Tag Archives: technology

Genpact Sees Surge In Outsourcing Business; BPO Stocks Up

Highly rated but modestly traded Genpact ( G ) stock bumped up a fraction Friday, after a day of show-and-tell at its analyst day Thursday that spotlighted a surge of growth for the outsourcing business. Many rival stocks were up even more, with Paychex ( PAYX ) stock up 2% in midday trading in the stock market today . William Blair analyst Anil Doradla came away “with the sense that business fundamentals were intact and that the company’s deal pipeline is healthy,” he wrote in a research note Friday. Genpact executives suggested that the company had plenty of room for growth in its business process outsourcing market, because revenue for the market overall rose 35%, to $500 billion, in the past year, while Genpact sales rose 8%, to $2.46 billion, Doradla said. But he also said BPO growth will slow. Doradla put Genpact trading at 18.8 times William Blair’s 2016 EPS estimate for Genpact, “a slight premium to its peers in the fast-growth BPO industry,” which is trading at 17.6 times estimated earnings, he said. BPO is found in more than one industry group. In IBD’s Commercial Services-Outsourcing group, Genpact ranks as the fourth-largest company, with a market cap of $5.6 billion. The group is led by Paychex with an $18.9 billion market value, Cintas ( CTAS ) at $9.5 billion and Aramark ( ARMK ) at $7.7 billion. Shares of both Cintas and Aramark were up more than 1% midday Friday. IBD’s Computer-Tech Services also hosts some heavyweight outsourcers, including Infosys ( INFY ) with a $40.3 billion market cap, and Cognizant Technology Solutions ( CTSH ) at $33.9 billion. IBM ( IBM ) is included in this group, although it does much more than outsourcing. Infosys stock was up a fraction midday Friday, while Cognizant was more than 2% and IBM nearly 2%. Genpact specializes in financial services outsourcing, contributing about 42% of its revenue. Manufacturing and health care are its other two main markets. Sales to its largest customer, General Electric ( GE ), fell 1% last year to 19% of Genpact’s total revenue. Genpact is a GE spinoff. “Overall, we came away with a bullish tone from management, both at a company-specific level and with regard to the overall BPO market,” Doradla said. “Management highlighted that the company is witnessing healthy demand in its business and that Genpact has an active deal pipeline. “Some of the key drivers for the upwardly revised figures include customers increasingly viewing BPO companies as transformation partners who not only offer a cost arbitrage, but also provide valuable insights into business operations. Specific areas in which the industry is increasingly engaging clients include IoT, big data and cybersecurity. “Bottom line, we believe that the BPO industry is poised for strong overall growth over the next several years and that Genpact stands to grow at a faster pace than the overall industry due to domain expertise and strong client relationships.” Genpact carries an IBD Composite Rating of 96, with 99 the highest, and currently is an IBD Leaderboard stock. Trading near 26.50 midday Friday, it is within range from a 26 buy point touched last month.

