Monday, August 26, 2013

Oddly Relevant (Aug-26-2013)

Microsoft - Growing Strength In The Enterprise Is Where The Real Value Is: Interesting stream of articles arguing that the MSFT is, by its core, a combo of Adobe + IBM + VMWare; while most of the observers view it as an ailing mobile and OS company. It potential may be overlooked. More and more global companies are buying into the enterprise productivity value proposition and joining the ecosystem, which is clearly evident from the growth in some of the peripheral communication tools such as Lync, which grew at 35% in the most recent quarter. In addition, strong growth in enterprise cloud computing will continue to lift Server and Tools at a healthy rate. The high level of complexity and implementation costs of these projects, further supported by double-digit growth in multi-year license agreements really presents a strong moat and margin of safety. The current market is underestimating the staying power of these divisions, and as a result you get the rest of the company more or less free. Although likely past its heyday, Windows as an OS is not going away anytime soon and the value of this unit alone added to the enterprise focused business means that the company is undervalued by at least 30%, not even counting the net $6/share in cash on the balance sheet.


Steve Ballmer: Microsoft's Future Is in the Cloud: This is March 2010. And Steve Ballmer gave a live webcast, saying that Microsoft is betting its future on the cloud. He illustrated that by saying 70% of Microsoft's 40,000 employees are working on cloud related efforts. By next year, 90% of Microsoft employees will be working on cloud matters. [Note: Read it again, MSFT is the biggest beneficiary of this movement]..Source: http://readwrite.com/2010/03/04/steve-ballmer-microsofts-futur#awesm=~ofzbGJ3xW2bIj4

The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life: low water content + 3-5 pH acidity + hydrogen peroxide as a by-product of bees’ glucose oxidase basically kills all bacteria or make the content inhabitable….Source: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/08/the-science-behind-honeys-eternal-shelf-life/

WBMD’s 5 mm share tender offer at $34: With an odd-lot provision for 99 shares or under. In case you missed it, The Offer will expire on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time…Source: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326583/000119312513330863/d580676dex99a1a.htm

TUMI: disappointing 2Q and lowered FY guidance dropped the stock to around 52 week lows at ~$20 / share. I have been eyeing this company for a while, and for the 1 st time since IPO it is trading at ~20x forward PE. Tumi is one of the smallest publicly traded luxury companies but enjoys some of the fastest revenue (~18%) and eps (~20%+) growth. It also has a burgeoning Europe and Asia exposure and enjoys a very long pathway of growth. The Coach of men, as I would call it, and this name looks very interesting a reasonable price.

12 Best Opportunities for Bargain Hunters: Pretty decent list despite of salesy title. Worth a revision… Source: http://valueinvestingcenter.com/2013/02/19/12-best-opportunities-for-bargain-hunters/


Which economist do you agree with most? The site, run by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, takes regular polls of a set panel of influential economists on a variety of topics related to public policy, to get a sense of how much consensus and/or debate there is on those topics within the economics profession. Answer the questions and find your match…Source: http://www.whichfamouseconomistareyoumostsimilarto.com/

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