A group of tech veterans -- DD Ganguly, Jayant Pandit, Saurav Mohapatra, Sundar Subramanian and Rohit Shankar – have worked on various projects, despite being in far-flung places across the globe. They did so by leveraging free technologies such as Skype to help manage things.
However, they also wanted to share screens, but couldn't find anything for it as the conferencing software was either too expensive or complicated. So, they started a new company: Dimdim.
That was in 2006 and, as of now, Dimdim is getting lots of traction. In fact, the firm has raised $6.4 million in venture capital. The investors include: Index Ventures, Nexus India Capital and Draper Richards.
Dimdim is available as downloadable open source software. There is also an on-demand version.
For the most part, Dimdim is gunning for a large market opportunity. For example, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) purchased WebEx for a whopping $3.2 billion. Other major players in the space include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) and Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE).
So, if Dimdim can develop an enterprise-ready version and can provide it on a low-cost basis, the impact could be highly disruptive. And now, the company has some capital to give it a try.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Citrix Systems, Acadia Pharmaceuticals and Toreador Resources were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Friedman Billings downgraded Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the departure of key executive John Burris, head of CTXS's sales and services organization. The firm lowered the target to $37 from $43.
Banc of America cut Acadia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACAD) to Sell from Buy following news the company's Phase IIb trial with ACP-104 for the treatment of schizophrenia did not meet its primary endpoint.
Jefferies downgraded shares of Toreador Resources (NASDAQ: TRGL) to Underperform from Hold as they believe the breakdown in negotiations to sell a portion of the company's Black Sea interests raises concerns over financing and development efforts.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Calgon Carbon (NYSE: CCC) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Morgan Joseph.
Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS), a top enterprise software player, is striving to supercharged growth with the marvels of virtualization (a technology that gets more firepower from existing resources). Yet, with the slowing economy, things are proving kind of difficult.
This week Citrix announced its Q1 results. Revenues increased 22% to $377 million and net income came to $34.4 million, up 8.5%. Yes, when trying to conquer new technology frontiers, there's a need to ramp expenses (especially for marketing and R&D).
Citrix has an expanding global footprint, which has muted the downturn in the US. Also, the company has a nice assortment of products, such as its GoToMeeting franchise (which is one of the top on-demand offerings in the marketplace).
Still, Citrix is betting heavily on its virtualization technology, which is part of last year's acquisition of XenSource. Indeed, traction, such as with distribution deals with Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) is evident. Citrix was also able to expand its alliance with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
But there is still much to prove to the Street. After all, the marquee virtualization player, VMWare (NYSE: VMW), had a particularly strong Q1.
Goldman Sachs believes that the Q2 forecast from Citrix Systems (NASDAQ:CTXS) to push the share price down according to the AP.
Citigroup downgraded XM Satellite (NASDAQ:XMSR) from "buy" to "hold" according toBriefing.com. The news service also reports that Merriman upgraded Level 3 (NASDAQ:LVLT) from "sell" to "neutral."
DIRECTV (NYSE:DTV) was downgraded to "market perform" at Bernstein according to24/7 Wall St. The financial site also reports that Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO) was cut to "hold" from "buy at Citigroup
MOST NOTEWORTHY: The Managed Care sector, Keryx Biopharma and Citrix Systems were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Goldman downgraded the Managed Care sector to Neutral from Attractive following WellPoint's (NYSE: WLP) reduced 2008 outlook. The firm said WellPoint's issues reflect a company specific underwriting error but also industry-wide pricing pressures which increase the risk of a cyclical slowdown in managed care. WellPoint was also downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
Banc of America cut Keryx Biopharma (NASDAQ: KERX) to Neutral from Buy and lowered their target to $1.00 after Sulonex failed to meet its primary endpoint.
Jefferies downgraded shares of Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Hold from Buy, as they believe the first half of 2008 will be a tough year for software and are increasingly worried about the macro environment.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Level 3 Comm (NASDAQ: LVLT) was downgraded to Underweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Suntech Power, Premier Exhibitions and the Homebuilders Sector were today's noteworthy initiations:
Citigroup named Suntech Power Holding (NYSE: STP) their top pick for China solar due to its leading scale and technology roadmap for higher cell efficiency, initiating shares with a Buy rating and $55 target.
Merriman believes Premier Exhibitions (NASDAQ: PRXI) can move to the $14.50-$17.00 through the continued monetization of the company's current tours, the launching of additional tours and the value of the Titanic artifacts on hand. The firm started shares with a Buy rating.
Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) offers infrastructure software and services that enable enterprise-wide, on-demand access to information and applications. The company's software provides networked PCs and wireless devices with remote access to applications on a central server. Its programs also allow for load balancing, application development and resource management, in both Windows and UNIX environments. Citrix has more than 180,000 customers worldwide. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) are featured partners.
