Operating at the Intersection of Technology and the Capital Markets
Tag: CEOs
Companies are a reflection of the personalities of their founders and CEO. Is anyone surprised by the fact that Google terminated employees without notification other than automated user account deactivations? Google is a Quant-centric company founded by two Quants (Larry Page and Sergey Brin) and led by a hand-picked, data-driven, quant-centric CEO (Sundar Pichai). You … Continue reading Google Firings: Why CEO Personalities Matter
Small Cap stocks are where outsized opportunities reside. This will be especially true if the vaunted "Fed Put" is broken as we expect it will be. Small Cap land is where you will find quality companies led by quality management teams that are under-followed by the sellside community. First, run a screen for companies with … Continue reading Small Cap Stocks: The Land of Opportunity
Get ready to hear the word "cautious" repeated ad nauseam on forthcoming Technology company EPS calls this month and next. Temenos (tkr: TEMN), is one such example. You may read the FinTech company's Q4 press release here: https://www.temenos.com/news/2023/01/16/temenos-pre-announces-preliminary-q4-and-fy-2022-results-bxf9181m/ Temenos also announced a CEO change. I expect to see more CEO changes than normal in 2023. … Continue reading Q4’22 EPS Call Buzzword: “Cautious”
Hopefully most public and private companies took a conservative approach to building their 2023 budgets last year. It is best for public companies to take a similarly conservative approach to 2023 Revenue and EPS guidance during the current earnings season. Most CEOs did not live through the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis. The 2008-2009 period was an … Continue reading 2023: Conservative Budgets & Guidance Are Best
More fun running Chat GPT queries (read this particular article in landscape mode to get the best viewing experience). We cover Steve Jobs, Stanley Kubrick, effective CEOs and wine pairings for roasted duck using OpenAI's ChatGPT natural language platform. Source: https://chat.openai.com/chat
When it comes to Technology companies, headcount reductions are rarely "one & done". This used to be especially true of Bay Area Technology companies which are famous for lacking operating discipline (i.e. cost discipline). However, the Bay Area aversion to running profitable businesses has permeated the Tech sector over the past 12 years of easy … Continue reading Tech Company Layoffs Are Rarely “One & Done”
Management Teams are an afterthought and it is a shame. Microsoft would not be enjoying the same level of success if Steve Ballmer was still at the helm.Not every Steve Ballmer successor would have been as effective as current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Bill Gates was the right person at the right time to co-found … Continue reading Management Teams Are An Afterthought
As new deal activity slows Enterprise Software CEOs will shift their focus from signing new deals to maximizing customer retention and renewal rates. Sales compensation and executive compensation will be more heavily weighted toward customer retention and dollar renewal rates. Enterprise Software companies that execute well ought to be able to lift customer retention and … Continue reading Software CEOs Will Prioritize Customer Retention
Too frequently companies execute M&A transactions not because a given acquisition strengthens the acquiring company's competitive position or enhances customer value, but because the acquired company could help boost CEO compensation of the acquirer by driving some combination of higher total revenue growth, higher EBITDA, higher bookings and/or a higher stock price. Today's announcement that … Continue reading When CEO Compensation Is The Primary M&A Driver
Talk about an overlooked investment decision-making variable. Nothing is more overlooked by investors than the Quality of Management. Define "quality" how you will. At present, Quality of Management seems to be an afterthought amongst many investors. Even peddlers of financial knowledge such as the CFA Institute (remind me what practical value the CFA institute provides?), … Continue reading Quality of Management
You must be logged in to post a comment.