Q1 earning reports seemed to set the tone for this week’s news. IBM had another quarter of decline as did Microsoft and EMC.
HP Inc sold off troubled assets while EMC and Dell ponder what else they can sell to pay of their debt.
IBM
- As Expected, IBM Continued Its No-Revenue Growth Trend in 1Q16
For 1Q16, IBM reported revenues of $18.7 billion and non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) EPS (earnings per share) of $2.35. That beat analysts’ expectations by $400 million and $0.26, respectively.
http://marketrealist.com/2016/04/expected-ibm-continued-no-revenue-growth-trend-1q16/
More:
IBM loses sheen, announces worst revenue in 14 yearsThe shares of IBM dipped by almost 5 percent in extended trading. Though it still maintains its position as the world’s foremost tech services company, IBM’s revenue fell by 4.6 percent to $18.68 billion in the first quarter. The corporation did, however, manage to top analysts’ average estimate of $18.29 billion.
http://www.sirg.co/business/ibm-loses-sheen-announces-worst-revenue-in-14-years/
More:
IBM’s bet on cognitive computing, Watson will take time to pay off
http://www.zdnet.com/article/ibms-bet-on-cognitive-computing-watson-will-take-time-to-pay-off/
More:Acquisitions Should Boost IBM’s Outlook for 2016 (they didn’t)
Another focus of recent acquisitions has been video: IBM has decided to go big on video services delivered via its cloud infrastructure. Today it announced wins with Canada’s major TV network CBC, with AOL, the Verizon-owned Web media player, and Comic-Con to provide the video infrastructure behind their video streaming services. It’s part of a wider bet on Web video starting when it acquired UStream in January and used it as the backbone of a new video business unit.http://recode.net/2016/04/18/ibm-quarterly-earnings-acquisitions-cbc-aol-verizon-comic-con/
Microsoft
- How Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plans to beat Amazon in the cloud
Where our differentiation lies: The first one is hybrid. Every server product of ours has cloud enrollment rights whether that be Windows Server or SQL Server,” he said, meaning that if you buy the software, you don’t need to pay for it again to use it on Microsoft’s cloud. That saves a company money.
And he said, the reverse is true, too, that Microsoft’s cloud Azure works particularly well with all of the company’s own server products. This is “unique to Microsoft.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-microsoft-will-beat-amazon-in-the-cloud-2016-4
- Microsoft Misses Profit Estimates With Slowing PC Market
Microsoft devices and PC business were a mixed bag. The division – called “More Personal Computing” — grew only 1% to $9.5 billion. While the Surface device business grew 61% (primarily from the new Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book devices), the phone revenue declined 46%. Licensing the Windows operating system to PC makers declined 2%, but Microsoft pointed out that the decline was still better than the overall PC market. 2015 was one of the worst declines in PC sales ever and 2016 doesn’t look like it’s shaping up any better:Research firm Gartner said PC shipments declined 9.6% year-over-year for the first quarter. Microsoft said that Windows 10 is now active on more than 270 million devices.
- Microsoft touts free stuff to lure server-leaning IT pros to its cloud
To entice them to join, Microsoft is offering up Azure credits, free online training, free tech support and extended trials of Office 365 and its BYOD product, Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc
- OpenText Enters Into Definitive Agreement with HP Inc. to Acquire Certain Software Assets
OpenText Corporation, a forerunner in enterprise information management, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with HP Inc. to acquire certain parts of its customer experience software and service assets. The software assets, which OpenText Corporation has acquired includes HP Media Bin, a digital asset management solution, HP TeamSite, a multichannel digital experience management platform, HP Qfiniti, a workforce optimization platform, HP Optimost, HP Explore, and HP Aurasma.
The company, a Canada-based content management company, expects to generate between $85 million and $95 million of revenue in the first year. If those numbers are correct, OpenText could make back the cost of the acquisition in just two years.
http://www.ciodive.com/news/opentext-buys-bundle-of-hp-content-management-products-for-170m/417654/
More:Interestingly these pieces weren’t included in the HPE part of the company during the split, where it would have made more sense. Perhaps that’s because HPI intended to sell these pieces all along, says Scott Liewehr, principal at Digital Clarity Group.
“Why pair it with printers? In our view at DCG, we assumed this meant they’d be selling it off as soon as they could find a buyer. It’s been pretty public knowledge that HP has had buyer’s remorse from the Interwoven acquisition for quite some time,” Liewehr said.
