J2 Global Inc (NASDAQ: JCOM) has a diversified business portfolio in the cloud services and digital media segments, and this brings both opportunities and challenges in today's environment, according to Wedbush.The J2 Global Analyst Daniel Ives maintained an Outperform rating on J2 Global with a $110 price target. The J2 Global Thesis Exposure to small and medium businesses in the cloud services segment may pose challenges for J2 Global in the current landscape, as transactional volumes and spending on technology tools deteriorate, Ives said in a Tuesday note. (See his track record here.)This segment constitutes only 10%-15% of overall exposure, while the company's marketing tech, VoIP, endpoint security and enterprise digital platform may deliver a stronger performance, the analyst said. J2 Global's solid free cash flow position and margin profile "provides relative downside protection on valuation," he said. Referring to the potential for M&A deals, Ives said J2 Global has around $1 billion, and acquisition decisions will depend on how aggressive the company wants to get in the COVID-19 environment.The company may be aggressive in digital media, especially related to health care and gaming, the analyst said. JCOM Price Action J2 Global shares were down 2.38% at $71.47 at the time of publication Tuesday.Related Links:Benzinga's Top Upgrades, Downgrades For April 2, 2020Stocks That Hit 52-Week Lows On MondayLatest Ratings for JCOM DateFirmActionFromTo Apr 2020CitigroupMaintainsNeutral Apr 2020BarclaysInitiates Coverage OnEqual-Weight Mar 2020RBC CapitalInitiates Coverage OnSector Perform View More Analyst Ratings for JCOM View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga * GameStop's Short-Term Sales Boost To Power Down Soon, Analyst Says * Coca-Cola Faces Deteriorating Environment, But BofA Says Fundamentals Remain Solid * Uber Has Automatic 'Shock Absorber' For Falling Revenue, Analyst Says After Company's Write-Down(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Amidst all the uncertainty gripping the markets, right now, one thing remains constant: Volatility.The market pendulum is currently swinging wildly from one extreme to the other. However, in a recent note to clients, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives notes that even in times of uncertainty, fundamentals remain key.“Our investing philosophy in times of crisis is to do a bottoms up analysis and stress test the models of our top tech names/themes vs. a sensitivity in valuations. If stocks stick out with a green light based on this exercise and framework, we hand hold investors to buy these dips through this volatility, own the names for the other side of this panic, and see the forest through the trees on the fundamental drivers for the next decade in tech” Ives said.With the help of TipRanks’ Stock Screener we got the low down on 3 tech names Ives believes 'stand out' at current levels. Digging further down, it appears all three currently boast a Strong Buy consensus rating from the Street. Let’s check them out.Varonis Systems (VRNS)One of the sectors Ives is most bullish on long-term is that of cyber security. Varonis is a pioneer in data security and analytics, and its offerings include everything from securing business data, systems management, data environments and file activity tracking.Despite a 15% drop year-to-date, Varonis posted gains of 52% last year, following a series of impressive earnings reports. Ives believes there’s more to come and argues the “the results speak for themselves.”While in its latest quarterly statement, the company posted modest beats on both top and bottom line, the all important ARR (annual recurring revenue) is where Varonis displayed its most impressive figures, the metric increasing by 62% year-over-year, handily above Street expectations.Additionally, with Varonis currently transitioning to a subscription based model over perpetual licenses, the Street had high expectations, and was looking for subscriptions to be over 75% of total license revenue. Varonis beat the figure by posting an “eye popping” 82% subscription mix.Ives said, “In the numerous software business model transitions we have seen play out over the past decade, we can never remember seeing a company so quickly ramp subscription revenues in the course of a few quarters, which speaks to a massive success story so far for the company (and its investors)... We believe Varonis’ platform offers a broad range of features and unique functionalities that differentiates it from traditional data security offerings and continues to be in the sweet spot of purchasing cycles which is starting to resonate with