0/LiveRamp, , is small-cap software business serving digital advertisement buyers. The Company is obscured by the sale of their largest segment in 2018 but is a wonderful business run by excellent management taking share in a growing niche 
1/Advertising has transformed from creative campaigns displayed in newspapers, TV, etc. to strategies made possible by the internet, connected TVs and other digital media. Data driven advertising maximizes ROI by targeting interested customers and attributing their spending
2/Scott Howe joined as CEO in 07/2011 and Warren Jenson as CFO in 01/2012. Under their watch, LiveRamp has acquired, divested and invested their way from a multi-line marketing business to a pure play ad. tech SaaS provider
3/In 02/2018, LiveRamp announced a strategic review which resulted in the sale of their largest segment, Axciom, to IPG, announced in 07/2018. The deal netted an attractive multiple, was cheered by the market and resulted in significant return of capital to shareholders
4/LiveRamp operates the largest platform connecting advertising buyers with customer data sources necessary for data-driven and programmatic advertising. The platform is monetized by subscription fees from buyers, 80% of sales and revenue sharing with sellers of data, 20%
5/LiveRamp sold their Axciom segment in 09/2018 to IPG to focus solely on their data platform. Since then customers have increased by 21.9% and sales by 32.1% yet the company operates at ~break even margins
6/The Winterberry Group estimates that digital ad. spend increased 19.1% in 2019 and that spending on data used for digital strategies grew at similar rates. LiveRamp’s sales growth demonstrate their market share gains
7/Digital marketing strategies rely on data from cookies, digital tracking devices, whose usage may be curtailed by web browsers and other platforms and challenged regulators. RAMP may be negatively effected but increased rules and regs. could serve as a boon to their offering
8/IPG contributed 14% of LiveRamps TTM revenue, the first full year since purchasing Axciom from LiveRamp in 2018. The two businesses contracted to work together for five years after the transaction. If their relationship does not continue, LiveRamp’s revenue will decrease
9/RAMP stock jumped 25.5% in the two weeks following the Axciom sale announcement. But over past year, the stock price is trending down and currently trading at the ~WA price of share repurchases executed since the Axciom sale
10/RAMPs EV / TTM Sales multiple has trended lower over the past two years as their stock price has traded sideways while revenues have increased 32.1% and their net cash position has grown by $800.3M
11/None of the businesses below offer a similar service as LiveRamp but all exposed to digital marketing / advertising spending with similar revenues and revenue growth as RAMP
12/LiveRamp was f/k/a/ Axciom and traded as AXCM until 09/2018 when they changed their name to LiveRamp and symbol to RAMP. LiveRamp is the name of a business acquired in 2014 whose technology is the foundation for RAMP’s current product offering/end
summarizes their bull, bear and neutral cases below, obviously biased and simple but helpful. In addition to risk they cite from major ad. platforms, sweeping regulatory changes could diminish their value prop. From Needham Conf. 6/23/2020
