Tag Archives: xrx

How IBM, Xerox Get Impacted By HPE Services Spinoff, CSC Merger

The surprise move by Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) to spin off and merge its enterprise-services division with Computer Sciences Corp. ( CSC ) could put pressure on IBM ( IBM ) to respond, analysts say. Shares in HPE jumped late Tuesday after the company announced the tax-free spinoff  of its services business. HPE also reported better-than-expected fiscal Q2 earnings, but EPS was still down 2% year over year. “We believe the HPE Services plus CSC transaction will cause Xerox ( XRX ) services to be looked at as an acquisition target, as well as put pressure on IBM to consider making acquisitions in its services business,” Citigroup analyst Jim Suva said in a report. The combination of HPE’s enterprise services business and CSC will have about $26 billion in annual sales. The deal is expected to close in March 2017. Jason Kupferberg, analyst at Jefferies, says the HPE-CSC deal has merit. “We believe the combined firm will trail only IBM Global Services and Accenture ( ACN ) in terms of global IT Services revenue,” Kupferberg said in a report. “While neither CSC or HPE enterprise services are industry growth leaders and have been in turnaround mode, we see strategic rationale for the merger, given the complementary vertical exposures (CSC strong in insurance, health care and banking, with HPE enterprise services known for pharmaceuticals, transportation, and telecom.)” Hewlett-Packard split into two publicly traded companies last November. Shareholders of HP Enterprise and CSC will each own half of the new company’s shares. Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said the HPE services-CSC merger is the combination of two struggling companies and could result in 65,000 layoffs. “Two bad assets does not make one good asset,” he said.

Technology For Home, Small Office: Docking Station To Travel Router

Is your home office or small office starting to show its age, technology-wise? If so, then here are some suggestions for adding some shiny new and useful devices. Laptops and tablets these days seem to have fewer ports than previously. At $199, the Kensington SD4000 Universal Docking Station is a good way to add additional USB ports as well as some new capabilities. The SD4000 comes with it’s own power supply, so you can attach current drawing devices to its three USB 3.0 ports or the 2.1 amp USB 2.0 fast-charging port to quickly power up a smartphone or tablet. There’s a gigabit ethernet port to provide wired ethernet to a laptop attached to the dock, and the SD4000 can even provide a 4K Ultra HD resolution video port, even if the laptop it’s attached to doesn’t have a 4K graphics card. If you prefer a two-monitor setup, the SD4000 supports two 2K (or lower) resolution displays. The SD4000 measures 9.25 x 6.75 x 2 inches, so it won’t take up much desk space, and you can even purchase an optional mounting plate to attach it out of sight on the back of most monitors. Kensington is a unit of ACCO Brands ( ACCO ). The internal microphones in many mobile devices are usually pretty poor in both sensitivity and frequency response. IK Multimedia’s iRig MIC Cast solves that problem, bringing crystal clear sound to your phone or tablet. It costs $40 and plugs into the earphone or microphone jack of iOS and Android devices (it has a pass-through earphone jack on its right side so you don’t lose the ability to use a set of earphones when using the microphone). Not much larger than a quarter, it has a small switch to set how sensitive the microphones is, a tabletop stand for your smartphone, and two free software utilities for making recordings. Do you have new laptops and/or portable gear? Odds are that at least some of them have faster Wi-Fi. The newest 801.11ac Wi-Fi technology is considerably faster than the previous 802.11n, but unless your router incorporates the new standard, having the capability in a laptop or other device is wasted. Upgrading to the latest Netgear ( NTGR ) Nighthawk X AC5300 router provides tri-band performance that should reach most areas in even a large office space. The $379 router senses the capabilities of the devices connected to it and provides multiple Wi-Fi devices with maximum wireless performance. It even incorporates 6-gigabit ethernet ports that allow you to attach wired devices as well. Tablets are becoming increasing popular replacements for laptops for many users. But the on-screen keyboard on these devices is a pain for most people to use for more than a quick text. The $40 Logitech ( LOGI ) K380 Bluetooth Keyboard and $40 M535 Bluetooth Mouse make it easier to type on any Bluetooth device including tablets and smartphones. And if you have a Bluetooth-enabled laptop, the M535 mouse is a lot more precise than the small trackpad that many laptops provide. The K380 Bluetooth keyboard is about 11 inches in length, making it easy to take on travel. And its “Easy Switch” lets you switch the keyboard from one device to another. The keyboard works with just about any operating system including Microsoft ( MSFT ) Windows; Apple ’s ( AAPL ) Mac OS or iOS; and Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Chrome and Android. It’s powered by two AAA batteries, which are included. Manufactured by Visioneer and sold by Xerox ( XRX ), the $250 DocuMate 152i is a small document scanner with great features at a budget price. It can scan up to legal-size documents and scans both sides simultaneously, operating at speeds up to 25 pages per minutes or 50 images per minute when both sides are being scanned. The scanner bundles lots of software, including drivers for Windows and Mac operating systems; PaperPort Pro 14, an entry-level document storage and retrieval system; OmniPage Ultimate Version 19 OCR (optical character recognition); and Power PDF, which lets you create and edit PDF files. If you travel often with multiple Wi-Fi devices, the Satechi Smart Travel Router is a smart purchase. For $40, you get a small cube that has three available plug configurations that supports the AC outlets used in over 150 countries (it does not change the voltage, so you may need an additional voltage converter). It has several modes, but the one that’s most useful enables the conversion of a wired ethernet connection in your hotel room, making it an access point that provides a wireless signal that can support multiple Wi-Fi connections.  This lets you use your laptop, tablet and smartphone all at the same time. If you travel with a partner or group, the Smart Travel Router will let several of you use a single wired ethernet connection. And if you need a Wi-Fi signal in a large area, the device can act as a Wi-Fi Repeater, extending the range of a Wi-Fi signal to provide better coverage.

