Acquisition mania

I’ve been working on a mid-year update of my market numbers for CAE (which show better than expected growth to date in 2011) and am stunned by the rapid pace of acquisitions we’ve seen this year. It’s one thing to note them as they happen, but when...

News you may have missed, 16 Sept

The industry’s acquisition binge continues, with news of a new deal just about every week: Bentley invests in TEEC Bentley Systems announced yesterday that the company has taken a minority equity stake in The Engineering Essentials Company (TEEC) and placed a person...

PTC Q2 beats – and it’s not due to MKS

Parametric Technology Corp. (PTC) reported fiscal third quarter revenue of $292 million, nicely ahead of earlier guidance of revenue between $275 million and $285 million and up 20% from a year ago. Some of the upside came from MKS, which contributed $6 million in the...

1 2 3 4 User conferences

If you’ve been following this blog over the last few months, you’ll have noticed that I’ve been traveling. A LOT. In all, I attended 4 user conferences and 3 other meetings in 5 weeks. Aside from the surreality of bouncing between Orlando, Las Vegas...

PTC roadmaps aplenty

Another Las Vegas extravaganza wrapped yesterday, as thousands of PTC faithful headed for the exits at Caesar’s Palace. I’m not a fan of Vegas in general, but PTC made it work. The company showcased its new management team (energetic, visionary with practical bits...

PTC World, day 1: Creo and more

PTC users have gathered in Las Vegas for PTC World 2011 to hear from the company and other users how to use PTC products for competitive advantage. After a long day of presentations and meetings, here are a few impressions on what I’ve learned; more to come in the...

PTC surprised by CAD growth

As noted yesterday, PTC reported reported second fiscal quarter revenue of $269 million, up 23% from a year ago, driven in large part by growth in the enterprise CAD business. Net income more than doubled from last year’s Q2, at $19 million or $0.16 per...

PTC FQ2 first view: desktop drove growth

PTC reported results today after the market closed — yes, that’s two in one day — and will hold its analyst conference call tomorrow. A quick read of the press release and supplemental material shows that reported revenue of $269 million (up 12%) and...

PTC embeds MKS

Last week PTC announced its intention to acquire MKS, Inc. of Waterloo, Ontario, a supplier of tools to manage the lifecycle of embedded mechatronics software, for CDN$26.20/share or CDN$292.5 million in total (about $304 million at current exchange rates). PTC will...

PTC reports an Optima Q1

(Sorry. The Optima is a model of Kia automobile. Bad pun, I know, but hard to resist.) PTC is usually the first PLM company to report results and is therefore seen as a bit of the canary in a coal mine (send in the canary; if it dies, there’s not enough oxygen for...