With annual sales of more than $420 million and a market cap of just over $200 million, Lionbridge provides a unique investment opportunity in global translation services. The 15 year-old company, based in Waltham, MA, provides services to translate written content across many languages in order to help corporations penetrate global markets.

Lionbridge’s blue chip customer base includes many of America’s leading global brands in technology and industrials, such as Microsoft, Google, Adobe Systems, Oracle, PTC, Hewlett Packard, as well as the two largest world wide manufacturers of smartphones.

A second key vertical market for LIOX is manufacturing, where the company works with industry titans such as Caterpillar, Rolls Royce, General Motors, Porsche, and Cummins.  Lionbridge recently acquired a Mid-west technical documentation and illustration services company that will help expand its US mid-western manufacturing sector focus in accounts like GM, John Deere, Cummins, and Navistar.

Lionbridge draws upon a globally distributed full-time translation work force, as well as a part-time work force of over 120,000 translators to perform language translation and “last mile” localization for its customers, which include search engine leaders Google and Microsoft. LIOX’s unique business model allows it to staff projects efficiently and cost-effectively, according to customer demand.

In the last year, Lionbridge introduced its Global Marketing Operations service, which helps companies manage their global marketing campaigns and product launches, along with the translation, localization, content management, and search engine optimization for their websites.

We see four catalysts that lie ahead for Lionbridge:

• Ongoing momentum in its blue chip client base.
• Broader penetration of new vertical markets, including manufacturing, health care, and consumer products and services.
• The potential for gross and operating margin expansion.
• Adoption of its new services.

Demand for translation services and software continues to rise as global corporations seek to expand their markets around the world. No longer simply a language translation and platform testing company, new services introduced in the last 24 months are helping to drive revenue growth and improve margins as Lionbridge expands its customer base outside of technology to address the needs of industry leaders in manufacturing, health sciences, and consumer products.