Category Archives: oud

Hiring Amazon Vet As CEO Signals Shutterfly Not For Sale

The March 17 appointment of Christopher North as CEO of digital photo firm Shutterfly ( SFLY ) signals the company’s intent to remain independent, despite rumors of buyout offers, says RBC Capital Markets. In a research note sent to investors late Wednesday, RBC analyst Rohit Kulkarni said North’s appointment signals the firm’s likely intent to rebuff takeover offers from bidders such as private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners. Shutterfly stock is down 2% since the CEO announcement, though shares were up 1.5% in late-afternoon trading on the stock market today , near 46.The company has a weak IBD Composite Rating of 58, where 99 is the highest. Kulkarni rates Shutterfly stock to outperform, and has a price target of 48. The analyst said the firm’s Q4 results were “nothing to get excited about,” but he said he is willing to “remain patient” to give the new management team time to jell. He sees the possibility of profit margins rising and sales accelerating. North, a 10-year veteran of  Amazon.com ( AMZN ), has a “resume and impressive track record,” Kulkarni wrote in his research note. North was one of the executives at Amazon’s U.K. operation, Shutterfly said in its press release announcing the hiring. Before Amazon, North held leadership rolls with Phaidon Press and HarpersCollins Publishers, and was once a media and entertainment consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, according to the RBC research note. “We believe Mr. North’s appointment will help Shutterfly reinvigorate such core metrics,” Kulkarni said. “And given his experience, Mr. North at the helm could open up international possibilities for Shutterfly.” North’s appointment is effective May 31. Company Chairman Philip Marineau is its temporary CEO. On Dec. 1, Shutterfly announced that 11-year CEO Jeffrey Housenbold was resigning as of February “to pursue other opportunities.” He also resigned as president and board member.

Google Cloud Faces Amazon, Microsoft Over $25 Billion ‘Jump Ball’

With Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google Cloud Platform snaring more major customers, there’s a three-company race between it,  Amazon ( AMZN ) Web Services and  Microsoft ( MSFT ) Azure that will only intensify. Cowen & Co. analyst John Blackledge wrote in a report on Thursday, after the first day of the Google Cloud Platform Next Conference in San Francisco, that “our sense from talking to potential customers at the event is that they are giving Google Cloud Platform another look.” Blackledge said press reports have highlighted “recent wins” for Google’s cloud business, including Spotify, Coca-Cola Enterprises ( CCE ) and Snapchat, which “were featured prominently in customer use-case discussions. Other customers include Home Depot ( HD ), Electronic Arts ( EA ), Zulily, Sony ( SNE ) Music, HTC, Best Buy ( BBY ), TiVo ( TIVO ), Wix ( WIX ), Philips ( PHG ), Volkswagen ‘s ( VLKAY ) Audi, (and Tata Group’s) Jaguar and Range Rover,” Blackledge said. Public clouds “are likely to be a highly competitive market where customer stickiness will be challenged by new technologies that make it easier to move workloads between public cloud vendors,” Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter wrote in industry research note on Wednesday. “It clearly has become a major focus area for Google and one in which it intends to compete directly against Amazon and Microsoft.” Competition between the three groups will rise “particularly as enterprises become increasingly comfortable migrating select workloads to public cloud environments,” according to Cloud Computing Today . Cloud services is “a $25 billion jump ball” that will likely be captured by the big three competitors: Alphabet’s Google Cloud Platform, Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson said in a Wednesday industry research note. “With it being early in this opportunity, we think there will be wins and losses along the way, but we believe (Google) will be a significant competitor in the years to come, and it could help drive growth.” Apple recently signed a contract worth between $400 million and $600 million to use Google’s Cloud Platform, according to CRN . Apple now uses cloud services from Amazon and Microsoft, but it intends to end its reliance on all its rivals in the next few years as it builds its own data centers, according to Re/Code. In February, music service Spotify, a high-profile customer of Amazon’s Amazon Web Services, said it would use  Google’s cloud for some computing infrastructure. Google’s cloud business generated about $500 million in revenues last year, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs, as cited by Reuters . That compares with $74.5 billion overall for parent company Alphabet, but the cloud business is one of its fastest-growing business areas. Overall, Reuters said Google ranks as the No. 4 player in the cloud infrastructure industry, with 4% of the market last year, according to Synergy Research. Amazon’s Amazon Web Services had a 31% share, Microsoft’s Azure had a 9% share, and IBM ( IBM ) had 7%, according to the group. Google is also building up its data centers across the world, launching two new regional centers in Japan and Oregon to bring the number of regions it serves to five. Cloud computing is an increasingly popular way for companies to run their IT operations, and the $20-billion-a-year business is forecast to grow 35% over the next year, according to Gartner Inc. Alphabet stock was down a fraction in late afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 755. Microsoft stock was up a fraction, near 54. Apple stock was down marginally, near 106, and Amazon stock was up more than 2%, near 581.

Takeover Bid, Snack Trend, New Issue Highlight Prepared-Food Group

After several weeks in the top 25 industry rankings, the food-preparation group has a couple of interesting choices for investors and is already a sizable winner. McCormick & Co. ( MKC ), which makes packaged spice mixes, has rallied about 10% from a breakout Jan. 29. Its advance makes it the stock market leader among the 10 stocks in the group. The company was in the news Thursday, when it defended its talks to acquire Premier Foods, a British maker of prepared foods and flavor packages. McCormick has offered 60 pence per Premier share, or about $1.5 billion pounds (more than $2.1 billion). This is the second approach Premier Foods has rejected from McCormick, saying the offer was too low. “McCormick is disappointed that the board of Premier Foods is conducting itself in a way that denies Premier Foods’ shareholders the opportunity to consider McCormick’s highly attractive cash offer,” the Sparks, Md.-based company said in a statement. As it rebuffed the overtures, Premier said Thursday that Japan’s Nissin Foods Holdings acquired a 17.27% stake in Premier from an existing shareholder. The announcement came one day after Premier announced an agreement that lets Premier sell Nissin’s products in the United Kingdom and lets Premier accelerate distribution of its products overseas. While McCormick is the group’s leader, it has a weak EPS Rating from IBD of 57.  A more well-rounded choice in the group is John B. Sanfilippo & Son ( JBSS ), which makes packaged nut products and snacks and has a robust EPS Rating of 96. Profit increased 76%, 27%, 34% and 43% in the past four quarters.  Sales climbed 9% to 20% in that time. Analysts have noted a growing trend in snacks, as busier lifestyles drive demand for on-the-go options. Better-for-you choices also are a rising segment. The stock is in buy range from the 66.10 buy point of a cup-with-handle base. Shares have stalled after rising as much as 10% from the entry. Yet there are no sell signals on the chart. Blue Buffalo Pet Products ( BUFF ) is a new face in the industry, having gone public in July at 20 a share. The stock is quickly rising along the right side of its first base, a deep cup-shaped pattern with a potential buy point at 28.90. Blue Buffalo makes dog and cat food made with all-natural products such as whole meats, fruits and vegetables. The company says it is the No. 1 brand in the industry’s natural wholesome segment. Fourth-quarter earnings topped expectations as the company’s EPS growth accelerated for the third straight quarter. Sales rose 11% to $265.2 million. The company forecast full-year sales of $1.12 billion to $1.14 billion and adjusted earnings of  72 cents to 74 cents, up 16% to 19% vs. from 2015 results.