An uninformed Herb Greenberg on CREE again
More Cree Capers and Analyst Reviews of Our Acxiom Coverage
By Herb Greenberg
Senior Columnist
1/10/01 6:30 AM ET
Briefly:
Cree capers: I really didn't want to come back to Cree (CREE:Nasdaq - news - boards) or Charles & Colvard (CTHR:Nasdaq - news - boards) (formerly C3) so soon. But then C&C, which makes fake diamonds called moissanite, went and issued a press release Tuesday that simply can't be ignored.
Part of the Cree story, if you recall , was that Cree had an agreement to supply C&C with the silicon carbide crystals C&C uses to make moissanite. As part of that deal, which lasts for another six years, C&C agreed last year to buy all of the crystals made by Cree. That created a fuss when C&C disclosed that it had more than four years' worth of crystal inventories. When the The Wall Street Journal raised the issue a few months ago of the Cree/C&C relationship, Cree dismissed it as old news and said that Cree wasn't even budgeting any sales from C&C in the current quarter.
Well ... Tuesday C&C issued a press release that said it will be "obligated" to purchase more crystals "only upon issuance and Cree's acceptance of purchase orders." (Huh?!) C&C CEO Robert Thomas went on to say that while C&C hopes to lower inventory levels this year, "new material will be required to replace the most popular shapes and sizes of gemstones."
It's the unpopular shapes and gemstones, which are believed to account for most of the stuffed inventory, that C&C investors had better worry about. The winner in all of this, of course: Cree.
C&C, to be fair, trades at just 88 cents. And while C&C shipped 26% more carats more than a year ago, revenue was expected to be flat.
thestreet.com
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If I remember, the last CC said CREE was not projecting anymore revs from the C&C company.
Herb's buddy Cohodes is short CREE so Herb might be a little biased and trying to help his friend ahead of CREE's earnings.
Jack |
