Tom, thanks for the numbers. My position on CRNR has not yet changed. If you play short-term swings, it is possible to make a lot of money off CRNR. For example, buying in August and selling in October would have made you a 100% gain in 3 months - if you were a super-genius timer.
But when you look at the longer term, you see that CRNR has been in a trading range between 6 and 10 since last April. With earnings coming out next Tuesday morning, we are at a decision point. Either CRNR breaks the upper end of the range, or we go back to 6.
Either way, I want to see the numbers before I buy. There is very little institutional interest in this stock (with a market cap of just $70 million, it doesn't even make it onto the big boys' computer screens). This means that price moves are going to be less panicky, giving us investors better entry and exit points.
I've always maintained that Cornerstone needs to do two things to prop up its stock price: (1) hold the line on monitor sales and margins, their cash cow, and (2) grow the InputAccel software business like crazy. From what I'm hearing, they are doing both of those things.
The question is whether it will be good enough for the street. There is already the expectation of better-than-double earnings from last quarter. I expect that CRNR's numbers will be just OK - meaning no sharp moves either way. It's still a tough business, selling monitors.
So I still see no reason to buy before earnings come out. I don't think I would be getting a much better price on Monday and I do think I would be increasing my risk substantially. |
