Morning coffee: economy, earnings, deals & news

Welcome to a new week! Since we know you had an excellent weekend, overdosing on Olympic coverage, you forgot all that happened last week. Pour yourself a hot beverage and let’s do a quick recap. It’s the Economy … According to payroll data, the US economy added 113,000 jobs in January, which many see as “anemic“, even as the unemployment rate fell to 6.6%, the lowest rate since 2008. According to Fox News, the majority of the jobs added in January were in construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade and mining. What does it all mean? I don’t know — but it certainly isn’t hugely optimistic and therefore isn’t likely to make people open their wallets and go shopping. PLMish Deals and Earnings The big earnings news of the week came from Dassault Systèmes, which reported Q4 revenue of €565 million, essentially flat with last year and up 5% in constant currencies (cc). For the year, total revenue was €2,066 million, up 2% as reported and up 5% in cc. The results show a mix of soft macroeconomic effects, currencies, weak sales in its flagship CATIA and ENOVIA brands — the one bright spot is SolidWorks, where unit sales were up 5% in Q4. Revenue from the Other category, which includes SIMULIA and DELMIA but also RTT and many of the acquisitions made over the last 2 years, was up 9% in Q4 and up 12% for the year. DS issued guidance for 2014 that includes RTT (but not Accelrys, since that hasn’t closed). For Q1, it expects revenue of around €495 million; for the full year 2014, revenue growth of 10% to 11% in constant currencies which amounts to €2.21 billion to €2.23 billion. The other big news last week was from 3D Systems, which preannounced strong revenue growth but net income figures far below expectations. It share, and those of the other 3D printer manufacturers, dove after the news. 3D Systems saw weaker demand for consumer printers and on-demand parts leading to a slightly less profitable mix than expected. Add to this higher expenses for R&D, sales and marketing, and acquisition-related costs, and non-GAAP earnings per share are well below expectations at $0.83 to $0.87, versus prior guidance of $0.93 to $1.03. This morning, German reseller (and parent of CAM company OPEN MIND) Mensch und Maschine (MuM) announced 2013 ended strong, leading to group sales for the year of €126 million, up 6%. Sales of its own software were up 4% to €35 million (but up 8% in cc) while VAR revenue was up 6% to €91 million. This bodes well for Autodesk, which reports on the 26th, since MuM is its largest European reseller. More on MuM’s preliminary statement later today; final details will be out March 17. We’ve known it was coming and last week, Autodesk and Delcam announced that their merger had been completed. Delcam will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, with its customer-facing operations intact. It’s sad to see another venerable ticker symbol disappear, but this one seems to be in good hands. Clive Martell, Delcam CEO, told analysts on a conference call that being part of the Autodesk family brings increased financial resources and deep technical expertise that can bring Delcam’s solutions to a much larger, broader audience — he hinted at cloud and other platforms. He is excited to be part of a bigger platform to “transform design to manufacturing processes”. For its part, Autodesk intends to leave Delcam alone, letting it focus on its technology leadership and allowing the business  to drive forward and set its strategy for the CAM market. For now, Delcam products will continue to be sold through its sales channels. What Else Can We Tie to the Super Bowl the Big Sporting Event of the Week? Turns out to be muted this year, perhaps because of the general unease about the Sochi Olympics — but there are some PLMish ties to the events. DS’s SolidWorks was used to redesign the US bobsled team’s sled. Doubt that SolidWorks was involved in the door that locked a team member into a bathroom. The US speed skating team brought in Under Armour and Lockheed Martin to design the perfect “skin” for its skaters, including CFD and wind tunnel testing. A nice look at some of the amazing design and analysis tech used to prepare the athletes and keep them as safe as possible is here. Do you know of any PLMish ties to the Olympics? Let us know, and we’ll post them next week. Best Story of the Week I am a city kid. I didn’t know brussels sprouts grew on stalks until a gardening friend brought one to the office when I was in my 20s. Now, I am fascinated by the way technology is being used to help manage farms — from PTC’s ThingWorx being used to monitor the temperature in chicken coops to Trimble’s Farmworks, which can help a farmer determine the exact water conditions in his fields. Last week, LidarNews ran a story about a German seed company that is using 3D laser scanning to monitor crop growth. They put a scanner in the field to capture data about how specific seeds perform, and then use that to create better seeds. That is so cool!