That provocative headline is there to get your attention, of course — plenty of folks disagree with Warren Buffett on one thing or another, but few believe him to be “mad.”
No, what Hilary Kramer is trying to do is to draw your attention to the fact that Buffett finally bought a tech stock, IBM (though yes, you can argue that he only bought it because it’s not really a “tech stock” anymore, it’s a consulting and services company) … and that in so doing he’s really just finally doing the smart thing like … well, like Hilary Kramer.
Here’s how she puts it:
“I don’t know if IBM’s a ten-bagger from here, but I do know this … Buffett is right to change his tune on technology stocks.
“Some of the best opportunities I’m finding in the market today are innovative companies that are capitalizing on the unstoppable, fastest growing tech trends.
“Cloud computing, mobile payments, smartphones and tablets … these amazing technological breakthroughs are still in the early stages of a massive growth curve.”
Kramer did score a nice win with her teaser recommendation to buy Motorola Mobility (MMI) earlier this year, nicely timed not long before Google announced they’d be taking MMI over at a nice premium, so she uses that as further justification that she’s got the goods when it comes to mobile telecom stocks … and that her newest recommendation is in that same sector.
What is that newest recommendation, you ask? Well, if you’d like to go cough up $200 bucks for a subscription to her GameChangers newsletter she’ll happily tell you. Go ahead, we’ll wait — and hey, it’s “on sale!”
No? OK, then let’s identify it for you using the clues she throws out in the ad, shall we? Here they are:
“… there is one thing every single smartphone on the planet has in common …
… you need to activate it.
“This company provides automated software and cloud technology that enable customers to activate their accounts and synch their devices to the Internet. Their customers are the wireless carriers and device makers, who rely on its technology to automate the activation process and content management for their subscribers’ devices.
“Their client list is a Who’s Who of the wireless, cable and technology industries… AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone; cable operators Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast and Time Warner Cable; and original equipment manufacturers Apple, Dell, Panasonic and Nokia.
“The company has the first and only legal solution for licensed content transfer from an old device to the new one being activated.”
Sounds interesting as a play on new smart (and dumb, I suppose) phones, and on the increasing numbers of transactions on those phones. How about some more details to help out the Thinkolator?
“Approximately 75% of revenues come from transactions, with the remainder generated from professional services and software licenses….
“… the company recently announced it will continue to play an important role in the iPhone 4S activation process and support all iPhone transactions through AT&T’s online channel….
“And talk about recession proof… since 2004 (the first year public information was available following their 2006 IPO) revenues have grown at a blistering annual rate of 35%. Profitability improved from basically breakeven in 2004 to $23 million in 2010.
“Results have stayed strong here in 2011. Through the first three quarters, revenues increased 41% thanks to increased transaction volumes from and expansion into new programs with existing partners.”
So what is this new stock that Hilary is targeting for a “quick 30% move?” Let’s see what the Thinkolator says.
Shovel in all that data, flip the switch … and a pretty quick answer spins out the other side this time, hardly any waiting at all … this teased pick is … Synchronoss (SNCR)
Remember them? They were a hot hot hot story during the early days of the iPhone, the folks who helped to enable AT&T customers to buy their phones online and activate them from home without going to a store — remember when that was a revolutionary concept? (Even though they had a few glitches in those early days.) That helped to drive SNCR to a dramatic share performance in 2007, the year the iPhone was introduced to an adoring agglomeration of acolytes. 2008 was an awful year for SNCR shares, coming back to earth from that excitement, and they rebounded a bit following the financial crisis, but they’ve basically been sitting there quietly in the back of the class for the last year or two, not doing too much.
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Analysts think SNCR will end up earning about 88 cents this year, and $1.07 or so next year, so that’s a forward PE in the high-20s — not shockingly high, but certainly a premium to the market.
Those same analysts also forecast better than 20% annual earnings growth for SNCR for the next several years, which would make the valuation seem quite reasonable — though how you can guess how much money they’ll make in three or four years, particularly given their outsize reliance on a few customers, is beyond me (I know, they make the forecasts because that’s their job — it’s just hard to put much faith in them).
