Hey, Jim!
Good to see you here. Are you another SDLI follower? Here I thought I'd discovered the company and Walter Jacquemin had already started a thread under "semiconductors."
I've written to ask his preference --- keep both or kill this one.
It would be fun to see an Amati reunion. In light of your great response to Ed, "DWDM is to Fiber, what ADSL is to POTS," it seems appropriate. We were pioneers, to be sure.
I discovered SDLI at the AEA conference last week, so herewith a few notes:
"SDL= laser-based solutions for optical telecommunications. . . 50 PhDs out of 600 personnel, equivalent to Bell Labs. . . . largest customer is LU (using 80 wave length). . . want to be market leader, either number 1 or 2. . . 5 record quarters, up 26% year to year. . . 1995 IPO, 1997 ran out of capacity . . . upgraded to new equipment, now make better products, yields 3 X. . . undersea fiber products qualification, production order from largest provider of undersea cables. . . new products estimated to be $4.17 billion in 2000 and $12.1 billion in 2005. fiber amplifiers $1.5 billion market by 2000. . . Lucent's Wavestar (80 laser 1999) needs amplifier to boost X 10. . . 980 nm pumps 30% of revenues, 12 mos. growth 70%, could grow 100% in '99. . . . have patent on Bragg gratings (no revs soon). . . biggest competitor for power pump is Uniphase . . . submarine market is 2 X for chips. . . $6 - 8,000 for full package. . . high margin business. . . can sell chip to submarine now. . not fully qualified for submarine package yet. . . . est. production in 12 mos. . . .
Focusing on high-power transmitter laser market b/c we like to be number 1. SDLI's integrated amplifiers = 1/3 of amplifier market. Transmitter market is $3.3 billion. . . .
DWDM higher channel (32 and 80) market growing fast."
Looking over recent press releases, it's interesting to note the company announced a share-repurchase program the same day they announced record earnings. Let's hope they loaded up before the stock shot up 46%.
I've taken a small position and will build on dips.
Cheers!
Pat
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