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Tag: IBM
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
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
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
Some years ago many insurance carriers wrote tranches of long-term care (“LTC”) life insurance policies which have proved to be toxic. These “toxic” LTC policies - primarily written between 1999-2004 - were at the heart of a scathing critique of General Electric (tkr: GE) last week which ultimately accused the company of accounting fraud. While … Continue reading Toxic Long Term Care Policies: A Bane for Many. A Boon for Some.
We recently wrote that “Scale Matters in Tech”. Technology companies that have captured the number 1 or number 2 position within a particular vertical enjoy Economies of Scale including: 1.) automatically getting a seat at the table for sales bakeoffs, 2.) job seekers naturally gravitate toward market leaders, 3.) prospective acquisition targets will find you, … Continue reading Three Activist Investor TargetsPremium
To borrow a line from one of America's all-time great CEOs, Dr. John Malone - "Big Bubbles Get Bigger - Little Bubbles Disappear" There is less surface tension as bubbles rise thus they continue to expand. The same is true of technology companies both from an M&A perspective as well as from a competitive standpoint. … Continue reading Big Bubbles Get Bigger
From Chat bots to Ambient AI. Cloud-based AI and Machine Learning technology is readily available. Large technology platform companies such as Amazon (Alexa), Google and Microsoft (Azure), encourage third-party developers to build applications and services on top of their core AI and Machine Learning platforms. This enables developers to focus resources on building value through … Continue reading How AI Will Conquer Financial Services
Scale matters in Tech. This has never been more true as businesses increasingly go global. Consider Netflix's $13 billion content investment in 2018. Amazon and its Borg-like Prime service is also a significant content player. To round out the “Big 3”, consider Disney and its ESPN+ SVOD (“subscription video on demand”) service as well as Disney’s … Continue reading Scale Matters in Tech
Many insurers are hesitant to invest aggressively in AI & ML initiatives given that the ROIC is difficult to quantify. This conservatism combined with market disruption bodes well for technology & service providers that offer an Outsourcing option with a demonstrable ROI. Examples include Accenture, EXL Service, IBM Global Services and SS&C Technologies. Plus - … Continue reading We Expect Outsourcing Providers to Gain Traction with Insurance Carriers
Disruption Rarely Announces Its Arrival Ask Curtis Stevens - the gentleman who was knocked on his posterior by Gennady Golovkin in our header image - if he saw the punches coming. Ask former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer if back in the early 2000's he knew SaaS/cloud-based service delivery models would dominate the software landscape. Ask … Continue reading Disruption – It’s the Punch You Don’t See that HurtsPremium
