Year in Review
• Headquarters: 1600 E. St. Andrew Place, Santa Ana<br>• Employees: 15,650; 800 in OC<br>• Business: Technology distributor<br>• Market value as of April 1: $3 billion<br>• 2010 revenue: $34.6 billion, up 17% <br>• 2010 net income: $318 million, up 57%<br>
Ingram Micro, the county’s largest company of any type by revenue, saw its business rebound last year after a tough 2009.
The biggest distributor of computer products, software and consumer electronics posted sales of $34.6 billion, up 17% from a year earlier and the company’s strongest growth since 1999.
Profits, ever slim at Ingram, were up 57% to $318 million, a record.
The company ended the year in “record-breaking fashion,” Chief Executive Gregory Spierkel said.
Ingram supplies products from Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and others to what are known as value-added resellers—consultants that install and maintain technology products for businesses.
In a search for profits, Ingram has pushed into more services for technology consultants, from managing warranties and software licenses to marketing and finance. The trend continued in 2010.
Ingram also made a series of smaller acquisitions last year in Europe and Asia. The deals helped boost Ingram’s corporate software offerings.
Last year Ingram did a little crosspollination with Irvine-based Broadcom Corp., the third-largest publicly traded company here. In July, Broadcom Chief Executive Scott McGregor joined Ingram’s board.
What’s Ahead
A cautious mindset still rules at Ingram. For the recently ended quarter, the company cautioned Wall Street about “modest year-over-year growth.”
For the year, Ingram has a “clear strategic path,” Spierkel said. It calls for improved performance in the company’s dominant distribution business, more services and pursuit of new technologies.
More acquisitions are possible. Ingram is looking at possible buys related to customer data collection, corporate computing, logistics, mobile technology and cloud computing services, Spierkel told Reuters in August.
Asia, which makes up about a quarter of Ingram’s revenue, is expected to continue being a growth driver as companies continue to start or expand operations there and sales of PCs, phones and other devices grow in the region.
The company is on track to get 30% or more of its revenue from Asia in five years, Spriekel said late last year, up from about 22% now.
Wall Street’s Take
Ingram’s recovery is reflected in its shares—they’re up 20% in the past 12 months. The stock recently hit a 52-week high.
Analysts generally are bullish on Ingram. Analysts at Alabama’s Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. recently started following the company. Goldman Sachs analysts recently raised their price target on shares of Ingram.
For the year, analysts on average expect Ingram to post revenue of $36.7 billion, up 6% from 2010. Profits are seen coming in 16% higher to $349 million.
