Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has a new champion: Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). The PC manufacturer is promoting the online sales force-enablement platform as a way to gain access to the hefty sums available in the technology services business. The deal would give Salesforce.com access to Dell's clients in the small and medium-sized business categories. Dell would sell Salesforce.com products and provide consulting services to help clients integrate the solution with their other enterprise applications. The dollars and cents of this union weren't disclosed.

Dell sees the margins of the services business and wants a piece of the action, particularly since the PC sector is low margin. Also, sales have been hit pretty hard as a result of the financial crisis. With PCs accounting for 60% of Dell's top-line, a bit of diversity isn't a bad idea. Currently, services account for only around 10% of Dell's sales.

Continue reading Dell promotes Salesforce.com, eager for a taste of consulting cash

Dell promotes Salesforce.com, eager for a taste of consulting cash originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Why Salesforce.com isn't done after a 44% run originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Deutsche Bank initiated shares of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) and Yum! Brands Inc (NYSE: YUM) with Buy ratings and a $61 target and $76 target, respectively, and shares of Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG) with Hold ratings an a $54 target and $83 target, respectively.
• Wachovia initiated shares of CB Richard Ellis with an Outperform rating, as it views CBG as a compelling investment opportunity giving its leading position in the top real estate markets and breadth of services.
• Wachovia also initiated shares of Jones Lang LaSalle with an Outperform rating, as it expects JLL to benefit from international services given the increasing flow of real estate dollars across boarders and to less well developed regions of the globe.

• Citigroup initiated shares of GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) with a Buy rating and $46 target.
• Citigroup also initiated shares of The PNC Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE: PNC) with a Buy rating and $84 target.
• Soleil initiated shares of Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM) with a Buy rating and $50 target.
• Goldman Sachs initiated shares of 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) and LM Ericsson Telephone Company (NASDAQ: ERIC) with Neutral ratings.

Analyst initiations 6-08-07: Restaurants, CBG and JLL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• With customers wanting an alternative to Microsoft (MSFT), Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is making an attempt to be that alternative. It is rumored that management is in talks with Google (GOOG) about the two companies working together, a move that could include offering Google Apps via the AppExchange and integrating more closely those apps with Salesforce.com. Baird initiated shares of Salesforce.com with a Neutral rating and $49 target.

• Banc of America sees major headwinds from declining construction and slower consumer spending on housing and started shares of Black & Decker Corp (NYSE: BDK) with a Sell rating and $85 target.

• Merriman sees upside from strong mid- and late-stage clinical programs, key collaborations and potential for revenue generation, starting shares of GenVec (NASDAQ: GNVC) with a Buy rating.

• Baird finds Rightnow Technology (NASDAQ: RNOW) to be well-positioned within the customer service segment of the CRM market with above average L-T prospects and views the recent uncertainty as a buying opportunity. Baird started shares of RightNow with an Outperform rating and $19 target...

• Jefferies initiated RadNet Inc (NASDAQ: RDNT) with a Buy rating.

• Lehman started Mobile Mini, Inc (NASDAQ: MINI) with an Equal Weight rating.

• Northwest Airlines Corp (OTC: NWACQ) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Goldman.

• Pacific Growth started shares of Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMEX: JAV) with a Buy rating.

Analyst initiations 5-22-07: BDK, CRM, NWACQ and RNOW originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

International Game Technology

• IGT specializes in the design, manufacturer and marketing of computerized gaming equipment. IGT is recently up $1.28 to $39.18 on unconfirmed takeover chatter.
• IGT call option volume of 12,038 contracts compares to put volume of 576 contracts. IGT June option implied volatility of 34 is above its 26-week average of according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

• CRM, an on demand customer relationship management applications company, is recently up $0.76 to $43.83 on take over speculation.
• CRM reported first quarter revenue of $162 million yesterday. GROW has a Buy rating on CRM.
• CRM June option implied volatility of 40 is below its 26-week average of 44 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing risk.

Option update 5-18-07: IGT, CRM up on takeover chatter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 May 2007 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last evening, Jim Cramer had a brief conversation with Marc Benioff, the Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com (NASDAQ: CRM). Cramer has been a skeptic of Salesforce.com's success and sustainability in the marketplace. He's dead wrong.

Cramer doesn't get the company's business model or understand its success.

