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Richard Pierce

Richard Pierce has more than 10 years of investment banking experience advising middle market clients on a variety of mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions. Mr. Pierce’s primary emphasis has been on serving clients in the telecommunications industry.
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FOCUS Enterprise-Focused Telecom Technology Quarterly: Spring 2023 Report

Public Markets

After suffering a decline in our winter report, the FOCUS Enterprise-Focused Telecom Technology Index (EFTTI) bounced back this period to deliver a solid three-month gain of 1.5%. This was essentially in-line with the 2.3% gain in the S&P 500, but underperformed the 5.5% gain in the NASDAQ. The EFTTI still remains steeply down …

FOCUS Telecom U.S. Communications Service Provider Quarterly: Spring 2023 Report

The FOCUS Communications Service Provider Index (CSPI) managed a second straight reporting period in positive territory as it posted a three-month gain of 2.7%. While this was certainly a respectable gain, it still significantly underperformed both the 7.0% gain in the S&P 500 and the 16.8% increase in the NASDAQ over the corresponding time frame. Sector multiples were down somewhat and ended the period at 2.4x revenue and 6.4x EBITDA. This compares to sector multiples of 2.6x revenue and 7.4x EBITDA for the year-ago period.
network devices

FOCUS Telecom Business Services Quarterly: Spring 2023 Report

The FOCUS Telecom Business Services Index (TBSI) continued the upward trend we noted in our winter report with a three-month gain of 10.9% for the spring reporting period. This outperformed the 7.0% gain in the S&P 500 but lagged the 16.8% gain in the NASDAQ. This period’s gains also pulled the sector into positive territory for the full year with a gain of 6.0%. This handily outperformed the broader indices, both of which were down sharply over the past year. Sector multiples are fairly consistent with this same time last year. The revenue multiple remained unchanged at 1.0x, while the EBITDA multiple ticked up slightly from 10.9x a year ago to 11.2x currently.

FOCUS Carrier-Focused Telecom Technology Quarterly: Spring 2023 Report

After posting a solid gain in our winter report, the FOCUS Carrier-Focused Telecom Technology Index (CFTTI) dropped 2.2% in our spring reporting period. This was slightly better than the 2.7% drop in the S&P 500, but worse than the 0.1% decline in the NASDAQ. The EFTTI is also down nearly 14% compared to this time last year. Over this time period, the EFTTI lagged the 9.2% decline in the S&P 500 but outperformed the 16.7% drop in the NASDAQ. Sector multiples are also lower than they were at this time last year. The sub sector revenue multiple dropped sharply from 2.5x to 2.1x, while the sector EBITDA multiple posted a more modest decline as it fell from 11.9x to 10.6x.
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FOCUS Enterprise-Focused Telecom Technology Quarterly: Winter 2023 Report

The FOCUS Enterprise-Focused Telecom Technology Index (EFTTI) experienced another disappointing reporting period with a three-month drop of 2.4%. This loss was in stark contrast to the broader indices as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were up 5.3% and 5.4%, respectively. The EFTTI is also trading 19.0% below the levels of a year ago. This significantly underperformed the 9.7% loss in the S&P 500 but was roughly in line with the 18.7% decline in the NASDAQ. Sector multiples closed out the period at 4.6x revenue and 19.5x EBITDA. Both of these are lower than the corresponding multiples of a year ago of 6.1x revenue and 23.4x EBITDA.

FOCUS Telecom U.S. Communications Service Provider Quarterly: Winter 2023 Report

After losing more than 25% in our fall report, the FOCUS Communications Service Provider Index (CSPI) turned things around and managed to deliver a three-month gain of 10.0%. This was better than the three-month gain for the S&P 500 of 7.1% and far superior to the 1.0% loss in the NASDAQ. Even so, the CSPI’s year-over-year performance remains dismal with a drop of 34.3%. This underperformed both the 19.4% loss in the S&P 500 as well as the 33.1% drop in the NASDAQ over the 12-month period. Sub sector multiples also dropped considerably compared to this time last year, falling from 2.7x revenue and 7.6x EBITDA a year ago to 2.2x revenue and 6.2x EBITDA currently.
network devices

FOCUS Telecom Business Services Quarterly: Winter 2023 Report

After two straight periods of decline, the FOCUS Telecom Business Services Index (TBSI) rebounded in our winter reporting period to deliver a strong three-month gain of 15.0%. This handily outperformed both the 7.1% gain in the S&P 500 and the 1.0% drop in the NASDAQ over the corresponding time period. Even with this period’s gains, the TBSI remains in the red for the full 12-month period with a loss of 11.5%. On the bright side, this still outperforms the 19.4% drop in the S&P 500 and the 33.1% drop in the NASDAQ over the past year. Sector multiples are lower than they were a year ago, but only by the narrowest of margins. The sector revenue multiple slipped from 1.0x to 0.9x, while the sector EBITDA multiple inched down from 11.0x to 10.9x.

FOCUS Carrier-Focused Telecom Technology Quarterly: Winter 2022 Report

The FOCUS Carrier-Focused Telecom Technology Index (CFTTI) gained 4.8% in the past three months. This com-fortably exceeded both the 3.2% gain in the S&P 500 and the 3.0% decline in the NASDAQ. Even with this period’s gain, the CFTTI is still down 11.9% year-over-year. This performance was slightly worse than the 10.7% decline in the S&P 500 over this same time period, but much better than the 26.2% loss in the NASDAQ. Sector multiples are lower than they were a year ago, but not by a wide margin. The CFTTI revenue multiple dipped from 2.5x to 2.3x, while the EBITDA multiple fell from 12.0x to 11.4x.

FOCUS Telecom U.S. Communications Service Provider Quarterly: Fall 2022 Report

Things went from bad to worse for the FOCUS Communications Service Provider Index (CSPI) this period as the sector plummeted 25.6%. This decline was significantly steeper than both the 5.3% decline in the S&P 500 and the 4.1% decline in the NASDAQ over the corresponding time period. The situation is also bleak for the full year period with the sector down slightly more than 45% over the past 12 months. Once again, this drastically underperformed the returns in the S&P 500 (down 16.8%) and the NASDAQ (down 26.8%). Sector multiples continued to fall, ending the period at 2.1x revenue and 6.0x EBITDA. This compares unfavorably to year-ago multiples of 2.9x revenue and 8.2x EBITDA.