For a consumer-dependent company like MasterCard, 2009 was a year of surprisingly solid results.
That's what happened when consumers weren't spending. Now there are signs that wallets may be ready to open again.
.gif)
With the company's success, it's little surprise that shares have run up from $119 (when investors panicked, in the belief that consumers would never spend again) to $230.
Amedisys
The stocks of even the best health-care companies suffered during a tumultuous year of reform debates and tea parties.
Amedisys was no exception. Its shares slid by 9% this year even as its profits grew 63% in the first three quarters of 2009. This despite the fact that its business -- providing nurses for patients in their own homes and running hospices -- is part of a sector projected to nearly double to $51 billion by 2016.
With an aging population ever more in need of its services, Amedisys seems poised to thrive, and its shares should recover, no matter what happens in Congress.
SalesForce
The popularity of "software as a service" is white-hot these days, and no provider is more identified with the business of renting software via the Internet (rather than selling and installing it on a company's servers) than Salesforce.com.
"Not only is that cost-benefit [equation] great in a weak economy," he says, "but as more companies use Salesforce and other software-as-service providers, this will become the standard model for companies with business software needs."
Salesforce.com has lured in giant clients, including American Express, Avon, and Motorola. And the once-tiny outfit signed up 4,700 new customers during the last quarter, raising its total to 67,900.
Credit -cnn, -beaconhealth, -thelatestwebservices
No comments:
Post a Comment