Institutional holders have increased from 32% to 37% during CRPB's
decline. In other words, institutionals are not selling into this
decline; they're buying.
I spoke with CRPB Investor Relations and they indicated that the annual
meeting lasted about 1 hour and the following was discussed:
--> Zane Close mentioned that institutional holdings have increased from
6.7% (of about 6+ million shares) to 32% (of 8 million shares) in the
last 12 months. However, SINCE Friday's annual mtg, new institutional
holdings figures released show 37% institutional holdings,
representing a 5% increase during the last 45 days.
--> Zane Close mentioned that CRPB's stock performance is a bit better
than the norm for its peer group of stocks. The peer group of stocks
they follow (including AMAT, Photronics, Dupont Photomask...) are
down an average of 53% from their 52-week highs and CRPB was down
about 48% from its 52-week high.
--> Zane Close indicated that Q2 may be soft as indicated in their earnings
release and they expect a turnaround in the beginning to the middle of
Q3 with a healthy Q4.
I asked about CRPB's relationship to INTC: CRPB derives 13% of revenue
from INTC. CRPB is the #1 test probe supplier for INTC, which is not a
bad thing because once this inventory correction is over, INTC will
be producing larger volumes of lower-cost chips which need to be tested
during production. CRPB's well-being depends on volume production.
CRPB is not overly dependent on any one customer. Their top 5
customers account for less than 50% of their sales.
For those people expecting great announcements at the annual meeting,
the investor relations person indicated they typically don't release
a lot of information during the quarter or at the annual meeting.
They're a "quiet" company.
Their Asian market is not doing that bad either. As prices go down in
Asia, so do their manufacturing costs, according to the IR person.
Investors often incorrectly assume that troubles in Asia portend
troubles for CRPB and this is not always true.
Margin squeeze selling (not company fundamentals) has most likely
brought CRPB down to these price levels. If CRPB stabilizes or moves
upward (as it is doing today), the margin squeeze will wane and buyers
should provide buoyance for the stock.
CRPB is now sporting an undervalued PE of 13. |
