Ariba's Competitive Threats Are Intensifying

By Dana Gardner:Ariba (ARBA) is now teaming with Microsoft in business streamlining to empower buyers and sellers to better connect and collaborate across Microsoft applicat

David Trainer submits: Up over 150% over the past year and about 225% over the past 5 years (the S&P500 is up 0% in the past 5 years), Ariba Inc. (ARBA) has given investors a great ride and made them lots of money. Over the past 10 years, ARBA appears as quite a success story and one of the few ‘internet bubble’ companies to survive and reach profitability, on a GAAP accounting basis at least.

Ranjit Thomas submits:Ariba (ARBA) was a high-flying stock during the dot com boom, and managed to survive the subsequent bust. Unfortunately, today’s investors are showing the same enthusiasm for the stock that caused it to shoot upwards in 2000 followed by a more than 99% decline.

By Mark Gomes:According to data released today, demand for firearms re-accelerated in March and remains at an elevated rate. Pipeline Data believes that firearm background checks exceeded expectations in March, exhibiting exceptional seasonal strength.The firm estimates that over 2.2 million checks were performed through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This represents the fourth straight month over 2 million and the fourth highest total ever.

ByBert Danner: The Network Effect's Impact on Software Platforms The network effect is the single most important determinant of the success of a software platform. It was the primary driver of the Windows operating system's monopoly. No software platform has ever succeeded and endured without a self-reinforcing network effect driving value creation and increasing participation and profitability. Defining the Network Effect

Mark Gomes submits:Mergers and Acquisitions activity is heating up in the social networking space and Quepasa (QPSA) could be the next to be acquired. If you want to know what Quepasa is all about, just go to its website. Quepasa.com is Latin America's answer to Facebook. It has over 20M members and has been growing its membership by more than 300%.

(Warning: long post ahead.)

By Brooks McFeely:Ariba (ARBA) is due to report Q3 results in the extended hours today, and analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are looking for a profit of $0.20 per share on revenue of $114.42 million. ARBA has seen more aggressive next-day trading in 19 of the last 26 quarters. In the near-term, the stock has narrowed its move twice and widened its move twice.