Their 10K listed patents as of 1/31/97 as consisting of:
370 US patents
530 corresponding patents (duplicates I take it?) in other countries
~200 US & foreign patent applications pending- the majority of them relating to the existing 1K patents.
Seems like they're building a patent fortress around their now more tightly focused group of core technologies.
sounds like they've got a very tightly focused patent portfolio, as Gus pointed out some weeks ago. They let all their unprofitable/unrelated to core tech patents go because the maintenance fees were too high for so many. Now they're filing a significant # of other patents just to expand on and protect the valuable ones it now has.
Also, did anyone catch, on the patent stuff on pages 9&10, that it seems a new licensing initiative is being pondered, actually 2 of them, now that I remember. The 8mm tech is an old story, actually, and they are currently negotiating with other non compliant manufacturers.
The other initiative is a new one I've not heard of before: "Ampex hasn't granted any licenses under its scanning recorder patents specifically for data storage applications, but it may do so in the future" if its profitable. Remember that their scanning recorder heads are the most advanced magnetic tape of their kind on the market, tho still way below lower cost DLT lines. Seems this is being currently considered for some easy # mining.
Notice how their annually recurring licensing fees have risen very fast:
Total licensing fees..non recurring..recurring
96.....10.5.............2.............8.5
95.....15..............10.5...........4.5
94......7.4.............5.1...........2.3
About 90% growth in recurring! Would guess this year's recurring tho to take somewhat of a dip due to only 2M nonr. fees last year. And with a big Mitsu win, which seems almost a sure thing from those who thankfully posted re: patent case law, the 10+M they're fighting over should give them a record year it would seem in nonrecurring, setting us up for a great 98 for recurring. Not expecting 90% growth this year.
Also, their dramatic increase in working capital- from 11M to 40M, is a dramatic turnaround, allowing for more r&d and lawsuits against these holdout 8mm companies. Just plain interest income should be in the $2M range. When you add interest and licensing fees, we already have ~15M for starters likely in income solely from that! Add in a Mitsu win of 10M+, and we're already talking ~$.50 eps from not selling a single product profitably! Yet the new double density line should take off this year I believe. I can see upwards of $.80 share for this year if we get a good rise in actual profit from DST sales, plus $.05-.07 in 4Q from Maxtor's KM licenses.
As to market manipulation, since this isn't on NASDAQ fleece board, I've always looked askance at big conspiracy theories about manipulating the price all over the place. AXC suffers from a non story stock market, down year in eps, and boredom with KM. I too was very disappointed that no new agreements were signed between 12/23 and the 10K, as Bramson seemed to expect. Bramson wants to make $ as much or more than anyone, and he's not masterminding the share price. In fact, this is one of those rarer companies that seems to focus very hard on the business, and not the stock price (tho I admit its been to our detriment so far!). R&D is where its at here, and now its paying off more and more. Overall I remain bullish on the company's direction, scared stiff by the stock price (how low can it go?), and hopeful re: KM. As someone pointed out, while manufacturers are negotiating the price of KM, they're probably busily gearing their lines towards it in anticipation of it.?!? Sounds logical to me, if they're smart, and there's not an industry you have to be smarter in than the disk drive industry. |
