Pam,
I know P/E'S are a fickle. I posted it as a quip.
In this case, I think it is more of a measure of just how far SNDK ( and LEXR) have fallen out of favor at this time, rather than any real measure of the company's real financial worth. This is a volatile stock :-)
I don't see any slight of hand with SNDK reporting.
Putting things in perspective, a stock is only worth what somebody else wants to pay for it, no matter how good (or not so good) the company is really doing.
It's the perception of buyer number one, that other investors will change their perception of what other investors will think after number one buys the stock, that drives the price up or down. i.e. The perception of reality is more important than the reality itself.
And the game goes on.
Investment is merely speculation over a longer period of time.
Product gross Margin fluctuates up and down from quarter to quarter. For example PGM were -24% in 2001, 29% in 2002, 35% in 2003. Nature of the business, always has, always will.
But where is the trend here, really? What's the average? What is the mean? Isn't the forecast for next year higher than either one?
If you are going to worry about PGM quarter to quarter, month to month, week to week, day to day, then we are just speculating.
But if we take the longer term view, we don't have to worry about small PGM fluctations quarter to quarter and we can call ourselves investors. (and speculate more slowly) So just buy the dips.
Speculators don't consider the fact that royalties add another 5 or 6% to PGM to give us the Operating Gross Margins.
Regarding royalties, don't forget they are reported 1 quarter behind. The 45 million was for the last quarter of 2003.
Pam, you're right, the chart is really, really ugly! Yuc!
Regards,
Steve |