Benioff was with Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) early in his career and learned the ropes there. He found that customers were frustrated because it took millions of dollars and 12 to 18 months to install new software and to train employees how to use it. Organizations were impatient with huge purchases taking too long to yield returns and improved functionality.

Salesforce.com is different. Its lead product is a CRM program, which stands for customer relationship manager. CRM, also Salesforce.com's ticker, allows for companies to track customer progress, customer happiness and customer status. The Salesforce.com programs are sold on a user-by-user basis, install very easily and are hosted at Salesforce.com's data center. There is no tying up of customers' databases. All is secured and backed up.

Benioff, in other words, understood the customer's needs and wishes. There are now several other business applications that Salesforce.com sells to its customers.

Continue reading Cramer dead wrong on Salesforce.com

Cramer dead wrong on Salesforce.com originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

During the 1990's and early 2000's, the world witnessed a technology boom as had never before been experienced. Small, innovative companies founded by creative, visionary entrepreneurs became mega-billion dollar corporations with multi-billion dollar market capitalizations. The stories came at us like glorious movie scripts: the hometown nerd rises to super stardom: Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, John Chambers and many more newly-crowned titans were appearing in the society pages, as well as the business pages. Technologies were created that simplified our daily lives and enhanced productivity to levels never before thought of. Almost every human being was benefited by new, affordable technologies. Cars, TVs, appliances, PCs, cell phones,and several other products became fun, simple to use and affordable.

Along the way, massive fortunes were made by founders, employees, mutual funds and individual shareholders. Wall Street analysts also gained rock start status--maybe it was being in the right place at the right time.

Then came the nuclear winter for technology in late 2000-2001. Corporations and governments found themselves in the position of assessing what they bought and needing to monetize all these new technology assets. New spending came to near standstill. All of the investment geniuses who made the "easy" money were now facing losses and scrambling for the exits. Investing went back to the rules and principles that we all learned as beginners again.

No question about it: Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard Compaq, Intel and others are great American corporations. They collectively represent a few trillion dollars worth of market cap and multiple billions of annual profits. However, each titan of the 80's and 90's is facing its own issues of trying to re-grow the revenue and earnings base -- trying to recapture the magical secret sauce -- reminiscent of the older baseball pitcher who has lost 4-5 mph off his fastball and is trying to make it work with pitch location and craftiness.

But, investors are looking at the new, emerging group of companies that could dominate this decade and the next.

Continue reading The new young bulls of technology: Who will be the Microsoft of the 21st century?

The new young bulls of technology: Who will be the Microsoft of the 21st century? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Bernstein started Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM) with an Outperform rating and $58 target. The firm believes CRM has the highest growth potential for revenues through 2012.

• Credit Suisse initiated B&G Foods Inc (NYSE: BGF) with an Underperform rating and $20 target.

• Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: AKAM) was initiated with a Buy rating and $68 target at Citigroup. The firm believes the recent pullback provides an attractive entry point and has confidence in AKAM's ability to deliver sustainable revenue growth of 35%-45% over the next few years.

• Piper Jaffray started Infosys Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ: INFY) with a Market Perform rating and Sapient Corp (NASDAQ: SAPE) with an Outperform rating and $90 target.

• Merriman started NaviSite, Inc (NASDAQ: NAVI) with a Buy rating.

• Jefferies initiated Cubic Corp (AMEX: CUB) with a Hold rating.

• CIBC started Triumph Group (NYSE: TGI) with a Sector Outperformer rating and $68 target.

• Morgan Joseph started Noble International, Ltd (NASDAQ: NOBL) with a Buy rating and $26 target.

• Wedbush initiated shares of Big Lots, Inc (NYSE: BIG) with a Hold rating and $30 target.

Analyst initiations 4-11-07: AKAM, CRM, INFY and SAPE initiated today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Recently, the stock of salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) has been surging. In fact, it is getting close to its $42.99 52-week high.

The market cap is about $4.56 billion.

Today, the company's mega conference - Dreamforce - started. And, as expected, salesforce.com has some important announcements. After all, in last year's conference, the company announced its AppExchange service, which has been a wild success.

Well, as for this year's conference, it looks like salesforce.com has another standout announcement; that is, the company is introducing its own programming language.

Of course, it's not like the old computer languages - such as Pascal, COBOL or Microsoft's Visual Basic. Rather, salesforce.com has a language for Web services.

Continue reading Salesforce.com knows Wall Street's language

Salesforce.com knows Wall Street's language originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Oct 2006 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.