(BarCap) Ingenico : Dwg from OverWeight to EqualWeight PT cut by 33% to €80

Tough decisions ahead
Our detailed analysis paints a tough outlook for Ingenico and strategic choices need to be made to hit 2020 targets: i) In Terminals – lower unit growth and competitor catch-up will likely result in more price-led competition, especially as the mix moves more to emerging markets. We forecast high-single-digit unit growth but just midsingle- digit revenue growth and thus are below 2020 guidance. ii) In Payment Services – Ingenico will have to decide on its position in the value chain and its route to become a true global omni-channel provider. To achieve its goal of high-teens growth within ePayments it will have to step up innovation either via R&D or M&A. This will require bold strategic decision-making and in its absence growth will remain sub-par based on our estimates. The surprise US EMV slowdown caught us out and the stock is therefore largely reflecting our scenario. We lower our EPS estimates by -16% in 2017/18E and reduce our price target to €80 (from €120), placing the shares on 17x/15x 2017/18E P/E and 10x/9x EV/EBITDA - downgrade to Equal Weight.

>>> What to look at today - 10th of October 2016

Shanghai Composite rallies after week-long break; Donald Trump battles fallout of lewd audio leak in 2nd presidential debate as Mexican Peso spikes higher. Samsung Electronics falls over 3% after halting production of Galaxy Note 7; AT&T and other telecoms suspended exchanges of the device after replacement models also caught fire. JPY initially falls after BOJ Gov Kuroda says rates can be cut even further, adds JGB purchases can be cut significantly once inflation target is reached. Deutsche Bank CEO still in talks with the DOJ; No deal has been reached.

Nikkei-0.23% Hang Seng -0.42% CSI +1.04% Shanghai +1.21%

Eur$ 1.1181 CNH 6.7097 CNY 6.7003 JPY 102.96 GBP 1.2404 CHF 0.9785 RUB 62.2106 WTI$ 49.36 (-0.90%)

S&P +0.22% EuroStoxx +0.14% Dax +0.13% FTSE +0.19% SMI +0.05%

Macro :
- German States Want Combustion Engines Banned From 2030: Spiegel
- Germany Produces Too Much Energy, Austria Minister Tells Spiegel
- U.K. Businesses Call on May to Avoid Loss of EU Access: FT
- ECB’s Draghi Said to Tell G-20 No Problem W/ Bank Solvency: Rtrs
- El-Erian: BOJ Somewhere Between Ineffective, Counterproductive
- Germany Plans Steps to Attract Banks Shifting From London: FT
- German Diesel Car Sales Fell to 5-Year Low in September: Bild

