Company Name: Aspen Technology Inc
Company Ticker: AZPN US Equity
Date: 2021-10-11
When I first met Lal in person that now dinner, that is being quoted, it was my first time I talked to him a few times over the phone, but what I — in person what comes across from Lal, his great humbleness and really passion for not only Emerson, but what can be accomplished in the new AspenTech going forward. And I felt that I could have a true partner in trusting the new AspenTech on someone like Lal and Emerson, okay. So, and sometimes if you look beyond the technicalities of a transaction, the technology and the value creation comes down to people and I believe on Emerson, Aspen Technology will have a great partner that has similar culture, philosophy and passion for what you do. So, really appreciate that.
Yes, so let me get a little bit into Aspen Technology since some of you may not know about Aspen Technology. First of all, we’re the global leader in industrial asset optimization solutions. The company’s been around for 40 years and we have the broadest and deepest portfolio of software in the industrial space targeted at the [ph] process industries and engineering design.
We have a globally diversified customer base about 2,400 customers on a global basis. Really, the who’s who of this industry is 20 of — out of the largest 20 chemical companies, 20 out of the largest 20 engineering construction companies, 19 out of the largest 20 petroleum, oil and gas companies and that’s because, of course, we cannot trade with the Government of Iran and that’s where one of the oil companies lies.
But in all of that, our customers believe that our solutions are mission critical for their operations, because of the value that we create and over time our technologies have driven tremendous efficiencies in our customers’ operations and today, we estimate that the installed base of our products and our customers’ operations create about $59 billion annually in value for these customers and that’s about a 100 to 1 ratio from a standpoint of cost to benefit.
More so lately, though, what we’re finding is that customers are putting a greater emphasis on the sustainability benefits from our technologies. And while our technologies have always delivered that sustainability, it is now coming to the forefront because as we all know everyone is and we’re all very focused on addressing CO2 emissions and achieving net zero carbon emissions over the long run. So our customers are putting a lot more emphasis on that benefit.
And what we also see is that where the crossroads of significant secular trends in these industries digitalization, sustainability as I just said, and I would also like to point out that the end market dynamics are only but improving. If you look at the key metrics that AspenTech relies on from our customers, global economic growth, the price of commodities around oil and gas, chemicals and so on, are up on to the right and we feel very good about our outlook over the next five years as well.
Ultimately, what AspenTech is best known for is our execution. We’ve always had twin ambitions of best-in-class profitability and double-digit growth and AspenTech if not the most profitable publicly-traded company, we are one of the top profitable publicly-traded companies. And that is reflected in our numbers, 50% non-GAAP operating margins against Daniel spend, best-in-class free cash flow on a percentage basis of annual spend. And while our annual spend growth over the last few years has been in the high-single digit, this is being bookended by two major micro disruptions, which are — we hope we’re leaving behind as we look forward.
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