Fourth quarter company news has been heartening. The firm reported better than expected Q3 numbers, issued solid FY07 guidance, announced new partnerships with Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJ), and saw eight brokerages issue CTXS targets that averaged 27% above the current share price. The news kept the stock cycling through a positive 19 week trading channel. The price is currently consolidating at the base of that channel, where oversold CCI, MACD, Momentum, RSI and Stochastic technical parameters suggest the potential for a rise back toward the top. Correspondence of the stock's 200-day moving average to the base of the channel backs the rebound notion.
Brokers recommend the issue with seven "strong buys," 13 "buys" and five "holds." Analysts see a 16% average annual growth rate through the next five years. The CTXS Price to Book ratio (4.04), Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (20.61), Sales Growth rate (25.94%) and EPS Growth rate (41.38%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 81% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq 100 Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $26.10 and $43.90. A stop-loss of $31.45 looks good here.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Vodafone, Citrix Systems, STMicroelectronics, Symmetricom and Smith International were today's noteworthy upgrades:
JP Morgan upgraded shares of Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD) to Overweight from Neutral, as they believe the company is benefiting from increased data sales.
Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings. The firm's checks indicate that its clear communication strategy and a stronger technology platform behind the Enterprise and Platinum editions is spurring top line growth.
Baird upgraded shares of STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) to Outperform from Neutral based on new product cycle, multiple design wins, valuation, and strong Q4 guidance.
Cantor upgraded shares of Symmetricom (NASDAQ: SYMM) to Buy from Hold as they find the valuation compelling and are comfortable with Q1 estimates.
Calyon Securities upgraded Smith International (NYSE: SII) to Add from Neutral following its Q3 report and guidance.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Shaw Group (NYSE: SGR) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
RBC Capital upgraded QLogic Corporation (NASDAQ: QLGC) to Outperform from Sector Perform.
Credit Suisse upgraded Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and Weatherford (NYSE: WFT) to Outperform from Neutral.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Clearwire, Citrix Systems, Altria Group, Overstock.com and Interpublic Group were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Jefferies upgraded shares of Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe the stock is trading as if the Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) deal is off. Jefferies thinks the Sprint/Clearwire deal is still in the best interest of both companies.
Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Buy from Hold, as they believe the contribution from XenSource beginning in Q4 could be better than expected.
UBS upgraded shares of Altria Group (NYSE: MO) citing stronger Q3 International results and potential share repurchases. Shares were upgraded to Buy from Neutral.
Piper Jaffray raised shares of Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) to Market Perform from Underperform, as they are incrementally more positive on shares following the company's Q3 upside. They believe the company has turned the corner on profitability.
Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) to Outperform from Peer Perform on valuation and expectations for improved performance in 2008.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Morgan Stanley upgraded Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
Friedman Billings raised its rating on IMS Health (NYSE: RX) to Outperform from Market Perform.
JP Morgan upgraded Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) to Overweight from Neutral.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Viacom, Agilent, AudioCodes and Microsoft were today's noteworthy upgrades:
JP Morgan upgraded shares of Viacom (NYSE: VIA) to Overweight from Neutral as they believe contractual rate increases and distribution of the company's newer networks will drive higher earnings growth in 2008. The firm does not believe this growth is priced into shares.
JP Morgan also upgraded Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) to Overweight from Neutral and added shares to its Focus List. Shares were upgraded based on its sum-of-the-parts valuation and sees further upside given that strategic buyers are back in the marketplace.
AudioCodes (NASDAQ: AUDC) was raised to Buy from Accumulate at Think Equities, as they expect the company to benefit from the newly acquired CTI squared business, the security gateway business, and traction in the SBC business, with Microsoft's OCS launch of a new driver today.
Goldman added Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) to its Conviction Buy List, citing valuation and overwhelmingly negative sentiment, and expects shares to trade higher on a better Q1 report.
OTHER UPGRADES:
RBC Capital Markets upgraded Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Outperform from Sector Perform.
Eaton Corporation (NYSE: ETN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Southwest Airlines, AMR Corp, ConocoPhillips, Comcast and Time Warner Cable were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Citigroup downgraded shares on both Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) and AMR Corp (NYSE: AMR) to Hold from Buy to reflect elevated risks from continued high fuel prices and relative valuations.
Deutsche Bank lowered shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Sell from Hold on valuation noting that 13 out of the past 15 years, integrated oils have underperformed during the period October 1st to December 5th. They also believe the company's 3rd October trading statement could raise concerns over Q4. on valuation noting that 13 out of the past 15 years, integrated oils have underperformed during the period October 1st to December 5th. They also believe the company's 3rd October trading statement could raise concerns over Q4.
Soleil downgraded shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to Hold from Buy due to concerns about the company's prospects in a weakening economy.