Keep an eye on :
- ABI BB : AB Inbev Says 58.7% of SAB Shares Elect Cash Consideration
- ABI BB : FT : Hard work on AB InBev mega deal begins now
- ABN NA : Dutch Govt Keeps Preference to Reduce Holding in ABN Amro: ANP
- AI FP : Air Liquide Completes Refinancing of Airgas With Rights Issue
- AIR FP : Boeing Wins Deal From Qatar Airways That May Reach ~$18.6b
- AF FP : Air France-Klm Sept. Total Group Passengers Rise 2.8% to 8.5m
- AAPL US : AT&T Says No Longer Exchanging New Samsung Note 7s at This Time
- AAPL US : U.K. Said to Ban Apple Watches From Cabinet Meetings: Telegraph
- ALV GY : Matthew May Have Caused $4b-$6b in Insured Losses: CoreLogic
- ATL IM : Atlantia May Sell About 15% in Autostrade: CEO Tells Messaggero ( bought it in 2003 )
- AYA US : Amaya Said to Get Interest From William Hill, GVC, PE: Reuters
- BAYN GY : Bayer Won’t Push GMO Seeds Into Europe, CEO Tells Sueddeutsche
- BMPS IM : Ex-Italy Minister Preps Alternative Monte Paschi Plan: Reuters
- AM FP : +ve article in Barrons pushing defense stock Dassault Aviation mentionned
- DL NA : Delta Lloyd wants to sell for not less than EUR 3bn, EUR 6.50 per share, Het Financieele Dagblad
- DL NA : NN Should Raise Delta Lloyd Bid at Least EU600m, FD Says
- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank Should Sell Further Assets, El-Erian Tells HB
- DBK GY : Qatar Said Unlikely to Raise Stake in Deutsche Bank: Reuters
- EDF FP : EDF Energies Nouvelles Plans Brazil Solar-Energy Park: Figaro
- GIVN VX : Givaudan 3Q Sales Meet Estimates, Repeats 2020 Targets, -->3Q LFL Growth ‘Light,’ Shares May Underperform: Exane
- GS US : Goldman May Move 2,000 Jobs From London on Brexit: Sunday Times
- LUN DC : Lundbeck Wins FDA Approval for Carnexiv in Epilepsy Patients
- MONC IM : Canada Goose preparing for IPO - looking for $2bil valuation - WSJ
- COX FP : Nicox Says FDA Won’t Approve Eye Drug Because of Factory Problem
- NOVN VX : Novartis Combo Cuts Cancer Progression or Death Risk
- NOVOB DC : Novo Nordisk Fails to Win FDA Approval for Faster-Acting Insulin
- ORA FP : Orange Belgium Seeks 10% of Nation’s TV Market, CEO Tells Soir
- RNO FP : Renault Working on Low-Cost Electric Car, Les Echos Says
- RYA LN : Ryanair Cancels Greece Flights, Wants EU/Greek Govt Intervention
- SAB LN : AB Inbev Says 58.7% of SAB Shares Elect Cash Consideration
- CRM US : Salesforce Shareholders Opposed Bidding for Twitter: NYT
- SOON VX : Sonova Won’t Buy Another Retail Chain, CEO Tells NZZ am Sonntag
- SHP LN : +ve article in the Barron's, Baxalta could help boost shp share by 25%
- SYNN VX : ChemChina Subsidiary's Acquisition of Syngenta Hits Snag
- STM FP : STMicroelectronics Raised to Outperform at Baird, PT $11
- HO FP : +ve article in Barrons pushing defense stock Thales mentionned
- TKA GY : Tata May Merge European Arm With Thyssenkrupp: Sunday Times
- TSLA US : Musk: Not Necessary for Tesla, SolarCity to Raise Equity in 4Q
- TWTR US : Salesforce Shareholders Opposed Bidding for Twitter: NYT
- UBSG VX : Too Early to Tell If UBS Will Move London Jobs, Zeltner Tells SZ
- UCG IM : UniCredit Said to Sound Out Bank Interest in FinecoBank: Reuters
- UNI IM : Unipol Bank Considers Merger With Larger Italian Rival: Il Sole
- FR FP : Wheego and Valeo get California road driverless testing permits - TechCrunch
- VOW3 GY : VW Has Possible Buyer for Its Biggest Corporate Jet: Frankfurter (Airbus 319 but still have 9 Dassault)
- WMH LN : William Hill Deal With Amaya May Be Close: Sunday Times
- WHL LN : William Hill, Playtech Top European Gambling Picks at Deutsche

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 10th of October 2016

>>> Up
*LADBROKES RAISED TO BUY VS HOLD AT DEUTSCHE BANK
*ORPEA RAISED TO ADD VS REDUCE AT ALPHAVALUE
*PROSIEBENSAT.1 RAISED TO BUY AT KEPLER CHEUVREUX
*RWE RAISED TO HOLD VS REDUCE AT HSBC

>>> Down
*DATALOGIC CUT TO HOLD VS BUY AT BERENBERG
*FERRAGAMO CUT TO NEUTRAL VS BUY AT GOLDMAN
*FRESENIUS MEDICAL CUT TO HOLD VS BUY AT BANKHAUS LAMPE
*INGENICO CUT TO EQUALWEIGHT VS OVERWEIGHT AT BARCLAYS
*NN CUT TO MARKET PERFORM VS OUTPERFORM AT KBW

>>> PT Change


>>> Initiation
*AB FOODS RESUMED AT MARKET PERFORM AT BERNSTEIN; PT 2,800P
*ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV REINSTATED BUY AT GOLDMAN, PT EU135
*CITYFIBRE RATED NEW OUTPERFORM AT MACQUARIE; PT 93P
*GVC RATED NEW BUY AT DEUTSCHE BANK; PT 850P
*INNOGY RATED NEW HOLD AT HSBC, PT EU39
*PADDY POWER RATED NEW BUY AT DEUTSCHE BANK; PT 10,500P
*PLAYTECH RATED NEW BUY AT DEUTSCHE BANK; PT 1,175P

