Alterian Share Discussion Threads

[kimball808] 05/7/2010 16:49

Panmure upgrades TP to 248p

[stromboli1] 05/7/2010 15:06

past years suggest trading statement soon / any day

[rivaldo] 05/7/2010 14:52

Nice 50k buy at 150p.

[rivaldo] 23/6/2010 07:22

ALN wins a US healthcare contract:



"CLARK, NJ -- 06/22/10 -- HealthEd, a health care marketing agency that uses education to achieve better health outcomes, has partnered with Alterian to expand the agency's patient insights practice. Specifically, HealthEd will empower its health educators and strategists with rich patient data through the Alterian SM2 social media monitoring and analytics solution.

"Our clients have always relied on HealthEd to champion the patient perspective," said Jill Balderson, executive vice president and chief strategic officer, HealthEd. "With Alterian SM2, our teams now have instant access to thousands of conversations across the patient journey in any disease category, and the ability to organize, filter, and report on findings. The objective is to blend conversation data with our own methodology to unlock opportunities for both patients and brands."

Balderson said HealthEd approaches social media not only as a cost-effective source of deep patient insights, but as a venue for brand monitoring: "Social media sites such as public message boards and blogs are ideal for understanding qualitative insights from patients and care partners, who discuss issues that have direct impact on how brands need to communicate with them. Because most online conversations are anonymous, they can often be more insightful than traditional focus groups or one-on-one interviews."

Alterian (LSE: ALN), the leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, continues to grow its US presence and suite of social media engagement offerings.

"We are constantly scanning and indexing online conversations and related comments from virtually every available source," said Michael Fisher, Alterian's SVP sales & marketing, the Americas. "In a single day, we can collect more than 10 million new results. The unbiased and candid nature of a large majority of these comments makes it beneficial for any company looking to further expand its consumer insights and enhance its brand relationship with patients."

HealthEd has delivered patient insights consulting services to 5 of the 10 largest global pharmaceutical companies, as well as mid-tier manufacturers, biotechnology firms, nonprofit advocacy groups, and other leading healthcare organizations."

[rivaldo] 20/6/2010 09:39

Interesting article re the just-announced takeover by IBM of Coremetrics and the likely further consolidation in the web analytics sector.

IMO it's just a matter of time before ALN gets approached:



Extract:

"IBM buys Coremetrics to boost analytics
Iris DorbianJune 18, 2010

IBM's planned acquisition of Coremetrics, announced June 15, is further evidence that technology companies will continue to add analytics capabilities to their products and services, industry experts told DMNews. The transaction, whose financial terms were not disclosed, is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

"Some people would say that web analytics as a space has peaked. I don't think that's true," said Bob Hale, SVP of corporate development at marketing services provider Alterian.

"It's ready for the next phase to be something larger. It needs to be part of a larger ecosystem, so rolling it into a company like IBM makes sense with its advanced services.""

[stromboli1] 03/6/2010 08:10

IG spread this morning 152-160.94 - silly really

[kimball808] 03/6/2010 07:41

Per Hoodless:

Alterian (ALN, 157p, £91.94m) Finals to March 2010 saw revenues of £38m (£33.4m) with adjusted PBT of £7.76m (£6.16m) with adjusted EPS of 12.5p (11.3p) which benefitted from a tax credit of £0.6m (tax credit £2.7m). The group ended the period £11.2m (£8.6m). The group expects long term revenues, some of its contracts are for 5 years, to account for some 60% of the total in 2011. This year will be driven by growth in its SM2 social media monitoring, growth from WebJourney and other new products already released, new products to be released such as a new Engagement Management platform, investment in distribution into territories such as Asia Pac, South America and the Middle East together with the Alterian platform available as a SaaS service. We maintain the BUY recommendation with the 196p price target.

