Xerox on Barron’s Cover This Week
— Submitted by Carl Langsenkamp, vice president, global public relations
Over the weekend, Barron’s published a cover story: Xerox Delivers. If you’re a Xerox believer then much of the story may not come as a surprise. But if the products, services and technology from Xerox is not part of your daily dose of news, then the Barron’s story may really help you get your head around how much we’ve changed over the past few years — and how that change was amped up significantly by the acquisition of ACS in February. I’ve noted a few highlights from Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal’s Barron’s cover story:
Thanks in part to the better profit margins of service businesses, Xerox has reported steady increases in earnings, repeatedly exceeding Wall Street’s expectations. Despite the recession, free cash flow jumped to $1.5 billion last year from $1.2 billion in 2008.
The story goes on to discuss about how Xerox is positioned for growth:
Burns is confident that the recent marriage of what Xerox now refers to as its document-technology business—consisting of traditional printers and copiers, “multifunction” printer, copier, scanner and fax machines, and graphic-communications printing and document outsourcing—with its services business, will help the company achieve 10% to 15% growth in earnings in the near future. If the second quarter—the first one with ACS in the fold—is any indication, the combination is already a winner. Earnings were up 50%, to 24 cents a share, handily beating Wall Street’s estimate of 21 cents.
And how the current economic climate is ripe for companies to partner with Xerox:
As for concerns that companies or governments will cut back in a sputtering economy, Burns contends that the kinds of processes and solutions Xerox offers can be big money savers, for business and government alike. In its new configuration, Xerox now derives about 25% of its revenue from state and local governments. But Burns points out that in addition to providing money-saving processes, many of the services Xerox provides to government are essential.
Along with these points, the story shares analyst reviews of Xerox’s potential, its stock price and P/E ratio, among other metrics and insights. I’ve noted only a small piece of the full story. When you have a chance, please read through it and let’s continue the conversation here.
— Carl Langsenkamp, vice president, global public relations