“TeamSite once held a dominant market position, but a series of poor decisions during the Autonomy era led to its demise. Staying ahead of innovative competitors requires more than just issuing press releases. But there are a number of large global enterprises still using TeamSite, and I’m sure the sales teams at Adobe, Sitecore, and Acquia are going to quickly capitalize on today’s news.”
The news to sell the CX software to OpenText confirms the new HP Inc. had the plan to divest all along, according to Tony Byrne, founder of the Real Story Group.
“It’s clearer HP was prepping these tools for ready divestment,” Byrne blogged today. “And today comes news that TeamSite, MediaBin, and Optimost have gone to rest at everyone’s favorite graveyard for unloved content technologies: OpenText.”
Byrne said old Interwoven customers went through a sale to a “pathologically destructive” Autonomy, then went through an “ugly and litigious acquisition” by HP, then “calved off into near oblivion with the HP printer group.”
http://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/hp-sells-cx-assets-to-opentext-for-170m/
Storage (EMC | Dell | NetApp | Infinidat )
- Dell looking at higher debt mountain to buy EMC
The WSJ reports the weakish quarterly results at Intel and the “poorly received debt sale by disk-drive maker Western Digital Corp. are building expectations of higher yields for Dell’s coming debt issuance.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/22/dell_looking_at_higher_debt_mountain_to_buy_emc/ - EMC Q1 soft as orders slip
The storage giant reported first quarter earnings of $603 million, or 14 cents a share on revenue of $5.5 billion, down 2 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 31 cents a share.
Wall Street was looking for non-GAAP earnings of 33 cents a share on revenue of $5.6 billion.
- VMware Shares Surge on Talk of Stock Buyback
The stock repurchase is expected to take place after the EMC shareholder vote on the Dell deal, slated for May 12. By taking shares out of circulation, VMware hopes to increase their value.
http://fortune.com/2016/04/20/vmware-shares-surge-on-talk-of-stock-buyback/
More:
VMware plans $1.2B buyback to ease Dell takeoverVMware’s stock surged over 9% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company reported solid quarterly results and said it would begin a $1.2 billion stock buyback. The repurchase is set to begin after EMC shareholders vote on the Dell acquisition, an event expected six weeks after Dell files its final SEC paperwork on the transaction.
The buyback is good news to EMC shareholders because Dell’s parent company, Denali Holding Inc., is offering them $24.05 in cash, plus a tracking stock valued at 0.111 the value of VMware’s shares. By reacquiring its stock, VMware will reduce the number of shares outstanding for sale, likely increasing their market value.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/vmware-plans-12b-buyback-to-ease-dell-takeover-2016-04-19
Oracle
- Oracle? Who Might Be Eating Their Porridge?
Why might I say something so harsh? Simple really, Oracle derives 52% of its revenues from maintenance. Those revenues have operating margins of 94%. The cloud accounts for 8% of revenues and has gross margins (gross not operating) of 48%. I really do think that at scale, cloud gross margins will be higher than today, but still lower than the operating margins reaped by “selling” maintenance contracts. To the extent that Oracle is replacing a revenue stream with 94% margins with one that has margins of 75% – hopefully. Needless to say, that is not the best of trades.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3965635-oracle-might-eating-porridge
More:One serious challenge that Oracle faces is flexibility. Most users perceive that Oracle’s pricing is draconian and its audits… well lots of users have been known to cheat here and there in order to achieve their budgets and lots of sales people aid and abet those kinds of things. In addition to the pricing, the inflexible “Ts&Cs” there is the subject of vendor lock-in. Oracle has loads of other things they want to sell users and if users choose the Oracle cloud and then want an in-memory database, their choice is Oracle Exadata and nothing else. No rewards for guessing what that means to the prices paid by users.
Other
- Healthcare IT, Big Data Investments Surge in Q1
Market researcher Mercom Capital Group reported that venture funding for healthcare IT and “digital health” soared 27 percent over the previous quarter during the first three months of this year. A total of 146 deals involving private equity and corporate venture capital generated quarterly investments totaling $1.4 billion, Mercom said. Investments totaled $1.1 billion in the previous quarter.
http://www.datanami.com/2016/04/20/healthcare-big-data-investments-surge-q1/