customers in our opinion heading into the next 12 to 18 months.”Ives keeps his Outperform rating intact along with a $105 price target, which implies a possible upside of 94% in the coming months. (To watch Ives’ track record, click here)The Street is on the Wedbush analyst’s side. 10 Buys and 2 Hold ratings given to the data security specialist over the last three months add up to a Strong Buy consensus rating. At $100.27, the upside potential comes in at a healthy 85%. (See Varonis stock analysis on TipRanks)J2 Global Communications (JCOM)Cloud computing is another sector Ives sees as expanding in the new decade, which brings us nicely to J2 Global. The Los Angeles based company provides internet services through two different segments: business cloud services and digital media.J2’s share price is down by 18.5% year-to-date, but it’s worth bearing in mind that it notched an all-time-high on January 21. If things pan out as Ives forecasts, J2 Global will be reaching new heights in the year ahead.Since launching its digital division in 2012 with the purchase of digital publisher Ziff Davis, J2 has been aggressive on the acquisition front, and the company now boasts a portfolio of over 40 brands, including PCMag, Mashable, and Everyday Health, amongst others.Ives argues JCOM has been a “misunderstood story” by the Street. In the past, seen by many investors as a legacy fax player (e-Fax) and serial M&A machine, with low growth prospects and high margins. But the analyst maintains that with aggressive M&A, a disciplined cash flow machine, and a number of strategic initiatives possibly to come, JCOM could see further “multiple expansion and growth.”Ives said, “We reiterate our belief that the merits of this story are gaining further steam under the leadership of CEO Vivek Shah as his digital media strategy continues to take hold on the heels of stronger subscription revenue and a continued improvement in display advertising. In our opinion the underlying acquisitive growth ($550 million convert adds to M&A war chest) strategy of diversifying its core services beyond fax into cloud and media is the key ingredient in its formula for success and will continue to be the linchpin going forward as evidenced again this quarter.”Ives puts a $110 price target on JCOM to go along with his Outperform rating. Should the target be met over the next 12 months, investors stand to pocket a 67% gain.What does the Street have in mind for the internet services provider? J2’s Strong Buy consensus rating breaks down into 6 Buy ratings and 2 Holds. The average price target comes in at $109.14, indicating potential upside of 67%. (See JCOM's price targets and analyst ratings on TipRanks)Nuance Communications (NUAN)Staying in cloud based services, we come to Nuance Communications, a company providing speech recognition software and artificial intelligence solutions. Despite the overall volatility in the markets, Nuance has been holding up well, among the few names to stay in the green in 2020.The company’s latest quarterly statement was a strong one with beats across the board.Revenue of $418.3 million beat the estimate by $12 million, while EPS of $0.27 beat the Street’s call by $0.03. Nuance’s all important cloud-based speech platform for physicians, Dragon Medical Cloud saw 51% revenue growth from the same period last year.Nuance has also formed a partnership with Microsoft. In October the two announced an initiative to help reduce burnout among clinicians with the delivery of ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) technologies. According to the company’s press release these will “power the exam room of the future where clinical documentation writes itself.”Ives believes that following a bumpy ride in the last decade, new CEO Mark Benjamin has engineered one of the more “impressive strategic and fundamental turnarounds” he has seen in decades.Ives said, “We believe the underlying visibility increasing in the model from the key healthcare initiatives along with healthy profitability/cash flow lay the groundwork for a strategic organic growth reacceleration story over the coming years that should result in a further re-rating of the stock as the Street recognizes the "new and improved Nuance" story.”Ives reiterates an Outperform on Nuance along with a $27 price target. Investors stand to take home a 82% gain, should the figure be met over the next 12 months.Out on the Street, Nuance’s Strong Buy consensus rating is based solely on Buys - 5, in fact. The average price target is $23.80 and suggests the analysts see a further 59% added to the share price over the coming year. (See Nuance stock analysis at TipRanks)

