Insight CFO Said Company Is Looking For 'Specialty Players' Around Cloud Initiatives For Future Acquisitions

Eight months removed from its blockbuster purchase of Datalink, Insight is focused on the successful integration of its $258 million data center space acquisition, with an eye on future cloud-centric expansion opportunities.

The $5.4 billion Tempe, Ariz.-based company, No. 13 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, said it has already achieved a productive systems integration with Datalink, but still has other areas of integration at the top of its to-do list moving forward.

As far as future acquisitions are concerned, Insight highlighted its cloud platform initiatives as an area of potential inorganic growth.

[Related: Data Center Blockbuster: Insight To Buy Datalink for $258M]

"We're looking at specific capabilities we've identified as we think about how to better service cloud initiatives that we are internally pursuing," Insight CFO Glynis Bryan said on the company's earnings call. "Specialty players out there in the marketplace we need to acquire. We'll look at another scale acquisition – one that will generate more scale in terms of bringing technical resources to our clients."

Insight said it anticipates $10 to $15 million in synergies from the Datalink purchase, adding that the company is on track to hit its two-year goal of $20 million in synergies. Datalink added $124 million in sales to Insight's second-quarter revenue totals.

"Very good technical team with a lot of solution architects that are giving us more ambition with our partners as well as with our clients," CEO Ken Lamneck (pictured) said.

In addition to the momentum Insight feels surrounding its cloud business, Lamneck said he sees an opportunity for his company to capture a multi-year market share expansion opportunity in the hardware space, where some smaller solution providers are "jettisoning" their operations because they cannot conduct business at scale.

"We talk about helping clients manage and transform business," Lamneck said. "Manage – that's supply chain efficiencies, scale and cost-efficient systems. Transform is everything we can do to provide those skills to help our clients make their businesses run smarter. That's mostly around solutions and services. It's resonating well with our clients because they're looking for large-scale partners that can do both. They're all looking to consolidate spend."

Insight collected revenues of $1.68 billion for the second fiscal quarter ended June 30, up 16 percent from last year's second-quarter mark of $1.46 billion. Those numbers were in line with Seeking Alpha's projections.

Fueling that performance was a 7 percent growth in Insight's core business and the Datalink acquisition. The company's North American business segment experienced a 24 percent year-over-year sales growth, including double-digit organic growth.

Net income for the quarter was $40.3 million, or $1.11 diluted earnings per share, up 15 percent from $35.1 million, or $0.96 diluted per share, compared to the year-ago quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, Insight reported net income of $41.2 million, or $1.14 per share, up 16 percent from $35.5 million, or $0.97 per share. That beat Seeking Alpha's estimate of $0.95 by 20 percent.

With the first half of the fiscal year 2017 in the books, Insight expects a full-year sales growth of 17 to 19 percent compared to 2016, and it has increased its adjusted earnings per share expectations from $3.15 to $3.25.