>>> Call
>> Stock
*STATOIL ADDED TO CITI FOCUS LIST EUROPE

>>> Asian Update

Asia Mid-Session Market Update: Shanghai Composite rallies after week-long break; Donald Trump battles fallout of lewd audio leak in 2nd presidential debate as Mexican Peso spikes higher

***Asia Notes/Observations***
- Leaked recording of lewd Donald Trump comments about women in 2005 bolsters US equity futures, as MXN also surges 1.5% past MXN19 vs USD. 2nd US presidential debate widely deemed a better outcome for Trump than the 1st encounter
- Samsung Electronics falls over 3% after halting production of Galaxy Note 7; AT&T and other telecoms suspended exchanges of the device after replacement models also caught fire.
- China returns after a week-long holiday with a catch-up rally; PBoC Gov Zhou claims China financial system is healthy and the risks of rising bad loans are low.
- JPY initially falls after BOJ Gov Kuroda says rates can be cut even further, adds JGB purchases can be cut significantly once inflation target is reached.
- Overall volatility compressed with Japan and Hong Kong markets out for holiday.
- Deutsche Bank CEO still in talks with the DOJ; No deal has been reached.

***Equity Futures (00:00ET): S&P e-mini +0.3%, Dax +0.1%, FTSE100 +0.1%***

***FX / Commodities ranges (00:00ET):***
- EUR 1.1180-1.1200; JPY 102.80-103.300; AUD 0.7585-0.7610, NZD 0.7155-0.7180
- Gold +1.0% at 1,264/oz; Oil -0.8% at $49.39/brl; Copper +0.4% at $2.17/lb

***Asian Equity Markets (00:00ET)***
- Nikkei closed, Hang Seng closed, Shanghai Composite +1.3%, ASX +0.1%, +1.3%, Kospi -0.1%

***Key economic data:***
- (NZ) New Zealand Sept ANZ Aug non-tradable inflation m/m: +0.2% v +0.1% prior; Y/Y: 2.1%
- (US) SEPT UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 5.0% V 4.9%E; Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 62.9% v 62.8% prior (Friday)
- (US) SEPT CHANGE IN NONFARM PAYROLLS: 156K V 172KE (Friday)

***Speakers / Press / Fixed Income***
China:
- (CN) China PBoC Gov Zhou: Risks of bad loans are controllable despite their rise; banks have sufficient capital to cope - China Daily
- (CN) China Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM): Consumption contributed 73.4% of China's economic growth in H1, up 12.5pts from 2015-end - Chinese press
- (CN) PBOC SETS YUAN MID POINT AT 6.7008 V 6.6778 PRIOR; weakest Yuan setting since Sept 2010

Japan:
(JP) BOJ Gov Kuroda: BOJ may put off forecast for reaching 2% inflation target; To keep or strengthen easing for months and years.
(JP) BOJ Gov Kuroda: difficult to achieve balanced economic growth with monetary policy alone; could cut JGB purchases significantly if we reach our inflation target; could increase JGB purchases if inflation remains below target; will not hesitate to cut rates if needed

Australia:
- (AU) CitiGroup: Australia economy is in "bust" territory for the 2nd time in two decades, but that doesn't point to hard landing - SMH
- (AU) Australia Treasurer Morrison: Not seeing much appetite at RBA for further rate cuts - financial press

***Asia movers***
- Consumer discretionary: Michael Hill International MHJ.AU -0.3% (quarterly result); Juneyao Airlines Co 603885.CN +0.6% (alliance)
- Financials: Noble Group NOBL.SG +3.7% (asset divesture); BT Investment Management BTT.AU +8.1% (Sept AUM); McMillan Shakespeare MMS.AU +5.6% (unit order); Investa Office Fund IOF.AU -1.8% (UBS cuts to Sell); QBE Insurance Group Limited QBE.AU +0.9% (Bell Potter cuts to Hold)
- Industrials: UGL UGL.AU +47.9% (CIMIC plans for acquisition); Downer EDI DOW.AU -2.1% (Deutsche Bank cuts to Hold)
- Technology: Samsung Electronics 005930.KR -3.1 % (Galaxy Note 7 output being halted for sales and exchanges by several providers); Lite-On Technology Corp. 2301.TW +0.8% (Sept result);
- Materials: Ramelius Resources RMS.AU +2.2% (Q1 result); Saracen Mineral SAR.AU +3.1% (gold rises)

