Pitney Bowes, Inc. provides mail processing equipment and integrated mail solutions for organizations worldwide. It operates two business groups, Mailstream Solutions and Mailstream Services. The Mailstream Solutions group engages in the sale, rental, and financing of mail finishing, mail creation, and shipping equipment; supplies; equipment-based software, support, and other professional services; and payment solutions in the United States and internationally. It also involves in the sale, financing, support, and provision of other professional services for high-speed production mail systems and sorting equipment, as well as provides sale and support services for its non-equipment-based mailing and customer communication software. The Mailstream Services group offers management; secure mail; reprographic, document management; litigation support and eDiscovery; presort mail; and outbound international mail processing services. It also provides direct marketing services for targeted customers; Web-tools for the customization of promotional mail and marketing collateral; and other marketing consulting services. The company serves various business, governmental, institutional, and other organizations. Pitney Bowes markets its products and services through a network of direct sales offices; and independent distributors and dealers. The company, formerly known as Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company, was founded in 1920. Pitney Bowes is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

Industrial Industry Analysis

WikiWealth.com Industry Description: The industrial industry is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products…Read More. Also see the Industry Analysis Home Page.

WikiWealth.com Industry Analysis: During economic recessions, consumers tend to cut back on spending to save money and businesses tend to cut back on investments. Less spending decreases industrial business revenue and eventually decreases stock prices. During economic recoveries, consumers and businesses spend quickly to replace or catch up with quickly increasing demand. Higher spending increases industrial business revenue and eventually increases stock prices. During the longer economic expansions, industrial business revenue increases, but at a slower pace than during the recovery stage.

¹ WikiWealth.com only uses the largest 30 companies in each industry for the basis of these financial measures. Each statistic is the market weighted average of the 30 companies.

² Investment potential (margin of safety) is a weighted average of the discounted cash flow analysis (DCF), the enterprise value (EV) market multiple analysis, and the Warren Buffett investment analysis. WikiWealth obtains 80% of their quantitative investment potential from fundamental investment analysis.

WikiWealth.com Profit Analysis: The best way to profit from industrial stock investments is to find the most undervalued investments (Wall Street and Main Street buy ratings) during economic recessions. Those investments should be undervalued (see Wall Street Analysis on left side), and have high Main Street Common Sense investment ratings (see Main Street Analysis on right side). When an economic recovery occurs, industrial stocks tend to outperform the general stock market, because consumers and businesses quickly resume spending on items they wanted, but resisted buying during tougher economic times. Eventually industrial company investments become overvalued, because profits and stock prices increase past their fair values. During the last stages of an economic business cycle, just before a recession, it is best to sell industrial stocks, because they are likely to decrease in price the fastest. Expensive (overvalued) stocks with low Main Street Common Sense ratings should be sold at any time to invest in better stocks. Two buys ratings are the best and two sell ratings are the worst possible stock investments. For more information on stock research ratings click here.

Investment Moats

Investment Moats are fundamental investing theories developed by Warren Buffett and adapted to the SWOT analysis. Investment moats are general characteristics that separate great investments from average stock investments. The wider the investment moat the better. Read more: Investment Moats. For company-specific investment moats: SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Strengths Increase Investor Moats: Below is a list of relevant industry investment characteristics, if any exist

SWOT Weaknesses Decrease Investor Moats: Below is a list of relevant industry investment characteristics, if any exist

Stock Price Triggers

Triggers were developed by WikiWealth.com to predict changes in stock price direction, which depend on events outside of the control of the company. In general, if SWOT opportunities are greater than SWOT threats, the stock price should raise; the opposite is also true. For more precise measures, examine each SWOT opportunity and threat, then rank them according to importance and timing. The more important the investment characteristic, the greater the impact on stock direction. The sooner a investment trigger may occur, the more influence it will have on stock price direction. Read more: Stock Price Triggers. For company-specific stock price triggers: SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Opportunities are Positive Stock Price Triggers: Below is a list of relevant industry investment characteristics, if any exist.

SWOT Threats are Negative Stock Price Triggers: Below is a list of relevant industry investment characteristics, if any exist.

Long Company Description (help)

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) is a Stamford, Connecticut-based manufacturer of software and hardware and a provider of services related to documents, packaging, mailing and shipping, collectively referred to as mailstream. The company has approximately 36,000 employees worldwide. It is one of 87 existing firms that have been members of the S&P 500 since its founding in 1957.

Other major U.S. centers of operation include Danbury, Connecticut, Shelton, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Lanham, Maryland.

History

In 1902, Arthur Pitney patented his first "double-locking" hand-cranked postage-stamping machine, and, with patent attorney Eugene A. Rummler, founded the Pitney Postal Machine Company. In 1908, English emigrant and founder of the Universal Stamping Machine Company Walter Bowes began providing stamp-canceling machines to the United States Postal Service. Bowes moved his operations to Stamford in 1917. A rapid increase in mail volume in 1919 made the Post Office more receptive to metered mail, and Pitney subsequently traveled to meet Bowes. On March 15, 1920, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing mechanical stamps on first-class mail, and on April 23, 1920, the two companies merged to form the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company, with the goal of producing a machine that would combine Pitney's "double-locking" counter with Bowes's system for wrapping postage payment, postmarking and cancellation. The United States Post Office approved their postage meter on August 25, 1920.

Between 1922 and 1923, the government collected $4,359,070 in postage from the first commercial installations of 400 meters. Pitney Bowes also began to sell their products internationally.

The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1950, and joined the Fortune 500 in 1962.

In 1968 Pitney Bowes acquired the Monarch Marking System Company, which would produce the first bar code equipment for retail trade use.

In the 1980s, the firm expanded into copy machines and facsimile machines, and in the 1990s and 2000s began producing printers and communications technologies, adding services for digital document delivery and management. Pitney Bowes has made $2.5 billion in acquisitions since the year 2000 as it diversifies beyond the postage meter business - notable acquisitions in 2007 included Troy, NY-based MapInfo and the Canadian company Digital Cement.

The firm currently holds 3,400 active patents, six of which are personally held by Executive Chairman Michael J. Critelli.

SWOT Analysis

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