****OT**** Robbie Stephens Conference: Dallas Presses the iButton
By TSC Staff
2/22/99 3:31 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- Dallas Semiconductor (DS:NYSE) has its finger on the button -- the iButton, that is. That's the name of a computer chip small enough to be worn on your tie or in a ring. The chip can transmit information to a computer -- for security access at an office building or identification at a cash machine or on a train, for instance.
Dallas Semi CFO Alan Hale is counting on the iButton to put some zip into the communications-
chip company's stock, which was up 7/16 at 36 1/2 after Dallas' session at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens Technology '99 Conference. About 25 million iButtons are now in use, he said.
David Arscott, a money manager from Compass Technology Partners, said he was one of the original investors in Dallas Semiconductor and still has personal holdings in the company. He likes the diverse product line that complements the iButton and the diverse customer base: Dallas' top 25 customers account for only about a quarter of revenue.
Arscott also sees growth potential. The company saw a first ever decline in revenue of 7% last year because of the Asian crisis but still managed to record $55.4 million in profits. Order rates for early 1999 are "a source of modest encouragement," Hale said, and revenue looks to be better than in any of the four previous quarters. "We hope that in early 1999, this good data holds," he said.
-- Marcy Burstiner
Summit's Down in the Dumps
Summit Design (SMMT:Nasdaq) is stuck in a trough.
Though the company's CEO and financial chief tried to talk up the company, investors remained wary after getting burned. The maker of software tools for design automation first delayed and then canceled an acquisition of Orcad (OCAD:Nasdaq) due to lengthy reviews by the Securities and Exchange Commission. When Summit announced earlier this month that the deal was canceled, the stock slid more than 30% in a day and has yet to recover. Monday the stock was down 1/4, or 7%, at 3 7/16, near its all-time low.
"Unless you already own the shares, I don't really see any reason to buy any except that it's really cheap," said one fund manager who has substantially pared down his position in Summit. "I thought Orcad would have been good for them, but now that's off and I don't know where they're going. If I weren't already in it, I'd stay on the sidelines and watch because it doesn't look like anything's happening for at least six months or so."
During the presentation, CFO Al Koob told investors to expect results for the first half of the year to remain down as the company tries to rebuild itself and hire new sales and marketing people. The third quarter should be flat as it trains those people, and the fourth quarter should see the company return to growth, he said.
-- Medora Lee
ICQ Fans Seek AOL
America Online's (AOL:NYSE) ICQ instant chat and communication technology is expanding AOL's already massive brand, and attracting attention from attendees at Robbie Stephens.
Getting into AOL's session was about as tough as getting into its stock at a reasonable price. A mass of people standing in the concourse waiting to see AOL's presentation had to jostle with the crowd leaving Cisco (CSCO:Nasdaq)'s presentation immediately before. The logjam at the entrance, cracked BankBoston Private Bank vice president Jeffrey Green, was "like trying to log onto AOL."
Currently about 85,000 to 90,000 new registrants are logging on and signing up for ICQ every day and about 94% of the ICQ users are not AOL members, said Ted Leonsis, president of AOL studios.
More than 29 million people use ICQ and only 6% of them overlap with AOL's existing user base. And those users are spending an average of an hour a day using the instant messaging service. "It's the fastest growing community on the Internet today," says Leonsis, "and ICQ is very sticky."
Curtis Brown, a money manager for Curtis Brown & Co. says he doesn't own AOL stock, "but I'd sure like to. But at what price?" He said he was waiting for a correction before he'd buy in.
-- Suzanne Galante
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