>>> What to look at this Week End - 8th & 9th of October 2016

Weekly Performance
Dow -0.37% S&P -0.67% Nasdaq -0.37% Russell -1.21% Brazil +4.70% Nikkei +2.49% Hang Seng +2.38% CSI Closed Shanghai Closed EuroStoxx -0.06% FTSE +2.10% CAC+0.04% Dax+0.82% Ibex -1.77% MIB +0.03% SMI -0.18% WTI $49.81 (+3.25%) Gold 1,257 (-4.47%) Silver -8.49% Copper -1.79%
US Gets "Goldilocks" Jobs Report; Brexit Redux and ECB Tapering Are Latest Worries for Europe October trade kicked off in an orderly manner but as the week progressed many of the same underlying cross currents returned to the surface resulting in market swings. WTI crude futures gained a foothold above $50 for the first time since early July helped by generally improved ISM data globally and large declines in weekly crude inventory figures. The British Pound continued to fall to fresh 3 decade lows largely on the backs of tough talk from various European officials surrounding Brexit. The move culminated in what many referred to as a "flash crash" into the Asian trading session on Friday. Cable trades briefly printed below 1.20, down some 10 big figures before rebounding into the US open.

Macro :
- German States Want Combustion Engines Banned From 2030: Spiegel
- Germany Produces Too Much Energy, Austria Minister Tells Spiegel
- U.K. Businesses Call on May to Avoid Loss of EU Access: FT
- ECB’s Draghi Said to Tell G-20 No Problem W/ Bank Solvency: Rtrs
- El-Erian: BOJ Somewhere Between Ineffective, Counterproductive
- Germany Plans Steps to Attract Banks Shifting From London: FT

Keep an eye on :
- ABI BB : AB Inbev Says 58.7% of SAB Shares Elect Cash Consideration
- ABI BB : FT : Hard work on AB InBev mega deal begins now
- ABN NA : Dutch Govt Keeps Preference to Reduce Holding in ABN Amro: ANP
- AI FP : Air Liquide Completes Refinancing of Airgas With Rights Issue
- AIR FP : Boeing Wins Deal From Qatar Airways That May Reach ~$18.6b
- AAPL US : AT&T Said to Consider Stopping All Samsung Note 7 Sales
- ALV GY : Matthew May Have Caused $4b-$6b in Insured Losses: CoreLogic
- ATL IM : Atlantia May Sell About 15% in Autostrade: CEO Tells Messaggero ( bought it in 2003 )
- AYA US : Amaya Said to Get Interest From William Hill, GVC, PE: Reuters
- BAYN GY : Bayer Won’t Push GMO Seeds Into Europe, CEO Tells Sueddeutsche
- BMPS IM : Ex-Italy Minister Preps Alternative Monte Paschi Plan: Reuters
- AM FP : +ve article in Barrons pushing defense stock Dassault Aviation mentionned
- DL NA : Delta Lloyd wants to sell for not less than EUR 3bn, EUR 6.50 per share, Het Financieele Dagblad
- DL NA : NN Should Raise Delta Lloyd Bid at Least EU600m, FD Says
- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank Should Sell Further Assets, El-Erian Tells HB
- DBK GY : Qatar Said Unlikely to Raise Stake in Deutsche Bank: Reuters
- GS US : Goldman May Move 2,000 Jobs From London on Brexit: Sunday Times
- LUN DC : Lundbeck Wins FDA Approval for Carnexiv in Epilepsy Patients
- MONC IM : Canada Goose preparing for IPO - looking for $2bil valuation - WSJ
- NOVN VX : Novartis Combo Cuts Cancer Progression or Death Risk
- NOVOB DC : Novo Nordisk Fails to Win FDA Approval for Faster-Acting Insulin
- ORA FP : Orange Belgium Seeks 10% of Nation’s TV Market, CEO Tells Soir
- RYA LN : Ryanair Cancels Greece Flights, Wants EU/Greek Govt Intervention
- SAB LN : AB Inbev Says 58.7% of SAB Shares Elect Cash Consideration
- CRM US : Salesforce Shareholders Opposed Bidding for Twitter: NYT
- SOON VX : Sonova Won’t Buy Another Retail Chain, CEO Tells NZZ am Sonntag
- SHP LN : +ve article in the Barron's, Baxalta could help boost shp share by 25%
- HO FP : +ve article in Barrons pushing defense stock Thales mentionned
- TKA GY : Tata May Merge European Arm With Thyssenkrupp: Sunday Times
- TSLA US : Musk: Not Necessary for Tesla, SolarCity to Raise Equity in 4Q
- TWTR US : Salesforce Shareholders Opposed Bidding for Twitter: NYT
- UBSG VX : Too Early to Tell If UBS Will Move London Jobs, Zeltner Tells SZ
- UCG IM : UniCredit Said to Sound Out Bank Interest in FinecoBank: Reuters
- UNI IM : Unipol Bank Considers Merger With Larger Italian Rival: Il Sole
- FR FP : Wheego and Valeo get California road driverless testing permits - TechCrunch
- VOW3 GY : VW Has Possible Buyer for Its Biggest Corporate Jet: Frankfurter (Airbus 319 but still have 9 Dassault)
- VOW3 GY : VW Lawyers Say CEO Didn’t Know of Diesel Manipulations: Bild
- WMH LN : William Hill Deal With Amaya May Be Close: Sunday Times

