Is this the internet boom all over again? Well, the internet as we know it may have started back in the early 1980’s, but the magnitude of the internet still has a full head of steam with the value of it as a daily component in virtually every aspect of the mainstream population’s lives continuing to escalate annually.
By now, the younger generation simply takes it for granted as "this is the way that life operates" and middle-agers and baby boomers are onboard and online using the web for daily lives, news, business, etc. Corporations cater business models around the power of the web to conduct operations. Taking a pause to think about what has transpired with the World Wide Web over the last couple decades is actually kind of breathtaking.
With the massive expansions, Information Technology (IT) and Internet hosting companies continue to flourish as a simple matter of supply and demand. Montreal-based iWeb Group, Inc. (TSX-Venture:IWB) is an emerging global leader in those fields; and they have the hardware to prove it. Spearheaded by young co-founders Eric Chouinard and Martin Leclair, the Company operates four data centres, has a capacity of 34,000 dedicated servers, over 1,100 colocation racks and Internet capacity of 77 Gbit/s (Gigabit per second), divided between nine providers.
Currently, iWeb provides services to more than 25,000 customers in 150 countries. It was almost one year ago to the day that Eric Chouinard was selected as one of "Canada’s Top 40 Under 40™”, a distinguished award managed by founding sponsor The Caldwell Partners International as well as national sponsors including Deloitte, National Bank Financial, The Globe and Mail, and WestJet.
iWeb boasts some impressive credentials and promises with its services. Offering a guarantee of 100% uptime, the Company is consistently listed in both the United States and Canada as one of the top 10 most reliable and most popular web hosting companies according to reliable sources such as Netcraft and Serchen Network. With the corporate slogan of "Dedicated Gets Smarter," iWeb appears to be moving as fast as data through their systems with another notch on their belt being carved today with being ranked the 52nd fastest growing company in Canada as ranked by PROFIT Magazine.
As announced, the listing made iWeb one of only 16 companies on this year's list to achieve at least four rankings on the Profit200, the annual ranking of Canadian companies based on five-year revenue growth.
The listing certainly is worth its merit. In 2005, iWeb was pulling-in $2.4 million in revenue, which isn’t a bad total for an upstart, but since then, revenue has vaulted up to $29 million in 2010; representing a whopping growth rate of 1,107%. The $29-million tally also positioned iWeb 35th on the list of earners on the Profit200.
If there is a downside, it’s that the Company actually slipped backwards to 52nd from its highest-ever ranking of 31st in 2010, but this also comes on the heels of a 100 spot ranking in 2008 and 85th place in 2009, but exponential growth does reach terminal velocity at some point, so a 52nd rank is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Shares of IWB appear to be held extremely tightly as volume is consistently low. iWeb only has approximately 28 million shares outstanding, but only has a miniscule one million freely tradable shares in the float; explaining the low volume. Low volume or not, iWeb has distance itself from its 52-week low of $0.75 and is still hanging around the area of its 52-week high of $1.50 with shares closing Friday at $1.48 heading into the weekend.