Xerox Stock Rebuilds; Q1 EPS Rise Expected, But Not Better Revenue

Take your eye off iconic copier maker Xerox ( XRX ) for too long — heck, Xerox stock had done little more than fall since December 2014 — and you would have missed its run-up to Tuesday’s eight-month high at 11.39, up 34% since touching a nearly three-year low in January at 8.48. Xerox stock closed Friday at 11.16, flat for the session. Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha doesn’t see much upside potential, giving Xerox a 12-month price target of 11 and a neutral rating in a research note issued Friday. He does see more first-quarter earnings in Xerox, modeling 1 cent more adjusted EPS than Wall Street’s 23-cent consensus, which would be up 10% from the year-earlier quarter. Xerox is scheduled to release Q1 earnings before Monday’s open. But Garcha sees slightly smaller sales than the $4.24 billion consensus of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. That Q1 consensus would be a 5.1% decline from 2015’s Q1 sales and Xerox’s 17th consecutive quarter of shrinking year-on-year revenue, albeit slower shrinkage than the 8% decline in Q4 and 10% contraction in Q3. The rise in Xerox stock may be tied to anticipation over its imminent split into two companies: the legacy copier/printer/office machine business and the business-process outsourcing (BPO) spinoff. Based on $18 billion in 2015 sales, down 8% from 2014, the business-machine side would wind up with about $11 billion a year in sales, and the outsourcing spinoff about $7 billion, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns said when she announced the split on Jan. 29, concurrent with the Q4 earnings release. Inspired by activist investor Carl Icahn, Burns said the breakup would unlock value in both companies. Icahn would get three seats on the new BPO board, while Xerox would get six. BPO sales, grouped currently as services under Xerox, is a “show me story,” Credit Suisse’s Garcha said. “Management is trying to transition the business away from low-margin to more value-added business,” he wrote in a research note. “However, we think management has to show consistent improvement and deliver on results to regain investor confidence.” Garcha anticipates a Q1 decline of 5.4% to $2.4 billion in services revenue. As for the so-called “document technology” core hardware, software and document management businesses, Garcha estimates that about $1.6 billion of Xerox’s annual cost of goods sold are “yen-denominated,” coming from the Fuji Xerox joint venture (75% owned by Fujifilm ( FUJIY )). With the yen up about 9% year to date, foreign exchange “will impact margins,” but less than was earlier expected, Garcha said. For Q1, Garcha forecasts document tech segment revenue fell 12% to $1.6 billion. Not all of Xerox outsourcing will be part of the BPO spinoff. Document outsourcing, which fell 2% to $852 million in Q4 revenue, will stay with the larger portion of the split, a Xerox spokesman told IBD. Effective April 1, Xerox borrowed $1 billion unsecured from a consortium of seven banks to be repaid within a year or upon execution of the spinoff, whichever comes first. Xerox says the spinoff should be complete before year-end. With a market cap of $11.3 billion, Xerox is the fourth-largest member of IBD’s Computer-Hardware/Peripherals industry group, following Canon ( CAJ ), the newly reorganized HP Inc. ( HPQ ), and Fujifilm. Xerox carries a middling 66 IBD Compositing Rating. Its formidable BPO rivals, Cognizant Technology Solutions ( CTSH ) and Infosys ( INFY ) rate better, with CRs of 75 and 80, respectively.