Hi all,
There has been some interesting discussion regarding CRTO on an older thread:
http://discussion.fool.com/crto-q4-and-fy-2014-analysis-31660570…
The discussion focussed on currency issues and how it might impact the stock price.
I am offering a few clarification points, to highlight the merits and de-merits of this investment that may get muddled in the currency discussion:
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CRTO trades at NASDAQ and it isn’t listed anywhere else. No ADR issues here.
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CRTO’s US business is growing rapidly, and so is the business in Asia and Asia Pacific. CRTO’s Europe business is what I would put in the “mature” bucket. The Americas business is growing at 100% rate (noted in the Q4 2014 press release). For instance, if you look at the tables provided at the back of the press release, you will see that b/w 2013 and 2014, the YoY growth at constant currency were:
o Americas - 114%
o Asia-Pacific - 59%
o EMEA - 49%
If you prefer to look at Revenue Ex-TAC, then too you will see a similar trend. -
Advertising is a global business but because of CRTO’s european origins, it has a very dominant EMEA business. If you take a closer look at the distribution of revenues b/w the various regions, you will notice that (based on Q4 revenue ex-tac data), EMEA accounts for 45% of the revenues, Americas about 36%, and the remainder is Asia-Pacific. The EMEA dominance should disappear in short order as the Americas business is growing pretty quickly, and Americas is regarded as the biggest advertising market.
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I think the biggest risk to this company is not currency but privacy & legislation. What would happen if EU enacts a legislation that makes tracking rather difficult?
Anirban