Compass Report--The State of M&A

Analysts should stop generalizing about the printing industry. Finally, we encourage printing industry analysts to focus on the microeconomics and behaviors of each printing segment, rather than generalizing about an entire industry.

Financial SEC compliance printers are very different from financial printers that serve the Wall Street broker research report market and they, in turn, are different from the financial printers that print promotional material for the mutual funds. Some segments are already consolidated. Others remain highly fragmented. Some segments are more capital-intensive while others are more people-intensive. Some segments are growing in double digits and others are merely on pace with the GDP.