The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Oracle, Facebook, Best Buy, Viacom and Google

  The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Oracle, Facebook, Best Buy, Viacom and
                                    Google

PR Newswire

CHICAGO, July 12, 2012

CHICAGO, July 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks
featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts
discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.
Stocks recently featured in the blog include Oracle Corp
(Nasdaq:ORCL),Facebook (Nasdaq:FB),Best Buy Co. (NYSE:BBY),Viacom Inc.
(Nasdaq:VIA)and Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG).

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Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst Blog:

Oracle Set to Buy Involver

Oracle Corp (Nasdaq:ORCL) is on an acquisition spree in order to expand its
social media offerings. The database application vendor recently announced
that it has agreed to buy social marketing software developer Involver Inc.
for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the
third quarter of 2012.

San Francisco, California based Involver develops marketing applications that
can be deployed exclusively on Facebook (Nasdaq:FB). The startup has a
significant clientele that includes Best Buy Co. (NYSE:BBY), Toys "R" Us Inc.
and Viacom Inc.'s (Nasdaq:VIA) MTV Networks.

Social media marketing tool providers have become prime acquisition targets
lately. This is due to the growing influence of social media such as Facebook
and Twitter on customers' lives. Marketers on a regular basis are using social
media platforms to market their brands and also interacting with existing and
prospective customers.

According to Forrester Research, advertiser spending on social media is
expected to increase at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.0% for
the period of 2011-2016. At the same time, the market for social media
management tools is expected to double to $970 million in 2016 from $389.0
million in 2012.

This staggering growth potential is attracting the likes of Oracle and Google
Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG), among others.To gain an upper hand, these large vendors
have been picking up companies, which they expect would not only expand their
product portfolios but also provide a competitive edge.

In June this year, Salesforce announced the acquisition of Buddy Media Inc.
for $689.0 million. At the same time Google acquired Meebo. In late June
Microsoft announced the acquisition of Yammer Inc. for $1.2 billion in cash.
However, Oracle has been the most aggressive of the bunch in recent times. The
Involver deal is Oracle's third social marketing buyout over the last three
months.

In May this year, Oracle acquired Vitrue for approximately $300.0 million.
Vitrue offers solutions, which marketers use to collect and collate social
interaction data from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+ and many other
social networking platforms. In June, Oracle announced the acquisition of
Collective Intellect, a social media monitoring firm.

We expect Oracle to continue to pursue strategic acquisitions of small
technology startups that are more likely to be easy to integrate along its
product lines, thereby helping it to expand customer base over the long term.
The strategic acquisitions are also expected to provide Oracle a significant
competitive edge over its peers going forward.

However, Oracle faces significant integration risks due to the rapid pace of
acquisitions within a short span of time, in our view.

We remain Neutral on a long term basis (6-12 months). Currently, Oracle has a
Zacks #3 Rank, which implies a Hold rating on a short-term basis.

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