Investopedia: Splunk Delivering When Other Techs Are Not

It's hard for a company to completely shield itself from a difficult macro climate, but having a solid product for a burgeoning (and heretofore untapped) market is a pretty good way to try. To that end, Splunk's (Nasdaq:SPLK) machine data processing software/services are giving companies capabilities they haven't had before, and they seem willing to pay for it. While the valuation here looks pretty heated, I can appreciate the appeal of a high-growth stock at a time when many other techs have stalled.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/053113/splunk-delivering-when-other-techs-are-not-splk-hpq-ibm-swi-tibx.aspx

Seeking Alpha: Will A Different Model Lead To Sustainably Different Results For SolarWinds?

Over the last decade or so, a host of software companies have tried to build successful businesses with models different than those used by industry giants including IBM (IBM), Oracle (ORCL), and Microsoft (MSFT). While Salesforce.com (CRM) and NetSuite (N) have gone the software-as-a-service (SaaS, or Cloud) route, others like Red Hat (RHT) have looked to maintenance and support instead of the software itself as the source of value.

That brings us to SolarWinds (SWI). There's nothing unusual per se about network management tools - companies like IBM and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) have been selling them for years. What's different about SolarWinds is both the sales model (a low-touch model that relies on 3rd parties like search engines) and the product positioning (lagging tech, but cheap and easy to use). So far, the results have been impressive as SolarWinds has posted exceptional revenue growth and operating margins. As is so often the case, though, the question is whether the company can maintain this momentum and whether the Street is already ahead of the story.

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Will A Different Model Lead To Sustainably Different Results For SolarWinds?

Seeking Alpha: Splunk - The Next Google Or The Next Goner?

Whenever a new company emerges with a target market that is ill-defined, both the bulls and bears dig in and get to work with their respective promotion machines. That brings us to Splunk (SPLK). Can the company's technology and platform for collecting, processing, and analyzing machine data make it a Google (GOOG) of log and config files, or will it just prove to be another not-so-spectacular systems management tool, and one unworthy of a high teens multiple on sales?

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Splunk - The Next Google Or The Next Goner?