Technology, Capital Markets, Corporate Governance, Leadership, Entrepreneurship
Category: Fintech
With Michael Bloomberg throwing his hat into the ring for the 2020 Democratic nomination, many have speculated as to how Bloomberg would divest his equity stake in his namesake firm were he to win the Presidency. We don't expect Mr. Bloomberg to win the Office of the President nor would a sale necessarily be required … Continue reading Prospective Bloomberg LP Acquirers
Our CEORater equal-weight mock Technology portfolio leverages various CEORater investing principles and has outperformed by a significant margin. (tickers mentioned: ADBE, AMZN, CSGP, GOOG, MA, MSFT, NOW, SSNC, TWLO, VEEV, VRSK) We kicked off an experiment in Q1 of 2019. This experiment - not to be confused with the CEORater Technology Founder CEO Index - … Continue reading High Quality Tech Names – Steady as She Goes
We at CEORater have highlighted the importance of CEO personality in terms of its influence on corporate strategy, operational and financial performance and thereby implications for stock prices. Don't take our word for it, there's plenty of published research from various academic institutions including the work of David Larker and Charles O'Reilly, both of Stanford … Continue reading Cult of CEO Personality & Implications for Stock Prices
We look at a few leading FinTech and Information Services companies from a cash flow perspective. (Tickers mentioned: CSGP, FDS, INFO, MSCI, SSNC, VRSK). I reflect on a few names I used to cover during my equity research days. For purposes of this exercise we review SS&C Technologies, Verisk Analytics, IHS Market, FactSet Research Systems, … Continue reading FinTech and Info Services
Consistent pursuit of a focused mission tends to pay dividends over time. We provide several examples of public FinTech companies that have successfully done so. We include growth opportunities and near-term risks for each company. Companies mentioned: FactSet Research Systems (tkr: FDS); PayPal (tkr: PYPL); SS&C Technologies (tkr: SSNC); Stripe (private) FactSet Research Systems (tkr: … Continue reading For These FinTech Names Staying the Course Paid Off.Premium
For comic relief I watched some of the Facebook congressional hearings (video below). While Facebook's Calibra/Libra cryptocurrency initiative was the hearing's focus, clues were offered as to what may lie ahead for Facebook users and Ad buyers. At the 6:24:30 mark of the video, U.S. Representative Dean Phillips (D-MN), asked Facebook founder and CEO Mark … Continue reading Facebook to Leverage “Authentication” to Drive Ad Revenue?
Investors that value growth AND profitability ought to consider a number of tried-and-true FinTech names. Several days ago we were critical of some of the recent IPO and IPO hopeful crop of companies that enjoyed (even if temporarily) nosebleed valuations while delivering little in the way of recurring revenue much less profitability. Contrast that with … Continue reading FinTech for Growth & Profitability
AI is a scale game. Massive amounts of data and a large number of data scientists are required to build and train machine learning models and neural networks that underpin products such as Google Assistant and many others we've grown accustomed to. Google has never been great at selling to the enterprise. If it ever … Continue reading Google – Keeping Tabs on the AI Leader
Last Week I Participated on an AI-focused Panel at the SS&C Deliver Conference The panel - “Practical Applications for AI in Investment Operations & Accounting” - was especially enjoyable because the audience engaged. While much has changed since I last worked in an Investment Operations capacity in 1998, much remains the same - meaning there … Continue reading It’s “Early Days” for NLP. The Opportunities Are Many
Incentivize Prospective Participants with A Seat at the Table MoviePass shut down on September 14th. We do not have first-hand knowledge of MoviePass’ ever-evolving business model. However, we do know that MoviePass never quite figured out how to properly incentivize movie theaters to drive audience participation. When building new network businesses, it makes sense to … Continue reading If You Build It They Won’t Necessarily ComePremium