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JCOM vs. COUP: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Internet information and services company J2 Global, Inc. (Nasdaq: JCOM) announced that it completed two acquisitions in the first quarter of 2020.

j2 Global (JCOM) delivered earnings and revenue surprises of 0.00% and 0.12%, respectively, for the quarter ended March 2020. Do the numbers hold clues to what lies ahead for the stock?

J2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: JCOM) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020.

j2 Global (JCOM) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

Investors are still uncertain just where the stock market is headed. Essentially, there are two competing opinions right now. One says that we’re just in a bear market rally, and that the worst is yet to come. The other thesis states that the current rally is real, and will mature into a new bull cycle as the economy restarts in the second half.Writing from JPMorgan, Marko Kolanovic, the investment bank's quant analyst, holds fast to that optimistic view. Kolanovic believes that epidemiological data suggests we are past the worst of the coronavirus spread, justifying the lifting of social and business restrictions. And that will open up economic activity, which will then find stimulus from low Fed interest rates and increased government ‘pump priming’ spending.Kolanovic sees the stimulus policies as more important than Q1’s weak earnings, writing, “The combined suppression of the risk free rate and credit spreads by the Fed likely has a bigger positive impact on equity valuation, compared with the negative impact of the temporary earnings loss.”Kolanovic is not the only JPM analyst who sees potential in the stock markets. The firm’s equity analysts have been working overtime to find the stocks best positioned to lead a potential bull rally. We’ve used the TipRanks database to pull up three of their stock picks, to find out why the JPM experts are tapping them for over 30% growth.KAR Auction Services (KAR)The first stock on our list belongs to a company in the second-hand vehicle market. KAR Auction Services operates a marketplace – both online and in the physical world – for used vehicles. The company sells to both individual and business buyers, people looking for a car to drive and garages looking to source parts for the shop floor. KAR sold over 3.7 million vehicles in 2019, bringing in $2.8 billion in auction revenue.KAR shares have been hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic. The combination of economic shutdowns and social lockdowns have not just put a hold on car sales – they have simply reduced the need for vehicles.Q1 earnings showed a 6% reduction in revenue, to $645.5 million, and a collapse in net income to $2.8 million from $15.3 million in the year-ago quarter. As noted, these steep reductions are attributable to the effects of the pandemic response. KAR shares are still down 38% year-to-date, badly underperforming the broader markets.However, JPM’s analyst Ryan Brinkman believes the current downturn is the time to buy in to KAR shares. The low price offers an attractive point of entry, and the stock has a clear path forward when economic activity resumes. Brinkman writes, “We believe that once stay-at-home orders are lifted and the situation moves from being one of a unique public health crisis to that of a more familiar economic downturn, aftermarket end-markets, including auctions, will earn their reputation for resiliency. People will drive again substantially similar to before, and volumes will return to salvage auctions.”Along with that optimistic assessment, Brinkman upgrades KAR from Neutral to Buy. His $19 price target suggests a strong 46% upside potential in the next 12 months. (To watch Brinkman’s track record, click here)Overall, KAR shares hold a Moderate Buy rating from the analyst consensus, which breaks down into 4 Buy reviews and 3 Holds. While the analyst corps is somewhat divided, their average price target is in line with Brinkman’s. (See KAR stock analysis at TipRanks)J2 Global Communications (JCOM)Next up is an internet communications company. J2 Global owns a diverse portfolio of 40+ online content brands, including IGN, Mashable, PCMag, BabyCenter, Everyday Health among others. In addition, J2 also runs a Cloud Service business, offering eFax and eVoice among other online services. The company boasts nearly $1.5 billion in annual revenue, and saw Q4 earnings rise to $2.19 per share.The Q4 earnings were the highest in two years, and capped a full year of rising earnings. Q4 is typically J2’s strongest quarter, while Q1 is typically the weakest, so the $1.35 estimate for Q1 earnings is less indicative of poor performance than one may think at first. On an important note, that Q1 estimate represents a modest increase of 1.5% year-over-year.JCOM shares’ price performance has roughly mirrored the broader market’s during the past three months. JCOM lost 35% in the initial slide, and has risen 21% from its trough.Initiating coverage of the stock for JPM, Cory Carpenter set a Buy rating, with a $105 price target that indicates room for 32% upside growth. (To watch Carpenter’s track record, click here)Supporting his stance, Carpenter notes the company’s strong Cloud position, writing, “We believe Cloud Services is well positioned to capitalize on growing security & privacy needs, with bundling & cross-sell potential, and we like that Digital Media monetizes through multiple rents—ads, subs, & affiliate commerce.”Key drivers for Carpenter's bull thesis include: "1) Total growth strategy drives sustainable growth, with $1B+ capital to deploy [...] 