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Pitney Bowes' Data Practice to Boost Digital Transformation

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In its drive to enable businesses to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI - Free Report) launched a new data practice that helps leverage data and analytics better.

According to research firm IDC, by the year 2020, data analytics will double, and investment in data assets, which the companies collect, will multiply 100-fold or more. Data-driven customer insights have, thus, become crucial for securing the business and catering to the needs of today’s hyper-connected customers.

To capitalize on the same, Pitney Bowes is helping companies integrate data better and enrich the same with location-based information, in order to improve client understanding and engagement. This fresh cross-company practice will, thus, optimize business processes and assist firms deliver seamless customer experience, support product and service innovation.

Pitney Bowes has access to billions of exclusive and proprietary data points, along with the capability to transform them into actionable insights. Adding to its considerable data assets, the company has developed Big Data, IoT, and Machine Learning capabilities.

Using this practice, the company will work with customers to crack challenges posed by the volume and velocity of data, and the applications required for better insight. Thus, they will augment the value of location-based data and deliver competitive differentiation.

Despite consistent efforts to roll out new products and restructure its existing operations, Pitney Bowes has been facing formidable headwinds that have hurt its performance. The company has had a bearish run on the bourse over the past one year, with shares having plunged 35%, significantly underperforming the Zacks categorized Office Automation and Equipment industry’s average decline of 3.8%, over the same time frame.

Pitney Bowes has a dismal earnings surprise history, with an average negative surprise of 10.3%, missing estimates each time in the trailing four quarters. It is suffering from steep decline in sales and margins, a consequence of sluggish end markets.

Moreover,the company has also been witnessing some bearish analyst activity on the earnings estimate revision front lately. Over the past couple of months, the company’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 declined 7.9% to $1.76, thanks to three downward revisions versus none upward.

Amid deteriorating market conditions, escalating operating expenses and major shareholders exiting the stock, we believe this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company is unlikely to stage a comeback anytime soon.

Pitney Bowes Inc. Price and Consensus

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the broader computer & technology sector include Dassault Systemes SA (DASTY - Free Report) , Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP - Free Report) and Aspen Technology, Inc. (AZPN - Free Report) . While Dassault sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Check Point Software and Aspen Technology carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Dassault Systemes, a globally recognized leader in CAD/CAM/CAE and PDM II markets, has a striking earnings surprise history for the trailing four quarters, beating estimates all through for an average positive surprise of 11%.

Check Point Software is a leading provider of policy-based enterprise security and traffic management solutions. The company has a solid earnings surprise history for the trailing four quarters, having beaten estimates thrice, for an average beat of 6%.

Aspen Technology is a recognized expert and leading provider of award-winning process optimization software and services. The company has beaten estimates consistentlyeach time over the trailing four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 20.3%.

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