It's not easy having mega competitors like CDW (CDWC) and even Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). But online tech retailer PC Mall (NASDAQ:MALL) is bulking up with acquisitions, and the latest deal came this week. PC Mall has agreed to shell out $55 million in cash and stock for information technology (IT) services provider SARCOM.
PC Mall offers a full-range of tech products through glossy catalogs and a variety of websites -- pcmall.com, macmall.com, pcmallgov.com, and onsale.com. The company has distribution agreements with biggies like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ).
As for SARCOM, it has more than 700 engineers and technicians that help customers with complex things like network security, enterprise storage, and change management. So far this year, revenues are up about 23% to $132 million. There is also little customer overlap with PC Mall.
With the deal, PC Mall will have better opportunities to crank out more revenues from its customer base. Management also believes the deal will be "mildly accretive" starting in the fourth quarter.
In fact, back in September, PC Mall made a similar deal and purchased Government Micro Resources (GMRI). While the purchase price was only $3.25 million, it allowed PC Mall to capture a higher end of the market for Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW) products. It also increased the firm's federal government business.
By providing higher-end services, PC Mall can move beyond its razor-thin margins and help boost growth. However, the dealmaking is still in the early stages and pulling off integration can be dicey. The company also has only $4.8 million in the bank. For Foolish investors, a wait-and-see strategy is probably best for this stock.
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Fool contributor Tom Taulli, author of The Complete M&A Handbook, does not own shares mentioned in this article. He is currently ranked 4,317 out of 34,192 in CAPS. CDW and Amazon are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
