CES and Samsung events are the week’s highlights

The tech highlights this week will be the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which this year is all virtual, and the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on Thursday where Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S21 series.

The week ahead

The all-virtual Consumer Electronics Show runs from today until Thursday with a much-reduced number of product vendors. Verizon chairman and chief executive officer Hans Vestberg will deliver the kick-off keynote address, discussing 5G as the framework of the 21st century, the essential tech of the present and accelerated tech of the future, such as telemedicine and tele-education.

This year’s Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event is a month earlier than normal. Samsung is expected to unveil three different models of its flagship phone – the 6.2-inch S21, the 6.7-inch S21 Plus and the 6.8-inch S21 Ultra. The devices are expected to look largely the same but have bigger camera modules, boosting their photo and video capabilities.

Blue Prism PLC (LON:PRSM), which provides robotic process automation (RPA) software, reports annual results on Thursday. In its post-period trading update in mid-November, the company said it expected to report revenues in line with consensus expectations, reflecting 40% growth, driven by full-year bookings of £180m. The group closed the year with around £154m in annual recurring revenues (ARR) and had a cash position of £137.6m. Last week the company announced the creation of Blue Prism Ventures which will offer potential venture partners the opportunity to explore collaborations. Blue Prism Ventures is launching its first location in South Korea under the name “Blue Prism Korea”, a joint venture between Blue Prism and GTPlus Ltd.

Blue Prism is an interesting play ahead of the proposed IPO of the industry leader UiPath. New York-based UiPath filed for IPO in mid-December. It raised $225mln in July, valuing the company at $10.2bn, or around 25 times revenues. This valuation is around double that of Blue Prism. Blue Prism itself is exploring a secondary listing in the US.

Across the pond, corporate earnings are expected to be quiet until after the Martin Luther King Jr Day holiday which in on Monday 18th of January.