Five9, Nice weighed on by Microsoft announcement, says Jefferies

Jefferies notes that Five9 (FIVN) and Nice (NICE) showed “particular weakness” yesterday, which the firm attributes to Microsoft (MSFT) having announced Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center, which will go to general availability on July 1 and will connect to customers’ preferred CRM systems. While the firm thinks the headstart Five9 and Nice have in CCaaS should position them better than Microsoft from a product perspective, just the potential of Microsoft making inroads in the market is “enough to alarm investors,” the analyst says. While Jefferies does not expect a near-term negative impact to business trends at Five9 or Nice, it expects the news to remain an overhang on the stocks for “the foreseeable future,” adding that the “headline brings one more piece of bad news for the embattled duo.”