Recommendation: BUY

[rivaldo] 02/6/2010 09:47

Panmure increase their valuation to 244p:



"Panmure Gordon has a buy for Alterian, raising target to 244p from 237p"

[rivaldo] 02/6/2010 08:07

With adjusted EPS of 14.4p, ALN should be rated on a P/E of say 16-18 to be on a par with their peers - and that would be cheap against sector ratings in the USA.

We can assume conservatively say 16p EPS this year.

That would give a fair share price target of say 272p imo. In the current market perhaps we could say Panmure Gordon's 237p valuation is more realistic.

The high recurring income and cash pile also warrant a much higher rating than the historic P/E of 10.

[kimball808] 02/6/2010 08:06

Yes, good results, thought we would be in for a shocker, but turned out quite good. For me its good to see a 29% increase in cash, still no debt. Operating expenses have increased, but they are pretty much in line with the increase in revenue. Unfortunately not a good period the good news to be appreciated...

[silverfern] 02/6/2010 07:48

Sound results as I would expect, but price and eps seem also right at present levels. Marketing spend remains a major casuality in downturn (however 'smart' the spend might be) If 22 June and Euro steady the ship over summer I am sure growth will continue; if not, then it's risky imho. Cash in bank helps though and they have it.

[turborock] 02/6/2010 07:38

yup, nice results. Looking good to me. Let's hope for a decent run past £2

[rivaldo] 02/6/2010 07:12

Excellent results out today - the P/E and rating is far too low.

Note too:

- adjusted EPS was 14.4p once you add back £1.1m of amortisation of intangibles
- ALN has over £11m of net cash
- 60% of revenues are now recurring

HIGHLIGHTS

+----------------------+-------------+----------+----------+
| | FY10 | FY09 | % |
| | GBPm | GBPm | Increase |
| | | | |
+----------------------+-------------+----------+----------+
| Revenue | 38.0 | 33.4 | 14% |
+----------------------+-------------+----------+----------+
| Adjusted Operating | 7.7 | 6.0 | 28% |
| profit (note 1) | | | |
+----------------------+-------------+----------+----------+
| Reported PBT | 6.7 | 3.6 | 84% |
+----------------------+-------------+----------+----------+
| EPS fully diluted | 12.3p | 11.2p | 10% |
| (note 2) | | | |
+----------------------+-------------+----------+----------+
| Net Cash at year end | 11.2 | 8.6 | 30% |
+----------------------+-------------+----------+----------+

[rivaldo] 28/5/2010 09:51

Citywire today:



"Panmure Gordon has...a buy and 237p target for Alterian"

[yump] 27/5/2010 15:37

Very true, I don't 'buy' that sort of stuff much, but it does have an impactful holistic effect on the credibility reach of the company in the areas where that sort of talk is common.

[rivaldo] 27/5/2010 14:03

Calm down, calm down yump :o))

I care about all the guff as little as you do, the point is that ALN are being recognised as a worldwide leader in their sector by the likes of Gartner. The verbal diarrhoea is just padding, forget about it.

One day in the not-too-distant future ALN will be acquired by a US competitor and all the rest will be history. IMO anyway.

[yump] 27/5/2010 12:52

"Alterian is positioned as a Niche Player. Companies with a higher 'Ability to Execute' are known for prominent product capabilities, business viability, marketing execution and customer experience. 'Completeness of Vision' is based on marketing, sales and product strategies as well as business models and innovation."

That actually made me laugh.

Sorry, but wtf does that waffle mean ?

Not a reflection on Alterian, but it appears the bankers are not the only overpaid wasters in the UK.

... on the other hand "holistic product vision"

pass the happy pills please ;-)

"confident in our existing success"

Well, if its existing, you don't need to be confident, because its already happened hasn't it ?

and no, I'm not in the campaign for plain English, but this is pushing me over the edge.

I'm getting increasingly nervous about a ceo who should have his nose to the grindstone, but seems to be able to issue waffly statements every week.

