[Comments Re Earnings Report]
1. AMTX is NOT currently "out of cash": they have $1.5M in "Cash and Cash Equivalents" plus "Short-Term Investments", up from $886K a year ago -- and they have another $2.5M in "Stock Subscriptions Receivable" (presumably some of the Soros money). Total = $4M, up from just $886K a year ago.
2. If you want to worry about something, worry about their rising expenses: Cost of Sales, up 80% from a year ago (with sales down 18%), Marketing and Sales up 96%, and General & Administrative up 45%. Amati, though, is a developmental-stage company, and if they're just ramping up for the future -- and can generate enough cash to make it until they start booking some real revenue -- it's not a big problem.
3. And please -- do NOT use the f/y 1996 bottom line and compare it with fiscal 1997! There was a $31,554,000 write-off in `96 ($2.08/share); if you don't back that out of the `96 numbers you are comparing apples and oranges.
4. Finally, I doubt that "missing the quarter" means very much in this situation; Amati is still a developmental-stage company, and thus a play on future earnings (which are unknowable) rather than current earnings.
All IMHO...
-- Walt Deemer |
