Hi, Paul. I bought a few shares.
I've been watching since last November. I missed it then, so I considered yesterday a second chance. If the selloff was due to nothing more than meeting rather than beating estimates, then ATMI is one of the better opportunities in the sector in terms of risk/reward.
Maybe they just need to work on their 'estimate management'?
In the earnings release, Dan Sharkey stated that "epi services business more than doubled over the first quarter of 1999; we are adding capacity as fast as possible to satisfy demand in excess of what we can presently supply." The A T M I Technologies unit accounted for about half of total revenues. No breakdown is given of how this is distributed between Epitronics, EcoSys, Emosyn, and other businesses. Assuming that Epitronics accounts for about half again, they would be doing business at a $60M annual rate. If there was a conference call (?), perhaps these details were discussed?
Epitaxy divisions of other companies, e.g. EMKR and KOPN, appear to carry much higher valuations relative to their revenues. Exact comparison is difficult, since none are pure plays, so one can only guess how much each business contributes to the total market value. Much of the discrepancy may simply be due to lack of awareness among the investing public. Even with the new, 'simplified' corporate structure, ATMI is still more complex than most companies, and they keep a low profile. A few paragraphs in a quarterly release isn't much for investors to go on.
Will |
