Mr. Jeffrey: I follow the transaction processing and payments companies. So for the most part, whereas some of them do sell licensed software into enterprise banks, most of the companies I follow are hosted software providers. So it's more of a software-as-a-service-oriented model than traditional shrink-wrapped software.
TWST: What is presently going on in the space, given the current state of the economy?
Mr. Jeffrey: As you might expect, operating budget expenditures are probably easier to come by in this environment than capital budget expenditures. And as a consequence, I think we are seeing what we normally see in downturns, which is that recurring revenue-type businesses, like the companies in my universe, tend to have more stable revenue streams relative to those that are selling software. And so I think we have seen a slowdown in discretionary spending, which certainly has hit organic revenue growth, but the businesses are still predictable and the performance has been fairly stable.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ADS, EFX, GPN, MA, PAY, SLH, TRAK, V, WU
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