Re PRIA, Asia: It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to PRIA as opposed to ASYT. PRIA showed a net loss of .21/share compared to .24 positive. However, there is a legitimate one-time acquisition charge in there. Revenues and margins were way up. Asyst soared on its report. PRI's report is pretty close, but instead of stating, say, .31 per share for operating income, up 33%, they included the charge and didn't make much fuss about it. Also, Asyst's CEO simply said the company didn't have that much exposure to Asia, which is utter nonsense IMHO -- the Asians love Asyst and it does a huge business there. PRIA, on the other hand, which is LESS exposed to Asian fluctuations that ASYT, said only that the future was unsettled because of it.
So let's see how closely the street reads the earning report. If PRIA tanks today, I'm going to take a position for the long-term, even if it means shorting Asyst, an excellent stock.
On the Asia front, markets were slightly up, but the big news is the apparent inability of Indonesia/IMF to solve the rupiah's problems. Analysts seem to think that a debt moratorium is inevitable. The country is in deep, deep trouble and will affect Singapore, Japan, and some other area countries adversely. I don't think we've seen the worst yet and I'm staying somewhat defensive, i.e. keeping some shorts in my portfolio. |
