SemiBull,
They just describe the FPD market as completely unsophisticated ... an industry that still uses old fashion conveyor belts to move substrates to and from different machines ... this has frustrated CFMT (and, until yesterday, frustrated AMAT) ... I know that the management would not turn down an order from the FPD guys ... but, at the same time, I haven not gotten any indication that such an order was forthcoming.
I am in the same boat as you ... I was hoping that there would be some demand with the capacity situation ... it just doesn't seem likely ...
They'll just have to sell a bunch more Prisms each quarter to keep paying those ever-present and extremely painful legal expenses ... so that Roger Carolin can continue to stoke his apparently large ego ... the last comment was probably a bit too flippant ... but, I am getting frustrated with their inability to join in the recovery ... and it becomes very difficult to hear them, quarter after quarter, talk about the operations before the legal expenses ... one has to believe that all of this legal bull has distracted and will continue to distract management from their appointed task ... this company still doesn't have critical mass on the field service side ... they still have a niche, capacity driven product ... that is becoming less-clearly-better than the competition with each passing quarter ... the likelihood that a major player like Samsung is going to make a significant commitment to a company with CFMT's position is about as likely the Red Sox overtaking the Yankees in the East ... which is not to say that a Wildcard spot sucks ... it doesn't at all ... I just think that these guys should be more pragmatic ...
I was also ticked-off about the latest press release detailing the $14mm facility in Exton ... I realize that they probably got some help from the State of PA and/or the town ... but, do they have to fly that pomp and circumstance in the face of the beleaguered shareholder? Sure, a $14mm facility that they can't even get half-full ... surely to be another drag going forward (ex the efficiencies) as the company can not ramp volume sufficiently to absorb the overhead of the new diggs ...
There business is a capacity-driven, niche business? It borders on an oxymoron. Let's push the 1/2 price Prism product and hope to make it up in volume ... which would necessitate an organizational and a manufacturing capability that I don not see ... not to mention the difficulties in service and install ...
That said, I do not plan to sell a share. I am just growing tired of the manner in which this company is undertaking the changes it needs, no, HAS to make in order to be competitive in this incredible competitive business ... The orders aren't just going to come rushing over the transom to save these guys and get them back to their hypothetical operating model.
--Duker |