FT : Hard work on AB InBev mega deal begins now

Hard work on AB InBev mega deal begins now
Takeover of SABMiller involves major integration challenges

Anheuser-Busch InBev will wake up to the reality of its “Dream Big” mantra on Monday when the Stella Artois brewer’s £79bn takeover of smaller rival SABMiller completes, and the hard graft of delivering the returns promised to shareholders begins.

The combination of the world’s two largest brewers has taken a gruelling 13 months to conclude. The newly enlarged AB InBev begins trading on Tuesday as the world’s fifth-largest consumer products company with annual sales of $55bn, up from $44bn before the takeover.
That makes AB InBev bigger than Coca-Cola but smaller than Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Unilever in terms of revenues.
Though AB InBev’s purchase of Britain’s SAB is sizeable — it ranks as the largest takeover of a British company, and the third largest acquisition ever — it is just the latest in a long series of deals by the Belgian brewer over the past 27 years.
These deals have transformed AB InBev from a domestic Brazilian drinks maker once called Brahma into the world’s biggest brewer, now selling one in four beers around the world and taking 45 per cent of the industry’s profits.
In the process, the three Brazilian shareholders who have been the driving force behind this empire building — Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira — have become billionaires.
Analysts say AB InBev can look to SAB’s presence in emerging markets, especially Africa, to provide much needed growth, but caution that integrating the UK company is likely to be more challenging compared with previous takeovers.
Alicia Forry, analyst at Liberum, says: “AB InBev needed this deal. The outlook for AB InBev profit growth [without another takeover] over the medium term is muted as the US remains sluggish, Latin America is slowing and synergies on previous deals are running out.”
AB InBev can point to a successful record of integrating the companies it has bought, and extracting large-scale cost-savings.
This has helped to raise the company’s profit margins to the highest in the industry. At the level of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, the company’s margins have risen from 26 per cent in 2004 to 38.6 per cent last year, according to analysts at Jefferies.
AB InBev’s priority is to slash the debt it has taken on to finance the SAB takeover. Its net debt after completion of the deal will more than double to $100bn, which equates to a hefty 4.5 times ebitda, according to estimates by Liberum analysts. This would be well above the 2 times ebitda that the company says is its optimal capital structure.

