Tag Archives: request

Recent Expedia Acquisitions Cloud Financials; Price Target Cut

Ahead of Expedia ‘s ( EXPE ) Q4 earnings out after the close Wednesday, Barclays on Tuesday lowered its price target for the online travel agency. Barclays analyst Paul Vogel dropped his price target to 120 from 150, citing a wide range of analyst estimates for the company as it integrates acquisitions such as Orbitz and HomeAway. “There are a number of moving parts within Expedia that we believe have created an uncertain backdrop around forecasts and expectations,” Vogel wrote in a research note Tuesday. Expedia revenue  is expected to rise 26% to $1.71 billion in Q4 from $1.36 billion in Q4 2014, according to the consensus of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. They see EPS minus items rising 16% to $1. Shares of the Seattle-based company were up a fraction in afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 91.Vogel rates Expedia stock overweight. HomeAway specializes in vacation rentals — known as alternative accommodations in industry jargon — that in part Expedia purchased as a hedge against the rapidly growing Airbnb, a firm that lets people rent out their home, a room in their home, or apartment to travelers. Analysts say rival online travel agency  Priceline ( PCLN ), is well-hedged against alternative accommodations. In a research note last year, RBC analyst Mark Mahaney said Priceline’s inventory of 361,000 properties has risen by 80% in a year. Vogel says three issues could impact HomeAway’s revenue: 1. Complications surrounding integrating its financials with Expedia. 2. The change to online booking, which will have an impact on fee revenue and renewal rates. 3. Charging travelers a fee is critical to achieving the company’s projected earnings. In terms of integrating Orbitz into Expedia, Vogel is building only a “small amount of synergies” into his financial models based on executives’ commentary on the Q3 earnings call . Vogel, who also cut his Q4 earnings estimate, says the price-target cut was necessary given the “current market environment.”

Microsoft Azure Gaining Vs. Amazon Cloud, Says RightScale Survey

Microsoft ’s ( MSFT ) Azure service is gaining ground vs. Amazon Web Services in public cloud computing, says a RightScale survey of small businesses and large companies. Research firm RightScale surveyed 1,060 buyers of public and private cloud computing services. Some large companies have also been interested in a hybrid cloud model — running the most important business apps on their own servers behind a private corporate firewall and accessing public infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers as needed. Amazon Web Services, part of Amazon.com ( AMZN ), is the biggest provider of IaaS, in which customers rent computer servers and data storage systems via the Internet. Microsoft competes in IaaS but is also strong in platform-as-a-service. In PaaS, cloud companies sell applications and software, including business management and database services, that run on cloud infrastructure. According to the RightScale report : “Overall, Amazon Web Services is used by 57% of survey respondents, flat from last year. Enterprise adoption of AWS grew from 50% to 56%, while adoption by smaller businesses fell slightly from 61% to 58%.” “Microsoft Azure IaaS grew strongly from 12% to 17% adoption, while Azure PaaS grew from 9% to 13%,” the report said. In private cloud deployments, RightScale said that VMware ( VMW ) is gaining traction. In public cloud, Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google lost ground, says the report.

Cisco, Sony Deals Herald Internet Of Things M&A Boom, Says Report

Cisco Systems ’ ( CSCO ) purchase of Jasper Technologies and Sony’s acquisition of chipmaker Altair Semiconductor could be the start of an Internet-of-Things buying spree in 2016, says a Strategy Analytics report. “IoT M&A activity could potentially reach the $20 billion mark in 2016,” says Strategy Analytics. IoT refers to wireless technology that connects industrial, medical, automotive and consumer devices to the Web. Cisco agreed to buy IoT software platform provider Jasper for  $1.4 billion last week. Privately held Jasper’s CEO, Jahangir Mohammed, will run Cisco’s new IoT software business unit. Sony ( SNE ) in late January agreed to buy Israel-based Altair for about $212 million. Altair makes low-power, high-performance modem chips and related LTE technology, a 4G smartphone standard. In many cases, IoT involves analysis of data streams sent from sensor-equipped devices. AT&T ( T ) in January said it would partner with Cisco, Ericsson, General Electric ( GE ), IBM ( IBM ), Intel ( INTC ) and Qualcomm ( QCOM ) to expand its “smart cities” initiative for Web-connected devices. Verizon Communications ( VZ ), meanwhile, has developed software tools for IoT applications. The Strategy Analytics report says that security will be a big issue for companies deploying IoT systems. The report forecasts strong growth in IoT-related analytics software.