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- The Accelerator Conundrum
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Technology Stocks
Taleo A Takeover Target?
According to market research firm Bersin & Associates, the talent management market, currently worth about $3 billion, is expected to grow by 12-15 percent or more this year. SuccessFactors (NASDAQ:SFSF) and Taleo (NASDAQ:TLEO), the leading players in the market have over the past two to three years, have made many acquisitions and seen tremendous growth. Let’s take a closer look.
Taking Stock Of Groupon Following Its IPO
Within North America, there are more than 650 daily deal providers from whom more than 26 million users have bought deals. With an 88% user share, Groupon is the market leader in the segment. Analysts expect the U.S. daily deals market to pick up during the holiday season after a slump over the summer. Domestic daily deals market fell 7% sequentially in July but has been growing since to report 9% sequential growth in August and 12% growth in September. By revenue, Groupon commanded 54% of the U.S. daily deals market, followed by Living Social at 22%. Recently, Groupon’s long-awaited IPO also hit the market and was the largest offering by a U.S. Internet company since Google’s in 2004. Priced at $20 per share, the IPO was to raise $700 million for the daily deals leader. The list price was, however, lower than the market’s anticipated $25 per share.
TCS, Infosys Eying Healthcare IT Acquisitions in the U.S.
The $76 billion Indian IT outsourcing industry is facing some of its biggest challenges in recent years. With an average 12.9% increase in salaries in 2011, the country claims to deliver among the highest wage increases in the world. Competition from other countries and regions such as Latin America, the Philippines, and Eastern Europe is also on the rise. The Indian IT majors are looking for a fresh bout of growth through acquisitions into other regions and newer market offerings.
Worries For Kayak, But Travel Market Holding Steady
A travel study conducted by Trip Advisor on more than 2,700 U.S. travelers revealed that 31% of U.S. travelers will spend more on travel in 2012 than in the current year. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed are expected to keep their travel spending constant during the two-year period. The optimism in travel spending is reflected in the online travel players’ results.
Genpact And Cognizant Growing Steadily
According to researchers, Global Industry Analysts, global market for business process outsourcing (BPO) is projected to be worth $280.7 billion by 2017. Growth will be driven by expansion in finance and accounting outsourcing with the financial services, manufacturing, logistics and travel industries adopting the F&A outsourcing trend. The report estimates that while the U.S. will dominate the global market, demand will increase from emerging countries and regions, including China, Latin America, and Central Europe. Clearly, outsourcers need to ensure their operations are present in these locations to be able to address this market.
SAP To Intensify Cloud Strategy
SAP, one of the largest companies in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, recently reported strong results – its seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. It even reported a double-digit gain in market share against Oracle, which recently announced its plans to acquire customer service SaaS vendor RightNow for $1.5 billion. Let’s take a closer look.
Payroll Providers Using Acquisitions To Grow In Still-Shaky Market
Analysts estimate that the third-party payroll services industry accounts for $45 billion annually in the U.S. Industry observers project growth in the sector in the following year as the economic conditions improve. Meanwhile, payroll service providers in the country are already seeing strong results.
U.S. Solar Industry Reorganizes In The Face Of Challenges
Reduced feed-in-tariffs from European markets, lower prices, and increased competition from Chinese manufacturers continued to hurt the solar power sector. Three U.S. solar players have already announced bankruptcy this year and the recent quarterly results of the country’s two major solar powers, SunPower and First Solar, don’t look promising.