[rivaldo] 27/5/2010 12:04

Good to see recognition by Gartner:



"Alterian recognised in Leading Analyst Firm's Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management
May 27, 2010

London, UK – 27 May 2010 – Alterian (LSE: ALN), the leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, is proud to announce that it has been recognised by Gartner Inc., the world's leading information technology research and advisory company in its Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management. The 2010 Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management, published May 13, 2010 by Adam Sarner, identifies vendors offering a wide-range of capabilities and focus to support marketers with their increasingly more complex campaign management needs to deliver relevant multi-channel experiences.

Alterian is positioned as a Niche Player. Companies with a higher 'Ability to Execute' are known for prominent product capabilities, business viability, marketing execution and customer experience. 'Completeness of Vision' is based on marketing, sales and product strategies as well as business models and innovation.

Alterian is noted for developing complex campaign management execution built on top of a high-performing analytics engine and recommends it for its strong analytical tools. Alterian is also identified for its range of products including SM2, a social media monitoring and engagement tool and WebJourney, a web behaviour analytics solution, which analyses and tracks behaviour as well as pages and assets. This report also references Alterian's strong revenue growth over the last year as well as highlighting its plans to release a Web-based rich client user interface with an analytical workbench to manage customer engagement across channels later on in the year.

David Eldridge, CEO, Alterian, commented on the announcement, "We are extremely pleased to be recognised by such a renowned institution as Gartner. We believe this recognition speaks to our holistic product vision as well as our ability to deliver for our customers. We are confident in our existing success and will continue to be thought leaders in the customer engagement industry."

Alterian has also recently been positioned in Gartner's Magic Quadrants for Enterprise Marketing Management(1), Web Content Management(2), and Marketing Resource Management(3)."

[yump] 24/5/2010 20:37

Another self-serving 'survey' published on 18th May by the look of it.

Guess what: 95% of marketing is wasted and it should all be spent on individualisation of social media targeting and given to Alterian.

(I've only distorted the conclusion a bit, but no more than a survey sponsored by the people destined to benefit from its results is distorted in the first place).

I like the company, but the corporate BS is a bit harder to take at times.

Actually imo it should be spent on targeted advertising with a measureable ROI.
Can Alterian offer that ?

[rivaldo] 14/5/2010 12:02

Interesting stuff re how social media tracked the election, some of it bleedin' obvious, bits of it quite insightful:



"Social networking maps political landscape in 2010 UK General Election
Friday, 14 May 2010
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
London, UK – 14 May 2010 – Alterian (LSE: ALN), a leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, today released further statistics, which showed how the conversations on social media sites reflected the events of the 2010 UK General Election. SM2, Alterian's social monitoring tool, examined over 500,000 conversations across various social media platforms, providing volume and sentiment analysis of the main political leaders over the course of the election.

For the purposes of measurement, the election campaign was divided into three time periods - the Pre-Debate period, the Debate period and the Election period. From the results of SM2, Alterian has mapped the key highlights and lowlights of the election campaign...

etc"

[kimball808] 10/5/2010 20:26

lol...Sounds like Gordon Brown

[rivaldo] 10/5/2010 10:22

Er....right :o))

Meanwhile, to reiterate:



"Panmure Gordon has a buy and 235p target for Alterian"

[kab6] 09/5/2010 02:01

I must point out that i have just come in from a session, being a scot, and am feeling vocal!

[kab6] 09/5/2010 01:52

i do not hold this stock and have not looked at this thread since Jan.

I have alot of experience in the web and in big marketing and i think big budget marketing don't care of face f book. If a spotty teenager says he doesn't like a Kit Kat on Twitter, how much does it matter. (if u don't know why this is relevant, then you have no business in this stock)

If I were the FSA i would have investigated this co for reasons on past posts. But as I say they dont know or dont care.

This is a clear case of an investigation.

I have worked in many big asset managers (the marketing was at the beginning of my career) and modest investors beware.

If u think your sophisticated, then work with Goldman and do what u wish.,