News on RMTR today:
Investors Send Ramtron Up Again, Apparently On Outside Announcements
Monday, December 13, 1999 03:08 PM
By Beth M. Mantz, Staff Reporter
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Although the company hasn't released any news to throw its shares into a frenzy, investors
Monday bid up Ramtron International Corp.'s stock for the second day in a row.
Friday, Ramtron (RMTR, news, msgs) soared 30%, or $1.688, to stand at $7.375.
At the close of trading Monday, the shares gained another $1.625, or 22%, to close at $9, on volume of 1.5 million shares.
Average daily volume is 133,000 shares.
But Ramtron spokesman Lee Brown said the Colorado Springs, Colo., company is aware of peripheral news by Samsung
Electronics Co. and Fujitsu Ltd. about ferroelectric random access memory, or FRAM, technology that "could be
contributing to the (share) price increase."
Ramtron makes and sells memory products such as FRAM chips that retain memory and information even when power has
been cut, and ultra-high performance enhanced dynamic random access memory, or EDRAMs. In the past, the company
has signed licensing and research-and-development agreements regarding its FRAM technology.
In March, Ramtron signed a multimillion-dollar two-year agreement with Japan's Fujitsu to jointly develop FRAM
technology. Under the pact, Fujitsu will pay Ramtron about $1 million per quarter to conduct this research and
development.
In 1996, Ramtron granted a FRAM technology license to Korea's Samsung in exchange for licensing fees and future royalty
considerations. Samsung commercially manufactures memory products based on Ramtron's FRAM technology.
Recently, the partners announced products which could use, or at least generate interest in, Ramtron's FRAM technology.
The EE Times reported Tuesday Samsung plans to enter the FRAM market next year with a 32-megabit device that could
be used as a replacement for flash memory in cell phones.
Additionally, Fujitsu began producing 4-kilobyte FRAMs for use in smart cards and aims to make one million units a month,
according to the Sunday morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The company aims to raise its monthly output to five
million units next fiscal year and start producing 2-kilobyte FRAMs for electronic train tickets.
Both applications are portable, well-suited for FRAM technology and capable of delivering high volumes for sales,
Fahnestock & Co. analyst Dan Scovel said.
"It could mean decent business for Ramtron" because these partners could set the tone that the FRAM chip is reliable and
delivers strong performance, especially in view of the fact that this technology is "so unique that market acceptance of this
chip could take a couple of years," Scovel said. |