2) Diversified portfolio of leading Cloud Services & Digital Media brands. [...] 3) Strong FCF generator with M&A flywheel. JCOM prioritizes FCF, not growth at all costs, which it largely redeploys into M&A. JCOM’s 40% EBITDA margin is driven by Cloud Services’ ~50% margin and Digital Media’s ~35% margin."Carpenter is broadly in line with the rest of Wall Street, which has assigned JCOM more "buy" ratings than "holds" over the past three month -- and sees the stock growing about 26% over the next 12 months, to a target price of $101.30. (See J2 Global stock analysis on TipRanks)Montage Resources Corporation (MR)Last on our list is a small-cap hydrocarbon exploration and production company. Montage is based in the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, where it operates natural gas and crude oil drilling wells. Montage holds over 195,000 undeveloped core acres, and operates 325 actively producing horizontal wells. The value of the company’s holdings is clear from its stock performance; in the last three months, while the markets have generally slid into a bear cycle, MR shares have gained 55%.Even with the COVID-19 epidemic and the collapse of oil markets, MR was able to increase its net daily production during Q1, reaching 6610.7 MMcfe. This was above both company guidance and analyst estimates. Quarterly income of $62.7 million also beat the expectations. The company has curtailed some production in low-margin crude oil, to compensate for the soft oil market prices.Analyst Arun Jayaram, reviewing MR for JPM, upgraded his stance on the shares from Neutral to Buy. His $8 price target implies a 43% upside growth potential for the coming year. (To watch Jayaram’s track record, click here)Jayaram is clear on his reasons for upgrading this stock. He says of MR, “We expect the market to largely look through negative estimate revision risk to 2020 forecasts to the emerging bullish natural gas narrative in 2021… Meanwhile, the company’s FCF yield of 23% leads the peer group and is well above the peer group average of 10%...”The Strong Buy analyst consensus on MR shares is based on 5 recent reviews, including 4 Buys and a single Hold. The company’s strong natural gas production is tangible asset, and its enviable free cash flow is attractive for investors. Shares are selling for $5.59, while the average price target of $6.22 suggests a modest upside of 1.6%. (See MR stock analysis at TipRanks)To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Scott Turicchi, president and CFO. As the operator mentioned, I'm Scott Turicchi, president and CFO of J2 Global; and I'm joined by our CEO, Vivek Shah.

Q1 2020 j2 Global Inc Earnings Call

J2 Global, Inc. will release its first quarter 2020 earnings at 6:00PM ET on Monday, May 11, 2020

Today we'll evaluate J2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:JCOM) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea...

It hasn't been the best quarter for J2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:JCOM) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 10...

j2 Global's (JCOM) first-quarter 2020 results reflect solid growth in Cloud Services and Digital Media segments. However, the company scraps 2020 guidance on coronavirus woes.

Coronavirus is probably the 1 concern in investors' minds right now. It should be. On February 27th we published an article with the title Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW. We predicted that a US recession is imminent and US stocks will go down by at least 20% in the next 3-6 […]

Use Consensus interoperability platform's On-Demand Patient Query for free during the COVID-19 pandemic - enabling access to patient information.

Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is...

Medisafe, a leading digital therapeutics company providing medication management solutions for patients across the healthcare continuum, today announced a partnership with the Everyday Health Group, a recognized leader in patient and provider education and services. Executive leadership from both organizations envision a future that combines healthcare technology and targeted content to support patients on their mobile devices as well as the web.

Leading Internet information and services company J2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:JCOM), announced its participation in two investor conferences in May.