DATA POINTS: PC SOFTWARE P/E RATIOS.What's a software company worth? Investment bankers Investment Banker A person representing a financial institution that is in the business of raising capital for corporations and municipalities. Notes: An investment banker may not accept deposits or make commercial loans. sometimes use price-earnings ratios (the current share price divided by the most recent year's earnings) as a benchmark for valuing both public and private companies. P/e ratios rise or fall depending on Wall Street's mood swings; in mid-July, the median p/e for public Soft[yen]letter 100 companies was 28.1. However, the p/e ratio is often disregarded as an indicator of future value because it largely reflects historical performance. In fact, two-thirds of public Soft[yen]letter 100 companies-- including many with substantial market caps--have no p/e because they reported no earnings last year.
PC Software Company P/E Ratios*
P/E Market Cap (millions)
Microsoft MSFT 47.0 $413,428
Adobe ADBE 61.6 $16,287
RealNetworks RNWK n/e $8,565
Intuit INTU 15.0 $8,304
Macromedia MACR 987.2 $6,124
Red Hat RHAT n/e $4,443
E.piphany EPNY n/e $4,423
Citrix CTXS 34.8 $4,246
Novell NOVL 19.3 $3,634
Network Associates NETA n/e $3,372
Symantec SYMC 19.4 $3,209
Autodesk ADSK 28.1 $1,406
Allaire ALLR n/e $1,251
Accrue ACRU n/e $929
Phoenix PTEC 102.0 $498
Inprise INPR 7.3 $388
MetaCreations MCRE n/e $369
MapInfo MAPS 60.1 $340
Great Plains GPSI 55.9 $311
SPSS SPSS 19.4 $292
Click2Learn CLKS n/e $287
NetManage NETM n/e $261
Interact SLGX n/e $259
Media 100 MDEA 146.1 $205
ClickAction CLAC n/e $182
White Pine WPNE n/e $177
Santa Cruz Operation SCOC n/e $175
NetObjects NETO n/e $168
Artisoft ASFT n/e $154
Learn2.com LTWO n/e $153
Concur Technologies CNQR n/e $151
Centura Software CNTR n/e $142
INSO INSO n/e $135
Insignia Solutions INSGY n/e $128
Smith Micro Software SMSI n/e $93
ScanSoft SSFT n/e $86
Timberline TMBS 9.2 $82
Ontrack Data ONDI 15.9 $80
Omega Research OMGA n/e $75
Pervasive PVSW n/e $70
Interplay IPLY n/e $69
Rogue Wave RWAV n/e $64
Previo PRVO 25.0 $51
Bitstream BITS n/e $42
ON Technologies ONTC n/e $41
Aladdin Systems ALHI 72.5 $34
Vizacom VIZY n/e $32
Diehl Graphsoft DIEG 19.1 $29
MathSoft MATH n/e $26
Eagle Point EGPT n/e $21
DataWatch DWCH n/e $19
eGames EGAM n/e $17
Micrografx MGXI n/e $13
American Edu. Cmptr. AEDU n/e $13
Omnis Technology OMNS n/e $9
Touchstone Software TSSW n/e $8
* Ratios and market capitalization as of 7/17/00. n/e = no
earnings.
GIGA INFORMATION GROUP analyst Laura DiDio Laura DiDio is a senior analyst, formerly with Giga Information Group (now Forrester Research) and currently (2004) with The Yankee Group consulting firm in Boston. She received a B.A. on Novell's recent sales decline: "They've got another two or three quarters to turn things around. Otherwise, Novell stands on the brink of becoming the Banyan Vines Banyan VINES (for Virtual Integrated NEtwork Service) was a computer network operating system and the set of computer network protocols it used to talk to client machines on the network. of the 21st century." (Quoted in Computerworld, 5/8/00) IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) chairman Lou Gerstner on his willingness to pull the plug on IBM's money-losing PC division: "We'll do whatever it takes. We're not going to let this business be a continual drag on Verb 1. drag on - last unnecessarily long drag out last, endure - persist for a specified period of time; "The bad weather lasted for three days" 2. the company." (Quoted in Information Week, 5/15/00) QED QED abbr. Latin quod erat demonstrandum (which was to be demonstrated) QED which was to be shown or proved [Latin quod erat demonstrandum] Noun 1. GLOBAL chief executive Ken Balick on Japanese attitudes toward failed startups: "Failure is not looked upon as a good thing. It's not like in America where you can bankrupt three companies and still go to a VC, and they say, 'Oh, you have business experience.'" (Quoted in Silicon Alley An area in New York that has become known for its companies devoted to multimedia and the Internet. It is located in Manhattan's "Soho" district, which does not stand for Small Office Home Office, rather it is SOuth of HOuston Street. Daily, 6/1/00) CITRIX SYSTEMS Citrix Systems' (NASDAQ: CTXS) is an American technology company, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with subsidiary operations in California and Massachusetts, with additional development centers in Australia, India and the UK. chairman Ed Iacobucci Edward E. Iacobucci was the leader of the IBM OS/2 Design Team. In 1989, he founded the US software company Citrix Systems [1]. He is currently the president and CEO of DayJet, an on-demand regional jet travel service, and was a member of the SCO Group's Board of on his reaction to being squeezed out of the company he founded: "I put my heart and soul and spirit into this company. Like a parent, I'm very anxious... but the company has grown and it's at a stage where it's making its own decisions." (Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, 6/26/00) COREL chairman Michael Cowpland Michael Cowpland (born April 23, 1943) is a Canadian entrepreneur, businessman, and the founder and one-time president, chairman and CEO of Corel, a Canadian software company. Cowpland was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England and obtained a BSc. on his personal reaction to his company's recent financial roller-coaster ride: "I consider getting bored the worst thing that can happen, so I make sure I'm never bored." (Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, 7/3/00) SOFTBANK VENTURE CAPITAL managing partner Gary Rieschel on his firm's new investment perspective: "Before the crash we talked about market share and world domination “World conquest” redirects here. For other uses, see World domination (disambiguation). The concept of world domination (sometimes world conquest) has long been a popular theme in both history and fiction. . Now we have more prosaic concerns." (Quoted in The Industry Standard, 7/24/00) MICROSOFT chairman Bill Gates (person) Bill Gates - William Henry Gates III, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975 with Paul Allen. In 1994 Gates is a billionaire, worth $9.35b and Microsoft is worth about $27b. on his company's long-term survival: "Sure, some year we'll blow it. I mean companies don't last forever." (Quoted in Business 2.0, 8/8/00) Jeffrey Tarter editor & publisher Softletter 66 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, Mass. 02472 Tel 617/924-3944 Fax 617/924-7288 www.softletter.com |
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