A few years ago we recommended that IBM (tkr: IBM) roll-up certain Information Services assets to complement its Infrastructure Services business. In the meantime the Information Services space is rolling up itself with S&P Global (tkr: SPGI) working to acquire IHS Markit (tkr: INFO) as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Tickers mentioned: CCC, DNB, … Continue reading S&P Global Reported to Acquire IHS Markit
Tag: IBM
Where Do We Go From Here?
Given the significant run up in many Technology stocks (our CEORater Tech portfolio is up 57% YTD, detail end of article), the question for many institutional investors is how best to position the portfolio for 2021? There is a saying in Physics that "big bubbles get bigger". Our expectation would be for Alphabet, Amazon, Apple … Continue reading Where Do We Go From Here?
New IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Understands the Value of Spin-Offs
IBM plans to spin off the Managed Infrastructure Services business within its Global Tech Services ("GTS") segment (approximately $19B TTM revenue through June 2020). Doing so will provide more air time to the acquired RedHat OpenShift (IBM's "Hybrid Cloud" strategy) and cognitive computing businesses. Post-spin, the growth in these businesses will make a greater revenue … Continue reading New IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Understands the Value of Spin-Offs
Federal Reserve Discloses Corporate Bond Purchases
Here is the full Excel workbook disclosure compiled by the Federal Reserve which lists the various issuers, sectors, cusips, coupons, maturity dates, par values, amortized costs and more for the fixed income securities the Federal Reserve has purchased. Among the securities purchased through June 16th, 48.1% were "AAA, AA and A" rated, 48.3% were "BBB" … Continue reading Federal Reserve Discloses Corporate Bond Purchases
Earnings Calls – A Keyword Analysis
We ran a Natural Language Processing ("NLP")-based analysis of earnings calls from this week. We captured keywords and phrases from 23 earnings calls. Our report is sorted alphabetically by ticker symbol. Access the free report HERE. This analysis may be customized to capture certain keywords and phrases for any text-based document. https://soundcloud.com/ceorater
CEO Changes
We outline CEO changes that have occurred over the past few weeks Click here for the PDF presentation. https://youtu.be/R7K2KPRtTmU
It Is A Mistake To “Look Through” Q2 and 2020 Earnings
There is insight to be gleaned from recent earnings conference calls. We have highlighted a few from this past week (below). Many companies assume a deterioration in business from Q1 to Q2 and a potential recovery beginning in Q3. A majority of companies did not provide formal Q2 nor calendar 2020 guidance (access our list … Continue reading It Is A Mistake To “Look Through” Q2 and 2020 Earnings
History Repeats Itself and Often Rhymes
We have seen this movie before. The economy is slowing. This Coronavirus-led slowdown feels much like 2003's SARS outbreak exacerbated by the social media echo chamber. When entering an economic slowdown investors would be wise to understand the level of exposure that portfolio holdings have to discretionary revenue. In Software & Services land this primarily … Continue reading History Repeats Itself and Often Rhymes
IBM Names A New CEO
Tickers mentioned: AMZN, FDS, GOOG, IBM, INFO, MSCI, MSFT, ORCL, SSNC, VRSK Late to the Cloud and Little Appetite for Acquisitions IBM named Arvind Krishna to replace Ginni Rometty as CEO effective April 6th, 2020. Some 7-8 years ago IBM accelerated its transition to the cloud. This transition was accompanies by a change to pro … Continue reading IBM Names A New CEO
Prospective Bloomberg LP Acquirers
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