If you haven't seen it already, a list of sellers in the upcoming secondary offering can be found at:
techstocks.com
From this list, one can see that of the principal shareholders, IBM is lightening its ownership of the company from 5% to 3%, Dupont is maintaining its 5% position and Perkin Elmer is selling all of its 5% position. Micron Technology is selling all of its roughly 2.5% position.
The fact that IBM and Dupont will still retain significant positions in Etec after the secondary suggests to me that these two companies aren't concerned about Etec's future. I have no guess as to why Micron and Perkin Elmer are selling. However, it's unlikely that these companies own Etec for the investment potential, in my opinion. These companies are just too large (giants IBM and Dupont in particular) for their Etec positions to make much difference financially. One plausible motivation for these companies owning Etec is to maintain some influence with the one company that develops and delivers most (75%) pattern generating equipment today, not to mention providing financial support to foster Etec's growth. With the semiconductor industry showing signs of recovery, and projections for good growth in 1997 and solid growth in 1998 and 1999, Etec is now more than well situated, it appears to me, to continue on its own course.
According to Dow Jones News Service, a third analyst is now following Etec. This analyst has issued a Buy and has a price target of $45. If all goes as planned, this would put 1997's PE at about 25 which I think is more than reasonable given Etec's position and potential.
Regards,
Eric |
