Chris, First a few notes and then I will answer your questions. The inventory is much higher in units that it was last year and, in fact, equals more than a full quarter's supply at current chip prices. 16 Mbit chips were close to $8 last year and about $2.50 this year, so inventory, in dollar terms, at about the same level, means a huge increase in units being held back from sales at losses. A similar story is true for the pc boxes, but not nearly as dramatic. Lack of testers did not prevent them from building lots of unsalted chips. -g-
Valuation is just a joke. However, we do know that Micron is a much better company than Mot or TXN. -vbg-
1. I am not sure about the interest payment. I will look it up. I do know that they should have been accounting for it every month, but their statements don't reflect that.
2. Selling off profitable assets does not make up for lost sales. It is simply a stopgap measure to prevent going belly up.
3. I don't see how this quarter is not worse for MUEI. There is no Xmas, IBM and CPQ are cutting prices and giving away monitors, and MUEI boxes are still overpriced. Good boxes, but there are lots of good boxes out there.
4. It will be a brave brokerage house that dares to bring an offering in the midst of this disaster. The only hope is for anti-dumping to get a lot of publicity and some scamster to say that "the worst is past." But I would think the pool of really stupid convertible buyers has been fished out by now. MB |