On today's STOP TRADING! Jim Cramer said the bias has changed and they nailed the Fed call. He noted that investors can start focusing on cheap stocks again now that the sky isn't going to fall and now that the Fed isn't letting us think they are asleep. He was positive on Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) reaching $95 again. But he really honed in on tech as his picks:
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) is his play for the most aggressive share buyback plan in tech, and Cramer still digs Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO). Oddly enough even though he was positive on EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), he said he is surprised that it has been been a dud since it still owns most of VMware (NYSE: VMW) after the IPO.
We aren't surprised at all on EMC, even if we think the valuations of VMware are reaching into the stratosphere. The super-low float has a lot to do with this strong performance and there just aren't enough shares for fund managers to have very much of on their books since EMC is hoarding 87% of the stock. We've seen this play book before on widely telegraphed partial spin-offs like this and VMware is really more of a tracking stock right now than they would have you believe. We just covered how Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) paid $500 million for a competitor by the name of XenSource. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) has been invested heavily into virtualization competitors as well, so we expectthe news flow to stay steady in the sector. That is a tiny summary of why EMC is not doing as well as some of the head scratchers were hoping for. Our full newsletter this week (EMC now unemargoed) was on this exact subject.
With a market cap of $20+ billion, VMware (NYSE: VMW) has certainly caught the attention of the software world. The company is the dominant player in virtualization, which is a "must have" for a growing number of organizations. Basically, it allows much improved utilization -- and cost savings -- from servers.
Well, Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) is one of the first to make a bigger splash into the virtualization space. That is, yesterday the company announced that it will shell out a cool $500 million for XenSource.
No doubt, it was smart for the folks at XenSource to wait for the Vmware debut. I'm sure it added some points to the valuation. In fact, it looks like XenSource is posting about $3 million in revenues this year -- but that should be ramped quickly with Citrix's distribution platform.
XenSource is building sophisticated tools for Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) push into virtualization, which is supposed to hit the markets in late 2008 (but Mr. Softie always seems to miss release dates).
Keep in mind that Citrix has built a growing, profitable business by pigging-backing on Microsoft systems (and has had an extensive relationship with the software powerhouse for more than ten years).
In other words, it's still early in the game. But with billions and billions at stake, it looks like Citrix will make virtualization a critical priority -- and we'll likely see more and more competition for VMware.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.
VMWare, which is a division of EMC (NYSE: EMC), will soon hit the IPO market. It is one of the fastest growing software companies in the world, and the offering should be huge, as companies like Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) have recently invested hundreds of millions.
VMWare develops so-called virtualization software, which maximizes the performance of servers (by essentially creating virtual servers). Little wonder we are now seeing venture capital come into the space.
The latest deal: a $17 million round for Desktone. The investors include Highland Capital Partners, SoftBank Capital, Tangee International, and Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS).
Basically, Desktone allows for virtualization of desktops, which involves integrating storage, servers, and network systems. The upshot is improved utilization of data center resources (which is a big deal).
The company has a standout management team. The founder is Eric Pulier, who is serial entrepreneur. And the CEO is Harry Ruda, who sold Softricity (a virtualization tech company) to Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).
Listen closely. We should be hearing lots of buzz on Desktone soon.
if you want to check out other recent venture capital fundings, click here.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: St. Jude Medical (STJ), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Satyam Computer (SAY), Clearwire (CLWR) and Citrix Systems (CTXS) were today's noteworthy upgrades:
St. Jude Medical's (NYSE: STJ) upgrade to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia was based on signs of an ICD recovery and reasonable valuation.
Baird upgraded shares of Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) to Outperform from Neutral following better-than-expected guidance; Goldman upgraded Juniper to Buy from Neutral.
Satyam (NYSE: SAY) was upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna citing better than expected growth.
Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns following the announcement that Sprint (S) and Clearwire will form a Nationwide 4G/Wimax Network.
Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) was upgraded at Jefferies to Buy from Hold as they believe the strong customer response to Presentation Server Platinum Edition and the pipeline buildup related to NetScaler 8.0 bode well for the second half of 2007...
OTHER UPGRADES:
Lehman raised DSW Inc (NYSE: DSW) to Overweight from Equal-Weight.
Goldman upgraded shares of Labor Ready (NYSE: LRW) to Neutral from Sell.
Rodman upgraded shares of Encysive Pharma (NASDAQ: ENCY) to Market Perform from Underperform.
A group of tech veterans -- DD Ganguly, Jayant Pandit, Saurav Mohapatra, Sundar Subramanian and Rohit Shankar – have worked on various projects, despite being in far-flung places across the globe. They did so by leveraging free technologies such as Skype to help manage things.
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Comfort Zone Investing: Exploit volatility with constant dollar investing
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