Despite the high debt, Moody’s has maintained AB InBev’s investment grade rating, citing the company’s “strong profitability and vast and diverse franchise”.
Over the past decade the company’s total shareholder return has been 492 per cent, outflanked in the brewing and spirits industry only by SAB itself, which has returned 508 per cent, say Bernstein analysts.
SAB is the most complex business AB InBev has bought so far, with operations spread across 70 countries, mostly in emerging markets. AB InBev operates in 26 countries, with just two — Brazil and the US — accounting for almost half its sales.
Its previous targets have tended to be regionally focused, which has made them easier to integrate, such as Anheuser Busch, the Budweiser brewer in the US, and Modelo the Corona brewer in Mexico.
There is also the danger of a culture clash, given AB InBev’s highly centralised approach, which is different from SAB’s more devolved style.
Robert Ottenstein, analyst at Evercore ISI, says this will be a test for AB InBev. “AB InBev fashions itself as a real life school for the development of world-class business managers: executives who can step into any situation, anywhere in the world and drive results,” he says. “Such an approach is seen as transcending cultures and facilitating the integration of diverse businesses.”
Despite the challenges, most analysts and investors expect AB InBev to surpass the $1.4bn of annual savings that it has promised from the SAB takeover in four years, at a one-off cost of $900m.
This $1.4bn target equates to 13 per cent of SAB’s net sales (after taking into account the disposal of SAB assets, including Peroni and Grolsch beers). It is at the lower end of a range of 12 to 21 per cent that AB InBev has achieved in previous deals, say the Jefferies analysts.
As part of the cost-cutting drive, 5,500 jobs will be lost — or 3 per cent of the combined workforce. AB InBev expects 30 per cent of the cost savings to come from shutting overlapping regional offices, 25 per cent from using its increased clout to drive down the price of raw materials and packaging, and the rest, broadly, from higher brewing and distribution efficiencies, and productivity improvements.
However, AB InBev has already acknowledged it will be hard to cut many costs in Africa, a continent where it barely has a presence. It has made job commitments in South Africa to help secure regulatory approval for the SAB takeover.
Yet Africa is the metric against which the success of the takeover is likely to be judged in future. Last year, the world beer market fell in terms of volumes sold by 1 per cent — but Africa grew by 3 per cent, according to Plato Logic, a consultancy.
As Carlos Brito, AB InBev’s chief executive, said in August: “This combination is all about accelerating revenue growth. And one region that will drive much of that growth is Africa.”

(TechCrunch) The method in Salesforce’s M&A madness

The method in Salesforce’s M&A madness

Salesforce has been on a shopping spree this year, spending in the neighborhood of $5-6 billion on 10 companies. That’s why it was interesting to hear company president, vice chairman and COO, Keith Block talk about what they look for in an acquisition target at a press conference at Dreamforce this week. This is particularly true in the context of rumors that Salesforce was interested in buying Twitter.
First of all, it’s worth noting that most Salesforce purchases this year and over the years have typically been under $1 billion. The notable exception was the $2.8 billion the company spent for Demandware in June and the $2.5 billion it spent to buy ExactTarget in 2013. A more comfortable level appears to be in the $100 – $300 million range (although the company spent $750 million to buy Quip last summer and a similar total amount to get the ad tech company Krux this week).
But there is more to a buying decision than purely just money — and this is worth keeping in mind in the context of a possible Twitter deal. Block reiterated something that he said last year at the Dreamforce press conference — that Salesforce always looks at M&A activity in the context of the customer, and how the purchase will drive their relationship with their customers.
That said, he noted they do not do M&A willy-nilly. They have a methodology and a list of companies they could be interested in at any given time, one which they are constantly updating. To get on the list, they look at a number of different criteria and balance what the target company could bring to Salesforce (and its customers), and the possible risk of buying the company.
“We look at culture. Will it be a good cultural fit? Is it good product fit? Is there talent? Is there financial value? What are the risks of assimilating the company into our company,” Block explained.
He said once you acquire the company, you then have to balance integration versus innovation. You’re buying the company for the technology, and you don’t want to quash all of the reasons you are spending the money to bring it into the fold. At the same time, there has to be some level of integration within the organization at large.

“If you drive growth and experimentation, you might not get leverage into the installed base. If you push too hard on integration you get cost savings, but you might hurt innovation,” Block explained.
If you look at Quip as an example, Salesforce obviously sees Quip as a strategic asset or it wouldn’t have bought it, but the company continues to operate independently with customers outside of Salesforce. At the same time, it has begun to build integration points from Quip into the Salesforce platform. So you can see the balance between integration and innovation right there.
As for Twitter, looking at the buying process Block outlined, it makes it appear even less likely that Salesforce would leave its purchase-price comfort zone. Sure, all that real-time data is a tantalizing target, especially for a company pushing artificial intelligence, but the price has to be right, the fit has to be right, and it’s not clear it would be, or if it would be worth the significant financial risk.
This has to be part of standard on-going internal discussion at Salesforce as it looks at any acquisition target, and it would seem business discipline would require they stay true to that approach, regardless of the company they are looking at.