The market recently ran out of patience with an underperforming management team at Blue Coat Systems (Nasdaq: BCSI). The company took action in September: Former CEO Brian NeSmith was demoted to Chief Product Officer and industry veteran Mike Borman was brought in to put his three decades of grooming at IBM (NYSE: IBM) to good use.
The new leader has nearly a full quarter under his belt now, and he's got some good ideas on how to move ahead. Borman's top priorities include making the most of market opportunities in Blue Coat's core businesses of network security and optimization, fortifying the company with top-shelf hiring and handpicked acquisitions, and to help his sales team explain what Blue Coat is and how it's different from any other network security solution. These are all commendable goals, and I wish him the best of luck with all of it.
But above all else, Borman plans to make the most of an impressive network of cross-industry partnerships. In the just-completed second quarter, Blue Coat signed new alliances with Brocade Communications Systems (Nasdaq: BRCD) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), widening the company's market opportunities into new markets. He also wants to light a fire under sell-through partnerships with industry giants including IBM and Adobe Systems (Nasdaq: ADBE), "just to name a few" in Borman's own words. Leaning on well-heeled partners with the ability to reach pretty much any end market you'd care to name makes a ton of sense for a small operator like Blue Coat, and for that I have to give Borman plaudits.
And that's not even all of Borman's good moves. All of 11 weeks into the job, he is now presiding over a $50 million share buyback plan. That sounds small until you consider that the company has never embarked on a serious buyback program before. Baby steps, people.
Some analysts now see Blue Coat as a tasty chunk of buyout bait due to the refreshed leadership and strong financial performance, including a 44% year-over-year jump in earnings and a 19% operating cash flow margin. Security specialists are hot tamales these days, and buyout rumors have been swirling heavily around smaller Blue Coat peers Fortinet (Nasdaq: FTNT) and Sourcefire (Nasdaq: FIRE).
Whether Blue Coat turns the corner under Borman or gets snapped up by a bigger fish, it looks like good thing lie ahead for shareholders. I'm adding this stock to my CAPS portfolio to capture that opportunity, and you're welcome to follow my all-star lead if you like.
