Rachel,
I dont believe this has been posted yet.Rambus:The Train has Left the Station.
aol.com;
Off the Charts
Rambus: The Train has Left the Station
June 23, 1998
By Jim Evans
Everybody1s favorite semiconductor play was at it again on Tuesday.
Rambus' elastic share price jumped 11 to close at 57 1/2. That1s two
consecutive days of phenomenal trading for the company that seems to
trade in spurts. With talk of the company1s share price drifting into
the 100s, many traders are getting in now, while the getting is good.
So what1s behind the growth? Three news items appeared to have triggered
the latest Rambus eruption. First there was the news yesterday that both
Dell and Compaq confirmed that they plan to ship PCs using Rambus memory
interface technology for main memory. Then, news turned up that Intel,
Toshiba and LG Semicon announced system testing of Rambus DRAM at 1.6
Gbytes per second. Finally, rumors that Intel will make a major
investment in a Korean DRAM maker (Samsung or LG Semicon?) helped spur
the confidence that, yes, despite the horrible market, someone will be
making DRAMs in 1999.
What does all this mean? Well, it means that Rambus isn1t just for
kiddies anymore. Translation: While Rambus made its name getting its
technology into the Nintendo 64, the next generation PC market looks
more and more like a Rambus market. The top PC manufacturers are behind
it, the top microprocessor maker is behind it, and the top memory makers
are behind it. This is a train that has left the station.
Analyst Rob Chaplinsky of Hambrecht & Quist LLC has been one of Rambus1
biggest boosters on Wall Street. Chaplinsky is especially noted among
traders because he has championed Rambus as a $100 stock for some time,
much to the chagrin of some investors when the company fell from its
mid-80s perch in September 1997. Today, Chaplinsky reiterated that he
believes Rambus will hit the $100 level sometime in the next six to 12
months. He calls the company the 3small gorilla.ý
While most traders and analysts saw the stock gain as the result of the
latest news, there was some speculation in Web posting sites and
elsewhere that the run-up was in front of a potential buyout, maybe even
with investor and partner Intel. Chaplinsky called that rumor nonsense.
3What makes Rambus successful is that it is Switzerland,ý he said. 3If
one huge company tries to own this technology, other companies will try
to find a way to work around it.ý
Even at Tuesday1s closing price of 57 1/2, Chaplinsky said the stock is
a good deal, based on what the company has in the pipeline. 3There is a
lot more coming,ý Chaplinsky said. 3I1d hate to short this stock with
all the press releases that are coming soon.ý
What we1re seeing here in the Rambus 1998 takeoff is the birth of
another powerful PC player, at least in the public eye. For years, the
trade press has reported that Rambus was working closely with the PC
makers, DRAM companies and Intel to develop technology for PCs, but the
recent Dell and Compaq announcement all but confirms Rambus as a
longtime player on the PC scene. The only question left is, just how big
will that PC market be?
Jim Evans is finance editor at UPSIDE.
Off the Charts Archive
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