Lawrence, here's an interesting situation related to the Rambus story. If you believe the Rambus stronghold over memory is now in jeopardy, there comes a question as to who or what will replace it. I have no clear answer to this question, but I see a possibility that Ramtron may gain advantage. See the following link.
Message 10031748
Another interesting development is the issue of patents. All these DRAM companies are looking for a solution involving the least cost. I doubt they are having great problems with the Rambus architectures as much as they hate the idea of having to pay royalties, and perhaps also being strong armed by Intel.
So how quickly would they be willing to adopt another company to take Rambus' place? Anyway, it looks like Ramtron has some useful technology for high-speed DRAM.
The Ramtron is also developer of FRAM memory which can be used the store non-volatile, but dynamic memory that requires no charge to be maintained. The shows great promise for smart cards. Some companies are also looking to use it for added memory in specialty MPU's. I believe Fujitsu is the most aggressive company researching this product.
This dog has big fleas. It looks like the management is bad, they have an overhanging short position from a convertible bond issue, and one of the founders had a bankruptcy problem leaving the creditors with a position that they keep trying to liquidate every time share price goes up.
So, what does this leave? That's my question. Maybe this company has been beaten down, the shorts are satisfied, and the group selling stock has nearly sold all they want to sell. Those along with a serious question about the surety of Rambus' dominance of the next generation DRAM makes Ramtron perhaps more interesting. Management may still suck, and for that you may find no solution except will this company be bought out for their IP?
Getting back to Ramtron DRAM product, or Enhanced Memory Systems, which is the division of Ramtron you always see in print when their PC-133 HSDRAMs is mentioned. They have patents and maybe they are going to get in the way of some companies who want to press ahead with their own high speed memory?
NEC Gets Sued For Patent Infringement
Message 10020411
It seems a valid question to me, at 9/16's is Ramtron a good speculation? They may do a reverse stock split and maybe Rambus is going to have problems. Looking at Rambus' share price, the market doesn't think so, or perhaps this is a great short squeeze, I don't know. I'm thinking it couldn't hurt to dabble a little here for 9/16's, but maybe Ramtron is too far gone to make any come back?
Your thought would be appreciated. I'll expect my usual finder's fee of a worn out Furby if this pay off.
Regards,
Mark
PS I got a letter full of legal stuff from PCTV saying they had a shareholders rights plan that would offer me rights for Preferred shares and how it could offer me $70 worth of stock for $35 if a takeover occurs and the stock remains over $5, and a huge number of other conditions that make the whole thing really confusing. Anyway, I was wondering if you might have gotten such a letter? |
