A lot of the shortfalls are being blamed on the onset of the war so investors are giving the software companies a pass this quarter. |
Entrust is one of the companies today that has a very specialized solution and has yet to broaden its portfolio. It's ripe for acquisition. |
Everybody was prepped by Oracle's news a month ago. Expectations were going down. |
Everything has gone against Oracle. This is almost the final straw. |
Everything PeopleSoft announced this morning helps clear the way to begin negotiations and maybe consummate the merger. The license revenue is much better than expected and that gives PeopleSoft a position of leverage. |
For a company with great profitability and a near monopoly, it would certainly not be unheard of to pay two to three times the growth rate. So paying 25 times earnings for one of the strongest technology companies with an awesome franchise is fair. |
If the DOJ were to appeal, this would have dragged the case on even longer regardless of what the companies wanted to do. We're not in legal limbo anymore. The dominos are falling. |
In one fell swoop, nearly $33 billion is getting rotated out of equity into cash and I do believe a good portion of that will find its way back into Microsoft. |
Investors feel they are not going to step in a land mine -- that's brought money back to the sector. |
It's very much steady Eddie. Microsoft showed nice growth and better levels of profitability. |
Let's not ignore the fundamental course of business. |
Licensing is the story. All that other growth from services and maintenance comes from having new software business. |
Most software companies risk losing market share if their products get out the door late and behind competitors. If Vista is late, there obviously is no meaningful market share loss. |
Netscape is less and less of a priority for AOL Time Warner, and this is just another step in the slow sun-setting process of Netscape Navigator. |
People will move into software next year. It's a question of when, not if. |