Many of the changes we are seeing in reaction to the global eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic health crisis are actually permanent evolutionary leaps masquerading as short-term virus adaptations. At least, that’s what some of the most forward-thinking experts and analysts have started to believe.
The manifestation of that tide of opinion can be seen in the valuations running wild in the Nasdaq and the technology sector. It’s either a bubble or a discounting of a very different type of world.
With markets beginning to base securities pricing on the latter idea, we thought it might be a good idea to look at some interesting stocks that could represent the next shoe to drop: innovative communications.
With that in mind, we take a look at a handful of highly active names in the space, including: Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIA), Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM), SC Holdings Corp (OTCMKTS:SCNG), and Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM).
Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIA) develops, manufactures, and sells high-speed coherent optical interconnect products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. Its products include a series of low-power coherent digital signal processor application-specific integrated circuits and silicon photonic integrated circuits that are integrated into families of optical interconnect modules with transmission speeds ranging from 100 to 400 gigabits per second for use in long-haul, metro, and inter-data center markets.
The company sells its products through a direct sales force to network equipment manufacturers, network operators, and cloud service providers. Acacia Communications, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts.
Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIA) most recently announced it is sampling new 100G coherent pluggable solutions specifically designed for optimization in edge and access applications with unamplified links up to 120km. According to the release, Acacia’s new 100G coherent point-to-point (P2P) edge and access solutions were designed to provide network operators the ability to scale to higher data rates to meet growing bandwidth demands over some of the most challenging optical links, while also providing operational simplicity that may lead to overall network savings.
“Acacia has a long-standing track record of driving coherent into new market applications by delivering the technology, scalability, feature set, and innovation that service providers need to maintain and grow their networks over time,” said Anuj Malik, Director of Product Management at Acacia Communications. “Leveraging our 10 years of high-performance coherent transmission expertise, we specifically designed our new 100G coherent P2P solutions to meet the needs of edge and access applications in terms of form factor, power consumption and cost, building on our technology leadership in silicon photonics and low-power DSPs.”
It will be interesting to see if the stock can break out of its recent sideways action. Over the past week, the stock is net flat, and looking for something new to spark things.
Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIA) generated sales of $135.2M, according to information released in the company’s most recent quarterly financial report. That adds up to a sequential quarter-over-quarter growth rate of 7.6% on the top line. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($443.7M against $120M).
Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) is another interesting name in the space with a focus on mobile voice and data communications services and product to businesses, the United States and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services.
IRDM also provides other services, such as inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, short message, subscriber identity module, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services.
Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) recently unveiled the Iridium Online Museum, celebrating the challenges and successes of an audacious idea that initially failed, but ultimately succeeded and achieved its vision, inspiring a resurgence in commercial interest in space.
According to the release, the launch of the museum is timely, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the first legal steps taken towards Iridium’s rebirth as a modern company, on July 31, 2000. As Iridium continues its legacy of innovation and enters a new chapter of its story following the success of the Iridium® NEXT launch program, continued growth, and financial transformation, the interactive website commemorates the Company’s unique history and offers lessons for other current and future endeavors.
It will be interesting to see if the stock can break out of its recent sideways action. Over the past week, the stock is net flat, and looking for something new to spark things. IRDM shares have been relatively flat over the past month of action, with very little net movement during that period.
Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) pulled in sales of $140.2M in its last reported quarterly financials, representing top line growth of -2%. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($119.1M against $101.9M).
SC Holdings Corp (OTCMKTS:SCNG) is an investment management company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, convertibles, credit, and hedge funds. The action for the company now is mostly about Strattner Financial’s key subsidiary, Strattner Technologies LLC, which is quickly moving into an emerging leadership role in the satellite-based communications space.
Strattner Technologies LLC also recently signed a contract with satellite phone manufacturer AdvanceTC Limited (OTC:ATCLF) to service and commercialize up to one million phones via the Strattner.Space platform. AdvanceTCs android based satellite-smartphone Xplore 7 is a FCC/SIRIM certified rugged satellite-smartphone with 4G LTE, satellite messaging and emergency button device which received authorization by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2019.
SC Holdings Corp (OTCMKTS:SCNG), which owns Strattner Financial Group, and its subsidiary, Strattner Technologies, just recently announced, along with Pareteum Corporation (Nasdaq:TEUM), a global cloud communications platform company, that the two have partnered to launch the Strattner Voice brand, a GSM cellular network complementing its satellite communications network Strattner.Space.
According to the release, Strattner Technologies will utilize Pareteum’s Experience Cloud platform to enter the mobile communications market with the mission to reconnect Americans with their friends, family and business associates both in the US and across the world, in these pandemic times. Strattner is bridging the gap between cellular and satellite networks on a single smartphone device. Strattner.Space, the Satellite communications division of the company, has strategically combined with Strattner Cellular division to bring this product solution to market.
David Blunk, CTO of Strattner Group stated, “We are very excited about the opportunity to go to market with a unified cellular solution that integrates rural market coverage on satellite technology.”
SC Holdings Corp (OTCMKTS:SCNG) recently reported that assets under management in its wholly owned private funds TBS Equities Fund LLC and TBS Capital LP increased 192% from $2,328,582 to $6,812,000 attributable to a growing securities portfolio. The company continues to line up key deals to commercially expand in the sat-com space.
Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) bills itself as a company that provides a video-first communications platform that delivers changes how people interact primarily in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It connects people through frictionless video, voice, chat, and content sharing.
The company’s cloud-native platform enables face-to-face video experiences and connects users across various devices and locations in a single meeting. It serves education, entertainment/media, enterprise infrastructure, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, non-profit/not for profit and social impact, retail/consumer products, and software/Internet industries, as well as individuals.
Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) recently announced that Cardinal Health, Inc. a global, integrated healthcare services and products company will standardize on the company’s robust UCaaS platform to consolidate and optimize workflow. According to the release, the initial rollout includes more than 17,000 Zoom users including video webinar, rooms, cloud room connectors and phone licenses. Replacing other services with a unified communications platform, Zoom was selected due to its strong quality of service, reliability, and user experience.
“In a time where healthcare is more important than ever, we’re glad to be able to offer a frictionless unified video communications solution to help enable communications and collaboration for Cardinal Health,” said Ryan Azus, Chief Revenue Officer, Zoom. “Cardinal Health is on the cutting-edge in its understanding of the value of video communications in its present and future.”
The context for this announcement is a bit of a bid, with shares acting well over the past five days, up about 17% in that timeframe. Shares of the stock have powered higher over the past month, rallying roughly 54% in that time on strong overall action. Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) generated sales of $663.5M, according to information released in the company’s most recent quarterly financial report. That adds up to a sequential quarter-over-quarter growth rate of 102.2% on the top line. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($1.8B against $1.3B).
