For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL - May 25, 2012 - Zacks.com announces the list of
stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity
Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting
stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the
blog include
Oracle
(
ORCL
),
SAP
(
SAP
),
Facebook
(
FB
),
McDonald's
(
MCD
) and
Yahoo!
(
YHOO
).
Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the
free Profit from the Pros newsletter:
http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513
Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst
Blog:
Oracle Set to Buy Vitrue
The competition for dominating the cloud-based
software-as-a-service (SaaS) market is heating up as arch rivals
Oracle
(
ORCL
) and
SAP
(
SAP
) look to outdo each other on the acquisition front. Recently, SAP
announced its intention to acquire business & commerce network
company Ariba Inc. Almost at the same time Oracle announced its
plans to buy Vitrue, a cloud-based social-marketing software
developer.
Although Oracle did not provide any financial details of the
transaction, the company is reportedly paying $300.0 million for
the start-up, which has received more than $33.0 million in funding
from venture capitalists including Scale Venture Partners and
Advent Venture Partners to date.
Based in Atlanta, Vitrue offers solutions which marketers use to
collect and collate social interaction data from
Facebook
(
FB
), Youtube, Twitter, Google+ and many other social networking
platforms. With the help of this data, marketers develop campaigns
for the target audience which is eventually delivered across these
social networks and devices. The company boasts a strong clientele
that includes the likes of
McDonald's
(
MCD
) and
Yahoo!
(
YHOO
).
We believe that the acquisition will boost Oracle's customer
relationship management (CRM) customer base going forward. The
Vitrue acquisition will also help it to rapidly expand in the
social marketing segment dominated by Buddy Media, Wildfire,
Involver, ThisMoment, and many other small start-ups. Moreover, we
believe that the acquisition will help Oracle to provide an
end-to-end cloud CRM service over the long term.
Cloud Computing: Oracle & SAP Rivalry
Continues
The latest acquisitions of both Oracle and SAP reflect
cut-throat competition to gain the top-spot in the Cloud based SaaS
market. SaaS is a software delivery method that enables data access
from any device with an Internet connection and web browser. In
this web-based model, software vendors host and maintain servers,
databases and codes that constitute an application.
SaaS has gained immense importance in recent times due to the
increasing adoption of cloud computing. Demand for SaaS-based
products have been steadily on the rise for some time and is
expected to increase greatly based on some inherent benefits
associated with the platform.
Applications delivered over the SaaS platform not only allow
enterprises to start using them instantly, but are also more cost
effective, as compared to traditional products installed at a
customer's onsite data center.
Moreover, SaaS applications are more scalable and they can be
continuously upgraded as compared to the traditional products.
According to market research firm Gartner, sales of online
software, which touched $10 billion in 2010, is expected to more
than double to $21.3 billion by 2015, much faster than traditional
software.
To gain an upper hand, both Oracle and SAP have been on
acquisition sprees recently. Both acquired companies from different
sectors, which they expected would not only expand their product
portfolios but also provide a competitive edge. However, being a
late entrant in the cloud computing market, Oracle has been the
more aggressive of the two in recent times, in order to catch
up.
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FACEBOOK INC-A (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report
MCDONALDS CORP (MCD): Free Stock Analysis
Report
ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis Report
SAP AG ADR (SAP): Free Stock Analysis Report
YAHOO! INC (YHOO): Free Stock Analysis Report
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