We talk a lot about SanDisk having 'bargained away' or having 'seriously diluted' the value of its IP, but wouldn't it be fair to continue stressing that we don't really know?
Ballpark, last year SanDisk pulled in $1 per share in licensing fees and royalties alone, didn't it? For a company that is leading what is still very much a nascent market (just wait until 2 megapixel cameras sell for $99!), those 'weak IP' toll gate fees strike me as quite high. Seems to me that the present value of the CF/MMC/SD royalty stream alone justifies the stock price, never mind the manufacturing assets + cash + ventures in process (e.g., P-tags, photo kiosks - which IMO will be HUGE, it's the desperately needed middle ground between expensive home printing and web ordering, offering reasonable pricing, no fixed costs, and instant gratification - but that's another issue :).
Getting back to the original topic, is there any way of taking the royalty streams, unit sales, and licensing announcements, and coming up with a picture of how much of the 'licensing & royalty stream' is one-off, and how much is recurring (and if so, how much per card)? There's the real rub.
Andre |