Regeneron/Sanofi Drug Beats Humira In Rheumatoid Arthritis Trial

A drug candidate that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ( REGN ) and Sanofi ( SNY ) jointly developed has beaten AbbVie ’s ( ABBV ) best-selling rheumatoid-arthritis (RA) drug in a late-stage study, the companies said Friday. Regeneron and Sanofi said that their monoclonal antibody sarilumab met the trial’s main goal of improving symptoms after 24 weeks of a biweekly dosing regimen. Some 72% of patients on sarilumab achieved at least a 20% improvement in signs and symptoms based on American College of Rheumatology criteria, in contrast to 58% of the patients in the Humira group. Both groups experienced about the same rate of negative side effects, though the sarilumab group showed a higher rate of neutropenia, or lowering of white blood cells. Humira is currently the top-selling RA drug and, indeed, the top-selling drug of any kind in the world today, but its number of competitors is rising. Last fall baricitinib, a drug that Eli Lilly ( LLY ) and Incyte ( INCY ) co-developed, also beat Humira in a head-to-head trial; unlike the injectable Humira and sarilumab, it is delivered orally. Roche ’s ( RHHBY ) intravenous medicine Actemra has also bested Humira in trials. Regeneron and Sanofi have already applied for FDA approval of sarilumab based on earlier data, with a decision due by Oct. 30. RBC Capital Markets analyst Adnan Butt called the news a “modest positive” but added that investors are still concerned with some nearer-term issues with Regeneron’s stock. Among them is a pilot program to test changes in Medicare Part B , announced this week, that could affect a great deal of the reimbursement for Regeneron’s flagship drug Eylea, and a patent lawsuit that Amgen ( AMGN ) filed over another monoclonal antibody in the Regeneron/Sanofi partnership, Praluent. “All else being equal, beating Humira is certainly better than not beating it, but at least some of the discussed overhangs may need clearing before the pipeline receives more credit,” wrote Butt in a research note. By late morning on the stock market today , AbbVie stock was up almost 3% near 58. Sanofi was up 2% near 41, while Regeneron stock was up a fraction near 381.

Finisar Stock Jumps, With Q3 Profit Beating As China Demand Grows

Shares of  Finisar ( FNSR ), a supplier of fiber optic networking devices to Google and Verizon Communications, jumped to a seven-month high after the company posted fiscal-third-quarter earnings late Thursday that topped views and forecast current-quarter revenue above the consensus estimate. A pick-up in demand for fiber optic devices from China could boost Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Finisar, analysts say. China Mobile ( CHL ) and other wireless firms are building out new networks. And China’s ZTE — the mobile gear maker which was the object of a U.S. government export ban this week for its sales to Iran — is not a “material” customer of Finisar, analysts say. Verizon ( VZ ), meanwhile, is among the U.S. telecom companies upgrading landline fiber optic networks in metropolitan areas to 100-gigabit-per-second technology. “Finisar reported solid fiscal Q3 results, with EPS coming in above Street expectations, and the company guided (current-quarter) revenue and EPS ahead of consensus estimates,” said Troy Jensen, a Piper Jaffray analyst, in a research report. “The upbeat fiscal Q3 results and forward guidance were driven by robust demand for 100G telco and datacom optics.” Finisar stock was up 18% in morning trading in the stock market today , near 17, as other fiber optic stocks also gained. Lumentum Holdings ( LITE ) advanced 1.5%, while Oclaro ( OCLR ), Viavi Solutions ( VIAV ) and Applied Optoelectronics ( AAOI ) were all higher by more than 1.5%. And while disappointing results at Ciena ( CIEN ) last week had led to sharp sell-off in fiber optic stocks, Ciena stock was up nearly 3% Friday morning. IBD’s Telecom-Fiber Optics group as a whole rose more than 3%. It ranks No. 81 out of 197 industry groups tracked. While phone companies such as Verizon have been the biggest customers of the fiber optic parts makers,  Internet companies such as Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Facebook ( FB ) are also boosting demand as they build new data centers . In its fiscal Q3 ended Jan. 31, Finisar said it earned 25 cents per share minus items, flat from the year-earlier period but topping analysts estimates of 22 cents. For the current quarter ending in April, Finisar forecasts profit  of  22 cents to 28 cents, where analysts had modeled 21 cents. Finisar, which has a relatively weak IBD Composite rating of 45, said Q3 revenue rose 1% to $309.2 million, missing consensus estimates of $311 million. But for the current quarter, Finisar forecasts revenue of $317 million at the midpoint of its range, above the $315 million modeled by analysts. Merger talks between Finisar and Lumentum broke off last year, analysts said. Intensified competition has pressured the profit margins of fiber optic parts makers. “Finisar is seeing growth on a number of fronts; however, the increasingly competitive 100G datacom market holds us back for now,” said Jefferies analyst James Kisner, in a report. He has a neutral rating on Finisar stock. Image provided by Shutterstock .