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Technology Stocks
Meg Whitman Asks For Patience As HP Changes Course
HP’s troubles just don’t seem to be ending. Although the company may have remained the market leader in global PC shipments last quarter by shipping more than 15 million units, sales for the quarter were 16% below the previous year’s sales. IDC and Gartner estimate that last quarter, overall PC shipments fell 0.1% over the year to 92.7 million units. To add to HP’s worries, declining revenues are hurting margins and the stock price.
Brightcove Looks To Harvest Bumper Crop From Online Video
According to market reports, Google remains the leader in online videos with gross revenues of more than $1 billion. Analysts expect Google’s online video gross revenues to cross $2 billion by 2013. Analysts project the revenues from online video segment to be worth $8 billion worldwide by the year 2012. They also estimate that the market for video content will also experience similar growth. By the end of the current year, the market for technology services such as those provided by video platform providers like Brightcove is expected to grow to $1 billion for the year.
Rovio’s Astronomical Valuation
In their report Market Trends: Gaming Ecosystem, 2011, Gartner estimated that the video game industry will grow to $112 billion by 2015 from $67 billion in 2010 and an estimated $74 billion in 2011. But within the industry, mobile gaming will command the fastest growth by expanding its market share from 15% in 2010 to 20% in 2015. Mobile games developer Rovio is counting on this growth.
Intuit Reaching Out To Farmers In India
Intuit (Nasdaq:INTU) recently released market data on fiscal year 2012 consumer tax offerings. According to their reports, as of February 18, the company reported 10% growth in total TurboTax federal unit sales. Intuit continues to dominate the online market and saw sales of TurboTax Online units grow 19% over the year. Recently, Intuit also reported their first ever second quarter of revenues that surpassed $1 billion, and an India strategy that raises eyebrows.
Fusion-io In A Booming Market
According to researcher IDC, the enterprise flash market will grow to $4.5 billion by the year 2015 from an estimated $1.5 billion in 2011. But IDC’s estimates are among the more conservative. In a survey of CIOs conducted by Morgan Stanley, the financial services firm found that the enterprise flash market will triple in 2012 and soon reach $20 billion. Another report claims that the performance disk market is projected to grow 10%-20% annually over the next ten years to reach $20 billion by 2021. Within storage, the race then continues to develop higher efficiency products as are being developed by SSD leader Fusion-io.
Dell Moving To The Cloud
The PC industry is facing difficult times. After the floods in Thailand last year, which hurt production of major manufacturers, the market is now faced with increasing costs because of wage hikes in China’s manufacturing sector. According to recent reports, Chinese manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group increased employee wages by 16%-25%. Foxconn is a supplier to Apple, HP, Dell, Nokia, and Motorola Mobility. Foxconn has been embroiled in several labor disputes about poor working conditions that have led to labor suicides. Apple and Microsoft themselves have been involved in scrutinizing market conditions in the company. Meanwhile, the increased wage bill will translate to increased prices of computer equipment – an unwelcome move in an already depressed market.
Salesforce.com May Acquire Concur
Last quarter, Salesforce.com’s stock tumbled to a 52-week low due to disappointing billings growth. But this quarter, its stock is climbing after the company reported strong growth in sales and deferred revenue. The company says its success in closing deals this quarter was powered by the momentum of its social enterprise strategy.
Concur, NetSuite As Acquisition Targets
Both SAP and Oracle have over the past few months stepped up their cloud strategy with acquisitions. Oracle recently announced its plans to acquire Taleo for $1.9 billion. Coming on the heels of SAP’s December acquisition of SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion, it creates huge expectations of further consolidation of the SaaS industry. Let’s take a closer look at two likely candidates: Concur and NetSuite.