Executive Summary
       Pinnacle Systems is one of the fastest growing companies in the video market. They are one of the true successes in the industry having  been able to establish a presence that spans from the high-end broadcast market down to the consumer video market. Building on their strategy to aggressively expand their product and technology offering, the company is committed to acquiring complementary components and companies. This has lead to the acquisition of Miro video products, Truvision, Hewlett-Packard’s Video Communications Division, and most recently Synergy International, makers visual effects software for video content creation.

1. Corporate Overview      2. Video Products     3. Market Analysis    
4. Financial Overview

Corporate Overview

Company Name

Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

Address

280 N. Bernardo Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043

URL http://www.pinnaclesys.com

Telephone

650-526-1600

Fax

650-526-1601

Year Founded

1986

Senior Management

  • Mark Sanders  - President, CEO, Director
  • Ajay Chopra – Chairman, VP, General Manager Desktop Products
  • Arthur Chadwick – VP Finance, CFO
  • Georg Blinn – VP, General Manager, Pinnacle Systems GmbH
  • Patrick Burns – VP Broadcast and Professional Sales, Americas and Japan
  • Tavy Hughes – VP Operations
  • William Loesch – VP, General Manager, Consumer Products
  • Robert Wilson – VP, General Manager, Broadcast Products
  • Greg Hoberg – VP
  • James Dunn – VP, Business and Consumer Marketing and Sales, Americas

Employees

460

Company Highlights
  • Pinnacle was founded by Chairman Ajay Chopra, Mirek Juricka, and Randy Moore
  • The company has received several EMMY awards for technological advances in video. 
  • Pinnacle went public in 1994 and by the following year had doubled it’s sales.
  • In November 1999, Pinnacle was named one of the 500 fastest growing U.S. technology companies for the last five years by Deloitte & Touche.

Company acquisitions include:

  • MiroVideo Products from Miro Computer – August, 1997
  • Truvision  - March, 1999
  • Video Communications Division from Hewlett-Packard – August, 1999

 
Video Products

Broadcast Video Products

Products:

DV Extreme line

AlladinPRO line

Lighting line

Deko line

Thunder line

$44,990 - $63,990

$19,990 - $29,990

$25,990 - $31,780

$26,900 - $31,900

$11,000 - $69,000

Product Overview

Pinnacle’s broadcast products offer real-time digital effects, still image management, storage, and real-time video character generation. With the company’s recent acquisition of HP’s Video Communication Division, Pinnacle also offers digital video servers for on-air video contact distribution with the Media Server products.

Pricing

Pricing for the broadcast products range from $11,000 to $69,000.

Platforms

WindowsNT

Competition

Chyron Corporation, Matsushita, Quantel, Accom, Sony

Desktop Video Products

Products:

Alladin line

Genie line

ReelTime

ReelTime Nitro

DC30

DC50

DV200

DV300

DC1000

DVD1000

Targa line

$5,900

$4,990

$7,990 - $8,990

$790

$1,950

$499

$699

$2,490

$7,990

$3,995 - $20,500

Product Overview

Pinnacle’s desktop products provide video capture, compression and decompression, editing and real-time video manipulation for computer-based video post-production systems.  The company has two types of products that fall within the desktop group: digital video effects products which include the Alladin and Genie lines, and video capture and editing products comprised of Reeltime, DC30, DC50, DV200/300 and DC1000, as well as the Targa products.

Pricing

Pricing for the desktop products range from $499 to $20,500.

Platforms

Windows 95, 98, and NT. Targa line also supports Mac.

Competition

Matsushita, Sony, Avid, Matrox, Media 100.

Consumer Video Products

Products:

Studio 400

Studio DC10plus

Studio MP10

Studio PCTV

Studio DV

$149

$199

$229

$99

$199

Product Overview

Pinnacle’s consumer products provide video capture, editing and playback solutions that allow consumers to edit home videos using their personal computers.  All of the company’s consumer products fall within the Studio line.

Pricing

Pricing for the broadcast products range from $99 to $299.

Platforms

Windows 95, 98. Studio PCTV also supports WindowsNT

Competition

 

Market Analysis

Company Strategy

Pinnacle Systems has grown 7 fold since 1995 thanks to a combination of aggressive pricing, product positioning and strategic acquisitions.    The company’s goal is to become the leading provider of computer-based video content creation and distribution products for the broadcast, desktop and consumer markets. As part of this plan, the company is targeting several key activities it has identified to be critical to its success including:

-          expanding core technologies for software and hardware
-          establishing a unified API for standard video processing development
-          expanding its sales and distribution organization
-          acquiring complementary businesses, products and technologies to extend it’s product lines

Competitive Position

Pinnacle Systems has done a good job at expanding their market presence by acquiring key technology and products that add to the company’s product line. This strategy has paid off for the company in that they are the current market leader in the mid-ranged video editing space.  (Please refer to the Market Spotlight on Video Editing Systems for further information on this market)

Key Partnerships

Strategic partners include: Apple, Adobe, Avid/SI, Discreet, Microsoft, SGI


Financial Overview - Pinnacle Systems

Financial Fundamentals

As of: January 3, 2000

PCLE – Nasdaq

Stock price

 $40.9375

52 week high

$48

EPS

 $ 0.7

P/E Ratio

58.48

Market valuation

$ 977.3 million

Most recent results:  Q3  ’99 (in millions)

Revenue
$50.4
Cost of Goods
$ 25.4
Gross Profit
$25
Gross Profit Margin
49.6%

Revenue Growth

12 Month
46.3%
36 Month
57.4%
60 Month
61.2%

Historical Revenue Performance

(in thousands)

1999
1998
1997
1996
1995

Revenue

$159,098
$105,296
$37,482
$46,151
$22,193

Net Income

 $18,436
($6,220)
($14,935)
$3,684
$2,240

Net Profit Margin

11.6%
-
-
8%
10%

Financials

(in thousands)

1999
1998
% change
% of total for 1999

 

Broadcast

        

Revenues

 $26,917
$25,521
5.5%
16.9%

Gross Profit

15,483
15,309
1.1%
18.2%

Operating Income (loss)

$(2,398)
$508
-572.0%
-11.5%
Desktop        

Revenues

 $42,383
$19,440
118.0%
26.6%

Gross Profit

15,803
5,869
169.3%
18.6%

Operating Income (loss)

$1,985
$(7,577)
-126.2%
9.5%

Consolidated

        

Revenues

$159,098
$105,296
51.1%
100.0%

Gross Profit

$85,076
$56,581
50.4%
100.0%

Operating Income (loss)

 $20,939
$10,286
103.6%
100.0%

about us •  press •  media kit •  home •  webmaster