Trefis Top 5 – June 14 Insights (DELL, RIMM, AKAM, IBM, SPWRA)
Today we look at how Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM) might benefit from Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iCloud service. Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) targets the high growth storage sector. Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) recently acquired Scoreloop, a mobile social gaming company that helps mobile game developers add social and in-app billing features to their games. IBM (NYSE:IBM) a software platform aimed at making cities ‘smarter’ by providing an easy package for cities to purchase and implement which will help monitor and manage city resources. Finally, we assess SunPower’s (NASDAQ:SPWRA) PV solar components shipments.
Dell Targets High Growth Storage Market
Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) on Tuesday announced that it is beefing up its storage solution portfolio in several high growth areas. In particular it added new scalable network-attached storage (NAS) and unified storage capabilities to its EqualLogic product family as well as new Fibre Channel additions to its Compellent and PowerVault families. [1] In the past year, Dell has made a number of acquisitions in the storage sector – Compellent, Exanet and Ocarina Networks [2] and is targeting the fast growing market for big data in the face of stiff competition from players like EMC (NYSE:EMC), NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP), HP (NYSE:HPQ) and IBM (NYSE:IBM).
- We Put PLX Technology to the C.H.A.O.S. Test
- With Icahn Gone Shareholders Approve Dell’s Privatization
- Carl Ichan Bows Out Of Dell’s Privatization War
- Strong Acquisition Target Poised To Challenge In Fat Loss And Skin Care Markets
- 5 Hottest Dividend Share Buys From Carl Icahn As Well As His Total Portfolio Overview
- Dell’s Margins Slip Even As Revenues Stabilize
RIM Acquires Scoreloop to Attract Developers
Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) recently acquired Scoreloop, a mobile social gaming company that helps mobile game developers add social and in-app billing features to their games. [3] It is an important move by RIM for the improvement of its gaming and app ecosystem, which trails Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android app ecosystems. Over the past few months, RIM has struggled to compete in the smartphone market while its US smartphone market share slumped from around 30% in January to 26% in April 2011. [4] RIM desperately needs some innovative measures to overcome competition and spur investor confidence in order to boost its stock, and Scoreloop could be one of these moves. Our $51 estimate for RIM stock is about 40% above market price.
Does Apple’s iCloud Hold Promise for Akamai?
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently launched its iCloud service that allows users to store their music, photos and other documents on the cloud. This content is thus accessible from Apple’s mobile devices and any PC. While this is certainly a shiny introduction from Apple to fuel the growth in sales of its iPhone and iPad devices, it also holds promise for Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM). As a content delivery vendor for Apple, Akamai has an advantage over its competitors like Limelight Networks (NASDAQ:LLNW), InterNAP Network Services (NASDAQ:INAP) and Level 3 (NASDAQ:LVLT) in delivering these services. [5]
Big Blue Aims to Make Cities Smarter
Last week IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced an Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities, a software platform aimed at providing an easy package for cities to purchase and implement which will help monitor and manage city resources. We believe this could help boost IBM’s middleware business, which accounts for just under half of our $185 Trefis price estimate for IBM’s stock – or just about 15% above the current market price. IBM competes with firms like Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) and Red Hat in the middleware software market.
Bright Outlook for SunPower Solar Components Shipments
SunPower’s (NASDAQ:SPWRA) shipments of utility and power plant components for residential and commercial purposes have increased from 49 megawatts (MW) in 2007 to 288 MW in 2010, and we expect this growth will continue driven by several benefits and subsidies provided by governments for solar energy. SunPower’s efforts in increasing its dealer network has also helped improve sales over the years. Increasing oil and gas prices will push for greater efforts in improving efficiency of solar energy, which will benefit SunPower and other solar energy providers First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), SuntechPower (NYSE:STP), and Yingli Green Energy Holding Com (NYSE:YGE).
Notes:- Dell Delivers New Storage Solutions for the Virtual Era Built on Its Fluid Data Architecture, Dell [↩]
- Dell Adds NAS To EqualLogic, Fibre Channel To PowerVault, crn.com [↩]
- RIM welcomes Scoreloop, June 7th 2011 [↩]
- comScore Reports April 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share, June 3rd 2011 [↩]
- What Could Apple’s iCloud Service Be Worth to Akamai? Here Are Some Numbers, blog.streamingmedia.com, Jun 6 2011 [↩]