From: Adam Rifkin (adam@KnowNow.com)
Date: Tue Dec 26 2000 - 18:04:50 PST
The company that Bill, Ed, and Alfred started five years ago is now #2
in ZDNet's Fast 50. Can anyone explain to me why Sun and IBM let BEA
Systems steal huge amounts of revenue from an industry niche that they
should own?
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2663441,00.html
I know people can't rave about WebLogic enough, but come on. WebLogic
sold to BEA Systems for $192 million two years ago, why is BEA Systems
*still* a $27 billion company after the Technology Crash of 2000? Even the
article below admits that Iona has better margins than Tibco and BEA...
> Fast 50: Juniper Again
> By John T. Mulqueen, Interactive Week
> December 11, 2000
>
> Depending on where you grew up and what your loyalties are, Juniper
> Networks is the Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Mark McGwire or
> Sammy Sosa of networking. Juniper hits four-baggers. For the fourth time
> this year, it has made it to top of the Interactive Week Fast 50, with a
> score that put it far ahead of the competition.
>
> The supplier of high-end Internet routers was one of two companies that
> scored in the top 50 in all six categories used to rank winners. Siebel
> Systems was the other company, but its revenue growth in the third
> quarter over the second quarter barely made it, coming in 50th. Juniper
> was the only company that placed in the top 25 in all six categories,
> and the only one to land in a top 10 slot in four categories. Ariba was
> in the top 10 in three categories.
>
> Juniper has been on a roll, obviously. Its stock soared to $244.50 per
> share in October, while many other networking equipment vendors were
> struggling to stay even for the year. The stock price fed off a 580
> percent increase in sales for the third quarter, compared with the same
> per iod in 1999; a 78 percent increase over 2000's second quarter; and
> soaring profits. Operating income of $76 million for the third quarter
> was more than 3,000 percent ahead of last year's third quarter, when the
> company lost money, and 150 percent greater than the $30 million
> reported in the second quarter.
>
> Although impressive by themselves, the numbers don't reveal that Juniper
> had to compete against Cisco Systems, and that it took market share away
> from the most successful networking vendor of the last decade. According
> to Dell'Oro Group, Juniper increased its market share in the third
> quarter to 30 percent from 22.5 percent in the second quarter. Cisco's
> share fell to 68 percent from 75 percent. It moves up one notch to 32nd
> on the Fast 50 and has the largest market capitalization, $379 billion.
>
> BEA Systems made the lists in the second quarter, then moved up 38 spots
> to capture second place. The supplier of software to power
> business-to-business exchanges and application integration solutions
> leaped ahead on the strength of its improving profitability and the
> recognition it has won from investors. BEA had the second largest total
> return to shareholders for the period.
>
> Tibco Software, another infrastructure player, rose to 10th place, from
> 27th in the second quarter, because of its share price appreciation and
> improvement in operating income and revenue. Another e-commerce
> infrastructure software vendor, Iona Technologies, moved up nine
> slots. Its revenue has not grown as rapidly as BEA's or Tibco's, but it
> has net income -- the others do not -- and its profit margins are better.
>
> Nothing is more vital to the success of e-commerce than the security of
> the networks on which transactions travel. Check Point Software
> Technologies, which ranked third in the Fast 50, is one of the leading
> vendors of security products for virtual private networks, and the
> market has rewarded it for rapidly growing sales and profits that are
> growing even faster.
>
> There are several new companies among this quarter's honorees. Foundry
> Networks and Extreme Networks, competitors in the Gigabit Ethernet and
> Layer 4 switching market, landed in 18th and 30th positions,
> respectively. Shares in the two companies have flip-flopped over the
> last year, as investors tried to determine which of the two was in the
> lead. Compared with last year, Foundry has shown stronger revenue and
> earnings growth, but Extreme was better in quarter-over-quarter
> performance.
>
> Another new face is Tekelec, an established supplier of signaling
> software for telecommunications carriers. Demand for those products,
> especially Signaling System 7 applications for routing traffic between
> switched and packet networks, has put this company in the
> spotlight. Tekelec's shares rose 190 percent for the last 12 months,
> giving it the 16th best shareholder return for the
> quarter. Third-quarter profits rose 93 percent -- good enough to rank
> Tekelec 20th in that category. Compared with last year's third quarter,
> profits were up 145 percent.
>
> EMC, a newcomer to the Fast 50, is often ranked with Cisco, Microsoft
> and Sun Microsystems as one of the pillars of the new technology
> universe. Investors have loved the storage software and hardware
> manufacturer's solid growth, enjoying the 18th best return to
> shareholders and awarding it the sixth largest market capitalization of
> the Fast 50.
>
> Sun slipped from 12th all the way to 44th because its revenue and
> earnings, although solid, did not rise as much as other
> companies'. Broadcom dropped to 40th because its profits have not grown
> as rapidly as its revenue.
---- Adam@KnowNow.ComOracle: You're cuter than I thought. I can see why she likes you. Thomas "Neo" Anderson: Who? Oracle: Not too bright, though. -- The Matrix
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