New Study By PRTM in CFO Magazine Paints Bleak Picture for General Capex Trend But Reflects Optimism for Best-of-Breed Companies
Topic: 4) A Random Walk
December's issue of CFO magazine references in detail a study by my alma mater, Pittiglio Rabin Todd and McGrath (PRTM). I never knew Amram Shapiro when I was with The Firm, but Amram's reputation was great and preceded him.


What can I say? The CFO article is a great one to look at more closely. Here are some of my quick takeaways from CFO magazine's report on the PRTM study:
- Some of the largest companies in the world have cut back capital investment expenditures (Capex) substantially *in spite of* healthy increases in revenue.
- The Capex trend does not look like it is going to reverse soon.
- The hold back will, in turn, hold back the global economies.
- When segmenting out top performers (i.e., best-of-breed companies), results show that capital expenditures can be increased without affecting the bottom-line adversely.
- Key is integrating R&D and Capex (e.g., operations and product development) processes.


Steve Shu
Managing Director
S4 Management Group
Email: sshu@s4management.com
Web: http://www.s4management.com