| | WHERE IS F5 Networks, Inc.?: LABOR PRODUCTIVITY AND FINANCIAL COMPETITIVENESS BENCHMARKS PUBLISHED San Diego -- – ICON Group International Ltd. today released two of the most comprehensive studies to date on labor productivity and vertical gap analysis benchmarks for F5 Networks, Inc. (NAS: FFIV). The Report has benchmarked F5 Networks, Inc. against competing firms in the Prepackaged Software industry worldwide—going beyond traditional methods of company benchmarking. The results are two specialized reports: (1) global financial benchmarks using common-size statement ratios (vertical analysis), and (2) labor-productivity and utilization measures collected across borders. Parker notes, “With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of entry barriers, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company’s financial indicators on a worldwide basis. World stock markets have recently witnessed a return to fundamental financial analysis. Sound management as opposed to hype will in the long run generate shareholder value.” The methodologist for this unique study is Philip Parker, Eli Lilly Chair Professor of Innovation, Business and Society at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France and Singapore). According to Professor Parker, “We created these reports in response to two inescapable trends: a return to fundamentals and globalization.” The goal of these reports is to assist consultants, financial managers, strategic planners, and corporate officers in gauging indicators of F5 Networks, Inc.’s human resource and financial structure. Professor Parker states, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures between F5 Networks, Inc. and other Prepackaged Software companies. The Pretax Margin (%), for example, varied from -17.88 to 62.18. We see this type of variation in the hundreds of ratios that we estimate.” What do the reports cover?
Two reports, labor productivity ratios and vertical analysis ratios, are available for F5 Networks, Inc.. Each report reveals productivity and industry ranks for companies in the Prepackaged Software industry. The labor productivity analysis details the following: What has been the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are typical capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee compared to global benchmarks? The vertical analysis answers the following questions: How has F5 Networks, Inc.’s asset structure varied compared to global benchmarks for the Prepackaged Software industry? Does it generally hold more cash and other short-term assets, or does it tend to concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? On the liability side, does F5 Networks, Inc. typically have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks, or does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does F5 Networks, Inc. have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, or income taxes compared to global benchmarks? Have F5 Networks, Inc.’s returns on equity been higher or its profit margins greater? Reports for over 50 Prepackaged Software companies are available now including: Adobe Systems Incorporated American Management Systems, Incorporated Aspen Technology Incorporated BMC Software Inc. Cognos Incorporated Compuware Corporation Comverse Technology Incorporated Electronic Arts. Inc. Fair Isaac & Co Incorporated Filenet Corporation Great Plains Software, Inc. Kronos Incorporated Macromedia Inc. Mentor Graphics Corporation Microsoft Corporation Novell Inc Oracle Corporation Portal Software Incorporated Reynolds & Reynolds Company Software Spectrum, Inc. SunGard Data Systems Inc. Symantec Corporation Transaction Systems Architects Inc Unigraphics Solutions Inc
How do they do that? : Methodology
While most vertical analyses merely focus on benchmarking against domestic ratios, often published by government agencies or commercial sources, the report calculates thousands of industry norms by looking at firms at the global level. It pools statistics on tens of thousands of companies across over 40 countries, and applies a seven-stage methodology: (1) identification of industry classifications, (2) firm-level data collection and aggregation, (3) standardization of raw statistics, (4) filtering outliers, (5) calculation of global norms, (6) projection of deviations and gaps, and (7) projection of ranks and percentiles. For each part of the financial statement, the larger structural differences and gaps between F5 Networks, Inc. and the global benchmarks are provided with summary tables of ranks and percentiles. Previously available only through booksellers such as Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Hoovers, two studies are now available direct from the publisher at a 50% discount off the cover price. This special offer includes International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis and Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis at US$ $420 ($210 each). E-mail for more information. FINANCIAL BENCHMARKS Audience: designed for financial managers, directors, CFOs, strategic planners Price: $210 Pages: 104 pp Published: Table of Contents About the Author(s) Methodology/Excerpt (free to view) Order Via Fax Order Online LABOR BENCHMARKS Audience: designed for productivity managers, HR directors, strategic planners Price: $210 Pages: 86 pp Published: Table of Contents About the Author(s) Methodology/Excerpt (free to view) Order Via Fax Order Online About ICON Group Ltd. ICON Group Ltd. assists managers with global benchmarking, gap analysis, and productivity studies. Clients can create their own benchmarks by choosing their competitors from among over 20,000 companies. CONTACT: Orders & Customer Service ICON Group International, Inc. 7404 Trade St. San Diego, CA 92121 USA Fax: 858-635-9414 E-mail: Link: http://www.icongrouponline.com/PR/F5_Networks,_Inc_US/PR.html - Additional links you may find of interest:
Important Disclaimer: This report was not prepared on behalf of or for F5 Networks, Inc.. Please refer to alternative information sources on F5 Networks, Inc. for the following: company financials (quarterly reports, annual report, forecasting, analyst reports, stock filing history, investor reports and relations, SEC or EDGAR documents, 10K, 10Q, articles, news press releases, projections, predictions, forecasts), products or services (warranty, guarantee, credit, equipment, accessory or accessories, service, repair or repairs, rebates or rebate policy, product discount or discounts, part or parts supply, price or prices, book value or valuation, logo design), personnel information (jobs, careers, career training, job placement, employment, human resources department, employee compensation or salaries, salary policy, benefit policies for employees, university benefits, credit union benefits), finding corporation location or contact information (map, company mail, mailing street address, corporate investor contacts, website web site, email search, e-mail addresses, regional offices, dealers list, distributors listing, stores directory, outlets, contact names, CFO, CEO, COO, CIO, CTO, HR, office manager, people, welcome, conference, etc.), geographic or production locations (e.g. USA, UK, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, China), legal structure or business activity (corporation, incorporated, company, partner, partnership, partnerships, alliances, limited liability, corp., inc, ltd, co, lawsuit or lawsuits), management plans (marketing strategy or strategic intelligence). ICON reports do not comment on any of the above. |  |