The PIPX Index of 14 of the larger publicly held patent licensing companies rose by 2.1% for the second quarter 2015, beating the S&P 500 Index.
Similar to some other indexes, the PIPX is heavily weighted by the market value of those companies included, and was able to out-performed the S&P 500 Index, which was down .2% based on the leaders. The biggest movers for the 2Q were RPX, up 17.4% and Rambus up 15.2%.
Over the past four quarters or 12 months, Tessera is the biggest winner, up an impressive 72%. InterDigital was ahead 19%, while the 12 other companies in the PIPX were all either flat or down for the period, confirming the recent pressure on PIPCOs. The S&P 500 Index managed to move up 5.2%.
Equity investors seem to be telling patent licensing companies that they prefer company size, portfolio breadth and patent quality. Investors also appear to be gravitating to licensing businesses with more predictable cash flows, no easy feat after Alice and inter partes reviews.
For the full PIPX report, including performance dating back to July 1, 2011, just after the Nortel sale to Rockstar, go here.
Image source: Freescale Semiconductor, Dr. Kevin Klein
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