To make things better, the company continued to announced much-needed acquisitions.
Splunk: A Growing Company Tackles Big Data
According to IDC, the worldwide volume of digital data will grow 45% annually from 1.8 trillion gigabytes in 2011 to 7.9 trillion gigabytes by the year 2015. In another report, IDC estimated that the market for worldwide Big Data technology and services will grow at 40% annually, from $3.2 billion in 2010 to $16.9 billion in 2015. The growth in Big Data technologies is nearly seven times faster than the growth projected for the information and communications technology market. Recently, a Big Data analytics service provider, Splunk Inc., filed their S-1 for a $125 million IPO.