By Angela Harmantas
A new type of software business model is increasing in popularity because it brings the company a critical source of recurring revenue. Today on Smallcappower we profile four companies that are profiting from subscription-type arrangements rather than outright sales. Also, Canadian oil sands producers promise business-as-usual despite losing barrels of money (pun intended), and we’re giving you the chance to grill a fund manager about precious metals – here’s what you need to know today:
I’ll admit, when it comes to the business of technology startups, there’s a lot that I still have to learn. I’m as curious as anyone to find out more about the “software as a service” (SaaS) business model and my initial research tells me that if a company is gathering subscribers rather than one-time customers, the SaaS model can bring in stable, recurring revenue. I can’t pretend to understand it as well as our experts so check out theiranalysis of 4 Canadian revenue generating SaaS companies. I did find this article to be helpful on understanding why SaaS appeals to investors, and The Globe and Mail wrote a piece last November that certainly painted a rosy picture for Canadian SaaS companies.
Even with oil prices dipping below US$41 on Wednesday, producers continue to pump out barrels despite losing money in the process. Yesterday Syncrude Canada Ltd., a joint venture comprising seven major global oil companies operating the country’s largest synthetic crude project, said it wouldn’t consider shutting down production even as they lose $6 per barrel. I get that business as usual calms shareholders and investors, but at what point does it become foolhardy to keep the same level of production going? Oil prices are plummeting across the globe and it’s the high-cost Canadian oil sands producers who will suffer the most.
Next Tuesday I’ll be interviewing Jon Case, portfolio manager at Sentry Investments in Toronto. Sentry manages over $18 billion in investments and runs a number of equity and sector-based funds, just to name a few; Jon’s also a regular guest on BNN. We’ll be talking primarily about the outlook for precious metals and I want to hear from you! Send me your questions at angela@smallcappower.com by Monday and hopefully we’ll get them answered.
Do you have a burning question you’d like answered by an investment expert or analyst? Let me know and I can post the answer here in the blog. Contact me by email at angela@smallcappower.com or on Twitter: @aharmantas.
