Operating at the Intersection of Technology and the Capital Markets
Month: February 2020
AI is a war of attrition. Last year we crowned Google the "AI King." Google Assistant is the best of the AI-powered assistants in our view and Microsoft's Cortana was never a serious competitor. Last week Microsoft announced that the updated version of Cortana for Windows 10 will focus on Microsoft's productivity applications and that … Continue reading Microsoft Cortana. No Longer A Player In The Home.
We expect less Technology M&A activity over the near-to-intermediate term given the recent pullback in the NASDAQ Composite (down 14% over the past two weeks). This is especially true for Public-Private M&A transactions. Private companies as a general rule lag public companies in terms of resetting internal valuation expectations. Should private technology companies be willing … Continue reading We Expect Less M&A Activity Given the Recent Market Pullback
The Coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the markets. Valuations have come in across the board making things interesting. Here is a screen from our CEORater database. Click HERE for our summary valuation table. Apple (tkr: AAPL), Facebook (tkr: FB) and SS&C Technologies (tkr: SSNC) each trade below 20x EV/LTM Operating Cash Flow. Click any table … Continue reading With Turmoil Comes Opportunity
Amazon announced that it has opened its first full grocery store - "Amazon Go Grocery" - that utilizes its cashierless checkout technology. Most interesting to us is that Amazon plans to license its "Go" technology to other retailers - effectively creating an Operating System for physical retail. Amazon opened its first Go Grocery store location … Continue reading Amazon’s “Go” Technology – Retail’s New OS
Disney CEO Bob Iger stepped down from his CEO post effective immediately and will remain Executive Chairman through December 2021. Bob Chapek has been named Chief Executive Officer. Our expectation was that Kevin Mayer - Chairman Direct-to-Consumer & International - would be named Mr. Iger's successor. Does this abrupt CEO change foreshadow a larger transaction? … Continue reading Disney’s Sudden CEO Change – What Does It Foreshadow?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Intuit (ticker: INTU), plans to acquire Credit Karma for approximately $7 billion. A Credit Karma acquisition would compliment Intuit's 2009 $170 million acquisition of Personal Financial Management ("PFM") fintech company Mint.com. The Credit Karma deal would mark Intuit's first large acquisition under Sasan Goodarzi who became Intuit CEO in … Continue reading Intuit Reported to Acquire Credit Karma – Building A PFM Powerhouse
We attended a Robotics class at MIT on Friday. The visual drag and drop programming language was simple enough to where almost anyone would be capable of writing programming sequences. This got us thinking of Robotic Process Automation ("RPA") - the future of workflow. RPA tools are simple to use such that the average business … Continue reading Weekend Edition: RPA for Everyone
It is difficult for many executives to recognize when the time is right to try something new. Here are some classic signposts that may help you identify when it is time to try a new approach, to try something new. When revenue growth slows to a grinding halt it is time to try something new.When … Continue reading Recognize When It Is Time to Try Something New
It is difficult to get excited about Morgan Stanley's recently announced acquisition of ETrade. The latter is essentially a no growth business (P&L below), competing in a cut-throat market. On the other hand, Square - albeit a larger company that would command a larger price - is a FinTech leader in growing consumer markets. If … Continue reading Square Makes More Sense for Morgan Stanley
Unless your name is Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google or Microsoft, it is best to pursue vertical go-to-market and product strategies. Only the previously mentioned Technology giants have the requisite scale to take a horizontal approach. We provide examples of "Vertical Leaders" and "At-Risk Horizontal Players". Tickers mentioned: ACN, AMZN, AAPL, AVGO, BOX, CCC, CRM, CSCO, … Continue reading Go Vertical or Go HomePremium
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