Clint,
Motorola's management has been very evasive the last couple
of conference calls. I can't say I was impressed.
On the semiconductor side. I noticed that they are concentrating
on large corporate accounts only. We not longer even have an FAE
in our area. There was a time when I associated MOT with good
technical support, but being put on factory allocation for
MC68HC11's a few years back and then losing our FAE, now I am a
little reluctant to use their parts in my designs.
Harry
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MOTOROLA INC. (MOT) 55 +3 1/8. The stock of this semiconductor and cell phone maker
continues to be helped by a takeover rumor, even though Siemens AG has denied interest in
making a bid for the company. The stock got off to a fast start when rumors surfaced that
Germany's electronic conglomerate had shown an interest in acquiring Motorola. Given the
problems that Motorola has experienced the last couple of years in the semiconductor, and
cellular
and paging products front, investors have jumped all over this possible combination. In some
analysts views, this union would make sense because Motorola does not have switch
manufacturing
capabilities to compete more effectively against fast growing Lucent Technologies (LU 72 15/16
-1/8), Swedish telephone equipment maker Ericsson (ERICY 54 15/16 -13/16), and Finnish
conglomerate Nokia Corp. (NOK.A 68 7/8 -1). However, Siemens is quoted on the news tape as
saying that they they are not going after Motorola and have no interest in pursuing a deal. This
denial, however, has fallen on deaf ears as some investors are convinced that Motorola needs a
partner with greater resources and know-how to allow Motorola to expand beyond its traditional
role. And if not Siemens, then someone else like an Alcatel Alsthom (ALA 41 1/4 +9/16), the
French supplier of telecommunications and multimedia equipment, is being mentioned as a
possible
partner. At this moment in time, given the price erosion that investors have experienced and the
lack of any meaningful return to the heyday of double digit revenue and earnings growth,
investors
will take any excuse to push the stock higher. |
