Lexmark: Analysis Suggests More Challenges Ahead

November 15, 2015

I read a wonky financial review of Lexmark. You know Lexmark. It was a unit of IBM which manufactured or assembled printers and sold ink. Ink is almost expensive as movie popcorn.

The write up is “Sunday Update for Lexmark international Incorporated.” If you are fortunate to have an unfiltered Internet connection, you may be able to view the write up. If not, buzz your financial advisor. These folks work on Sundays.

The main point of the write up is that the data in this chart provide a glimpse of the challenges Lexmark, owner of the ISYS Search Software, face. ISYS was crafted in the late 1980s, and it provides the basics of information access. The problem is that open source options and baked in search solutions make search and retrieval a utility, not a key feature.

Here’s the chart, which suggests that the August 2015 dip may be the new normal for the company.

Does this remind you of a profile of Table Mountain? I see some parallels. Sharp drop, big job to get back on top.

More interesting is that the summary of analysts expectations is that only two analysts have an opinion. One rates Lexmark as a hold. The other? Strong sell.

The write up points out that Lexmark is in the buzzword business; for example:

The Company operates in the office printing and imaging, enterprise content management (ECM), business process management (BPM), document output management (DOM), intelligent data capture and search software markets. Lexmark’s products include laser printers and multifunction devices, dot matrix printers and the associated supplies/solutions/services, as well as ECM, BPM, DOM, intelligent data capture, search and Web-based document imaging and workflow software solutions and services.

Maybe acronyms are not selling? I hope they do. Lexmark is based about one hour from the hollow in which I reside in rural Kentucky. A healthy Lexmark keeps the trailers in my trailer park rented. Perceptive, right?

Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2015

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Enterprise search, Financial, News

Comments

Comments are closed.

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.