And what is that “outsize reliance?” Well, to a huge degree it’s AT&T and the iPhone — SNCR gets roughly half of their revenue from activations for AT&T customers, even though their huge fall a couple years back was in part due to the loss of exclusive access to that contract, so any changes to that deal would obviously have a big impact on their earnings … and they have a couple other large customers too, including Verizon (which I own). I don’t know that there’s any trouble brewing with any of their big telecom customers, but it’s always at least a back-of-the-mind worry when your company depends on just a few customers. And when they’ve been burned before.
Synchronoss won’t next report until February, so there isn’t likely to be any earnings-related news in the near future — the have consistently beaten earnings estimates by a couple pennies for each of the last four quarters, so that’s a positive, but it’s also what you’d expect for a growth-priced company. It’s not a “high octane” grower (it’s a “B” in Navellier’s system, for example), but it is growing a bit faster than the market and it’s in a fast-growing business if they can hold on to their position in cell phone transaction processing. I don’t know what the competition in their niche might be, I’ve not heard of any companies who do exactly what they do, but I presume that there’s probably room for competition.
So what do you think? Has Kramer picked another beauty along the lines of Motorola Mobility, or is this a stinker from her stable (remember SuperMedia?). Let us know with a comment below.
Oh, and I should note that if you’re worried about the “pop” from her recommendation, well, it hasn’t happened — her email came on Thursday last week, and so far the stock is down since then. Of course, so are lots of other stocks.
OT a little, (alot maybe). Buffet’s invest in IBM may not be an invest in tech, but in healthcare. If that hi falutin (Doctor) “Watson” thing ever gets itself “online” there may be a revolution in subtle robo-diagnosis that coud put TV’s “House” to shame.
Folks we are in a BEAR MARKET. If someone is only pushing the upside in stocks dont just walk away, burn the paper it’s written on. Play the bear with put options or inverse etf’s. It will save you a lot of money.
the company has beat the streets for the last 2 years, but if you look at the insiders, they have been selling recently. wouldnt take the risk. bad risk to reward!
Speaking of Buffett and IBM – Is IBM offering technology with “A BIG MOAT” ? In other words, once you the medical community goes with IBM even on a big deal like totally computerizing healthcare, are they really locked into that deal, or can they go with a cheaper competitor? I don’t now, I am just trying to ask a halfway intelligent question.
This is all apart from the personal experience I have had with computerized healthcare, which is: Computerized Healthcare appears to lose track of details that were kept in the old fashioned paper files. Personal comments, ideas and hunches of the MD don’t seem to make it in there. Is that good (think liability insurance) or bad (think impersonal care) ?
And completely off topic: To anyone who has ever gone to an MD with a very very bad throat inflammation, and upon waiting 2 hours received the answer: “Well it’s not strep, it might be a virus, there is nothing we can do!” I suggest the following procedure: “Yell and scream at the doctor, tell em they are ridiculous charlatans, threaten to sue them and don’t pay their bill for this totally inadequate idea of health care.”
For the doctors among you: There IS something you can do, you are not working hard enough, you are not thinking hard enough, you are not researching hard enough and you are not compassionate enough!” Ah, yes, it needed to be said!
I know it’s easy to expect a lot from doctors. We have to trust them with so much. But not all of the best and brightest become doctors and not all of the doctors are among the best and brightest. There are only two things that *all* doctors have in common: the means to attend medical school, and the ability to memorize and recall a lot of info. There are doctors that are better at translating that into satisfactory health care, and doctors that are worse, and most maladies present in such fashion as to minimize how much it actually matters.
All that is to say, if you actually throw a fit when a doctor gives an unsatisfactory answer to you, my guess is that the response will likewise be unsatisfactory.
You also need to remember that 50% of all the doctors out there graduated in the bottom half of their class.
Waco: For heaven’s sake. Please tell me what your solution is to a viral sore throat aside from aspirin/Tylenol and something soothing, like a hot or cold drink? What competent doctor is going to give you antibiotics for a viral infection? That aside, if your throat remains sore for weeks, see some doctor you respect to make sure that you do not have an inflammed thyroid gland. Sorry that you had to wait, but you have to check out a bad sore throat. Untreated strep is dangerous.