This thread reminds me of the Maytag repairman. Lonely.
Okay, to stir the pot a little, I phoned the CEO this afternoon and after hanging up, I felt like the cat that ate the canary. This is one spunky little company.
Here goes:
* Work on C6X solutions progressing well. Timing of release tied to availability of chip from TI. Still targetting second half for early product runs. It will take time for customers to integrate products.
* Several products in development that "will hit the competition hard when they're announced." In some cases orders are being taken and shipped.
* V.34+ will be integrated into 56K modems and into DSL and cable modems b/c these systems still need matching modems to whatever is being received. For example, if you had a DSL modem, you couldn't receive 28.8 or 56K -generated email if you didn't have the matching analog inside your modem. (I was worried about analog being outdated, but was mistaken about the target market.)
* Have lots of activity with customers they (SSPIF) would be proud to announce if the customers would okay the releases. They won't. The primary reason is competition. No one wants to show their hand.
* Actively seeking acquisitions. Some activity could be fruitful. When ready to announce, bankers will become involved and could lead to coverage.
* They are considering a combined press release where some vendors would be named and some wouldn't. (To relieve frustration of having to wait months and in some cases years to announce contracts.)
* The quarter we're in looks to be on target or better. (An increase over comparable quarter last year.)
* Co in final phase of audit for earnings report. Release one to two weeks off.
* To my question, where will you be at this time next year? he said, "We plan to be back to our historical range of 30 to 50% growth with 50+% gross margins."
* R&D will be a focus. Must build the business to stay competitive.
* Making strategic moves into other markets. More will be discussed in conference call.
* Receiving more RSPs from target customers, in time they could lead to larger contracts.
* Relationship with TI as strong as ever.
I got a strong sense that the company's in good shape. I could hear the optimism in BJ's voice and when I commented, he confirmed he had good reason to be. I said it was difficult for shareholders to keep the faith with so little news and he said he understood. If there were analysts actively covering the company, it would be a little better. He added that the conference call will be informative and some of the topics he couldn't talk about with me would be dealt with there.
I'm still looking for this quarter (the one just past) to be flat compared to a year ago --- which considering there's no IBM business would be positive --- and improved numbers in the quarters that follow, especially in the second half.
Spectrum very likely will take the lead in their market. Once the numbers come out, we'll know for sure.
I'll definitely add before the conference call.
Regards,
Pat |
