Transformation will take time

Article Excerpt

TERADATA CORP. $39 (New York symbol TDC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 121.0 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teradata.com) makes computers and software to capture and store large amounts of data for individual businesses—its clients. The company then analyzes this information and identifies customer buying habits and other trends. As part of a new strategic plan, Teradata sold its marketing-applications business in July 2016 for $90 million. That operation sells software and services to help businesses improve their advertising campaigns. Teradata now sells its products as cloud-based subscriptions, instead of one-time purchases of computers and software packages. As a result of that change, its revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2017, fell 4.7%, to $526 million from $552 million a year earlier. Teradata has also hired new staff and increased its research spending. That cut its earnings by 57.9%, to $0.29 a share from $0.69. Teradata is a..