Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape and founding partner at top VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, is famous for making the point that “Software is eating the world”.
By that point, he meant that we were heading into an age where coding innovations would begin to make many taken-for-granted processes in our world perfunctory or outdated in a very short period of time. The defining example was Barnes and Noble or Borders – the big, successful bookstores – being gobbled up in a just a few years by the rise of Amazon.
The basic idea is that the inefficiencies drop out of the model. Think of going to a music store in the mall and buying a new CD album from your favorite band in the 1990’s. There’s driving, parking, walking, physical stores, physical boxes, cases, and discs, a cash register, a cashier, waiting in line, a paper receipt, more walking, un-parking, maybe a gas station, and driving back home, not to mention the physical costs of having a parking lot there instead of park, and having a mall there instead of an art museum or garden. Etc, etc, etc.
Whatever your aesthetic preferences, the alternative we have today – 4 mouse clicks and 10 seconds of download – is certainly a better business model because the album still costs the same fifteen bucks, and basically all the costs have been stripped out.
So, here we are, somewhere in the process of taking this basic premise to its logical extreme.
With that in mind, we take a look at a few interesting SaaS Cloud stocks with momentum and active catalysts, including: Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV), Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA), Boatim Inc (OTCQB:BTIM), and Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP).
Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV) bills itself as a company that provides cloud-based software for the life sciences industry in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally.
The company offers Veeva Commercial Cloud, a suite of multichannel customer relationship management applications, data solutions, and master data management solutions; and Veeva Vault, a cloud-based enterprise content management applications for managing commercial functions, including medical, sales, and marketing, as well as research and development functions, such as clinical, regulatory, quality, and safety.
Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV) most recently announced that TFS HealthScience selected Veeva Vault Clinical Operations Suite for end-to-end study management on a single cloud platform. The global CRO is taking action to further modernize study operations, adopting the entire suite for greater efficiency and speed in trials. Now TFS HealthScience will offer its biopharma customers industry-leading technologies and services to run more cost-efficient and compliant studies.
“Veeva Vault Clinical Operations Suite gives us a foundation for further growth as we expand our service offerings globally,” said Dr. Bassem Saleh, CEO, TFS HealthScience. “Bringing together study operations streamlines processes, enabling us to maximize value for sponsors and accelerate the delivery of treatments to patients.”
The stock has suffered a bit of late, with shares of VEEV taking a hit in recent action, down about -6% over the past week. Over the past month, shares of the stock have suffered from clear selling pressure, dropping by roughly -13%.
Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV) generated sales of $396.8M, 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 5.1% on the top line. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($1.7B against $716M).
Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA) is actually not an SaaS cloud stock, technically. But it belongs here because it proves the “software is eating the world” idea perhaps more than pure-play SaaS stocks. In short, Carvana is a car marketplace with a physical distribution infrastructure but an ecommerce-only cloud-based shopping functionality. In other words, it has taken the traditional vehicle dealership process, in terms of both buying and selling, and, for all the parts that could be replaced with software, it has replaced them with software.
The result is an ecommerce marketplace attached to what amounts to a network of automated car vending machines. The result is also the most successful dealership in the world. The difference is: it has provided itself the service, so its end-market customer is not another business to which it provides a service through software. However, as far as the idea of software eating the world, the CVNA success story is a valuable proof point.
Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA) recently announced it has upsized and priced the private placement of $600.0 million in aggregate principal amount of its 5.500% Senior Notes due 2027.
According to the release, the Company upsized its offering of the Notes by $100.0 million aggregate principal amount from the previously announced amount. The Notes will be issued under an indenture to be entered into upon the closing of the offering, which Carvana anticipates will take place on or about March 29, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Carvana intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes. The Notes will bear interest at a rate of 5.500% per year, payable semi-annually on April 15 and October 15 of each year, beginning on October 15, 2021. The Notes will mature on April 15, 2027, unless earlier redeemed or repurchased.
Even in light of this news, CVNA has had a rough past week of trading action, with shares sinking something like -7% in that time. That said, chart support is nearby, and we may be in the process of constructing a nice setup for some movement back the other way.
Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA) pulled in sales of $1.8B in its last reported quarterly financials, representing top line growth of 65.5%. In addition, the company is battling some balance sheet hurdles, with cash levels struggling to keep up with current liabilities ($460.4M against $467.1M, respectively).
Boatim Inc (OTCQB:BTIM) frames itself as a globally operating online marketplace and special interest social network for both the boating industry and boat users. It’s a nice follow-up to Carvana because these are somewhat similar stories – what Carvana is for cars, Boatim is for boats, except that Boatim is a pure-play SaaS cloud business with boat-dealers as a key end-market customer (to which it provides a useful service).
In short, this tech start-up provides industry-specific software aimed at facilitating the process of buying and selling boats and providing digital maritime services online.
On Boatim.com the boating industry can sell and promote products and connect with a fast-growing potential customer base, while boat users can explore and buy boats, and connect with like-minded people and brands. The platform can be accessed through both mobile devices and desktops and generates revenues through listing placements, subscription plans, and ads. Thanks to the great business model scalability, more revenue streams will be added soon. Since August 2019, the privately funded start-up has become a publicly listed entity, trading at the OTCQB Venture Market under the trading symbol BTIM.
Boatim Inc (OTCQB:BTIM) most recently announced appointment of its new Florida based CFO: Mr. Mario Beckles, CPA, was appointed as a member of the board of Directors of the Company effective immediately and as new Chief Financial Officer commencing on April 1, 2021.
According to the company’s release, Mr. Beckles has over 20 years of experience in financial reporting, financial accounting, tax, and audit works. He is US based (FL) and his areas of expertise include, inter alia, information technology and retail. He began his career as a Senior Auditor with Deloitte and has since held positions as CFO of First Liberty Power Corp, a publicly traded mining company, was a Partner at Jersey Fortress Capital Partners, a boutique investment banking firm and was a Senior Financial Reporting Analyst with SimplexGrinnell, a $2B Fire & Security Contractor. Mario is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and holds a CPA license with the state board of Florida.
The key here is that the company continues to build out a core leadership team primed to take it to the next level. The stakes are high as the boating industry has no clear leadership positioning winner on the SaaS/Cloud side, so BTIM is poised to take that position as it ascends.
This is possibly a monster winner-take-all game too given that, according to the BEA, Boating and fishing are the largest outdoor recreation activities in the U.S., totaling $23.6 billion in current-dollar value added.
Boatim Inc (OTCQB:BTIM) have pulled back in recent action to test support in the $0.50/share area. The stock has been gradually picking up liquidity and volume, and the company has started to express catalysts that line up well in terms of introducing commercial performance in the quarters ahead.
Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) trumpets itself as an e-commerce company that provides a cloud-based multi-channel commerce platform for small and medium-sized businesses in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and internationally.
Its platform provides merchants with a single view of business and customers in various sales channels, including Web and mobile storefronts, physical retail locations, social media storefronts, and marketplaces; and enables to manage products and inventory, process orders and payments, fulfill and ship orders, build customer relationships, source products, leverage analytics and reporting, and access financing.
Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) recently announced blowout financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020, including Q4 revenue growth of 94% on GMV growth of 99% y/y and full-year 2020 sales growth of 86% on GMV growth of 96% y/y.
“The spirit of entrepreneurship was strong in 2020, as our merchants’ resilience and ability to adapt helped many of them thrive in a difficult year,” said Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s President. “Shopify is at the heart of our merchants’ businesses with entrepreneurs around the world trusting us with their livelihoods. This year, we are doubling down on creating a frictionless path to successful entrepreneurship, as we continue to build a future-proof commerce solution to serve generations to come.”
Even in light of this news, SHOP has had a rough past week of trading action, with shares sinking something like -10% in that time. That said, chart support is nearby and we may be in the process of constructing a nice setup for some movement back the other way. Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) managed to rope in revenues totaling $977.7M in overall sales during the company’s most recently reported quarterly financial data — a figure that represents a rate of top line growth of 93.6%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($6.4B against $438.3M).
