Snowshoe, Periodically I hear that we need to watch out from below and that Fram technology is going to disrupt SST's and other flash companies' business. For that reason I have had Ramtron (RMTR) on my watch list and check the financials for RMTR on a quarterly basis. My conclusion has been that Ramtron seems to remain a company whose promise is always delayed further and further out on to the horizon. Over the last twelve months during boomtime for nearly all flash companies, when SST's quarterly revenues went from 35 million in Q3, '99 to 163 mill in Q3, '00, RMTR's revenues went from 7.1 mill to 8.1 mill over the same period. While SST's EPS increased from .01 EPS in Q3, '99 to .37 EPS Q3, '00, RMTR's EPS went from a positive 27 EPS to a negative .17 EPS loss over the same period. Losses for RMTR are expected to increase this quarter. Nevertheless, earlier this month, Infineon invested $30 million in Ramtron. Ramtron is not going away and I plan to continue to keep an eye on it, but right now the performance from a financial viewpoint simply is not there.
Meanwhile SST is growing fast and not sitting still. SST works with IBM, Samsung Electronics, Sanyo, Seiko-Epson and TSMC to develop new technology for manufacturing SST products. SST is also working with IBM, Sanyo and TSMC on developing a new compact cell size. (Source: Nov 29 CSFB conference below)
tech.csfb.com
Perhaps one possible indicator of the effectiveness SST's research department, SST's IP and business plan is SST's sales per employee---an astounding $1,500,000 million per employee versus an average $350,000 per employee for the industry. (Source: CSFB conference--same link as above.)
Best, Huey |
