Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index Picks It Up Less Than A Percent
The Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index made like a late 90’s ska band this week and picked it up after a short stall-out period, even if it was ever-so-slightly. The 20 cloud and SaaS providers that make up the index showed an overall 0.39% gain for the week ending March 4, 2011, bringing us to year-to-date increase of 13.05%. Solid one-week gains by companies like Rightnow and Kenexa Corp. were offset by usually more reliable companies like Salesforce.com and NetSuite posting almost equivalent declines.
Before we get too deep in specifics, our standard reminder: the Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index is designed to match cloud hype against real-world financial performance. We don’t offer any specific financial advice, and whether you buy, sell, or hold is your call and yours alone.
Three Weekly Winners
- SaaS CRM provider Rightnow Technologies Inc. (RNOW) showed a solid 7.64% boost to $29.15 a share, with the price last week peaking at a new 52-week high of $29.58. What’s really, odd, though, is that there seems to be no inciting factor behind their solid gain apart from a little bit of analyst hype. Are investors latching onto cloud-based CRM?
- Similarly, HR cloud solution provider Kenexa Corp. (KNXA) rode analyst ratings of its own to a price of $24.55 per share – a 4.44% gain for the week.
- Talent management specialist Taleo (TLEO) wins the final spot in the winner’s circle this week with a 3.41% lift to $33.38 on the heels of the publication of a company-sponsored, widely-circulated survey that showed employee training is more important than recruitment in 2011.
…And The Weekly Losers
- Interestingly, Salesforce.com (CRM) posted a loss of 6.38%, bringing shares down to $129.97, despite analysts giving them more than their fair share of lip service. Apparently, Microsoft very quietly won its lawsuit against Salesforce.com around the appointment of Matt Miszewski — though it’s unclear if the news directly impacted Salesforce.com shares.
- As NetSuite (N) saw shares dip 3.91% to $29.49, NetSuite COO James Mcgeever sold off 14,000 shares in the company. It’s a common move for high-tech executives to diversify their holdings.
- Back in lawsuit land, Equinix (EQIX) faces the very serious charge from investors that in the last half of 2010, the data center service provider issued false and misleading statements in violation of the Securities Exchange Act. So far, it’s only cost them 3.62% of their stock price, bringing them to $84.32 per share. But if they lose the lawsuit, Talkin’ Cloud thinks we could see that price take an even sharper drive.
There are no simple trends to track in this week’s Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index. For the last several weeks, any gains or losses have been slight. We’ll update the index again and offer more perspectives after U.S. markets close on Friday, March 11.
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