"Nord,...I've been lurking here for about a year now and I'm wondering
about this Company's claim to be a World leader in DSP solutions. Not to kick someone when they are down, but I do see a lot of posts on DSP
being a booming market so I wonder how a leader (even in a niche) is
doing so poorly. I assume that profits are going to disappoint, but will this be a buying opportunity? Does anyone have a prediction on profits? I hate these "buying opportunities" when I am long on a stock. (I am long on SSPI)."
Edwin
They are the world leader because despite the terrible performance of the stock. The company has continued to grow save for this past year where everyone [in dsp] was caught in the downdraft.
The DSP era is here and it will continue to grow. The low cost of todays dsp cores, their lowered power consumption, increasing sophistication of software and tooling open up huge new markets for SSPI. The core companies like TI/ADI and telco chip cos. MOT/LU have all gained recent press.
The smaller "niche players" like SSPI will have there day. If you have been reading here, and hopefully other places as well, you know that SSPI has had plenty of OEM original equipment makers come to them to develop products. A new focus a new company has emerged..not without growing/transition pains. The Company IMO is iin the best position to take advantage of the next wave. Currently many of the early/smaller dsp cores are used in single applications dig. phones, dvd, autos, etc,etc. Now because of TXN?ADI newer high end cores the ability to integrate these very powerful fast dsp chips into COTS proprietary boards developed with specific interface and specs that can be then used as a template to build an integrated opperating system see KODAK BELL and HOWELL etc.. These boards can be sold to OEMs to allow them if they have the in house expertise to design the final application system to do it or SSPI can develop the s/w operating system and even make (ASICs) specialized chips that add a specific funtion to a board..witness the hurricane and the current intrachip asic under development for the 3G basestation boards/ I cannot tell you if the price has bottomed. I can tell you that IMO the stock is so cheap that it is a compelling values. This is true for many other solid companies much less well known companies where value is discounted by the market. If you are looking for a cutting edge technology company in an area of tech that is predicted to grow at 30% yr/yr for the next 5 years SSPI is a good opportunity. It is hard to predict when the big announcement will come re. big name/dollar amt contract, or the oems that are buying products from SSPI will get thee products into their marketing channels. With the size of many of these contracts SSPI could grow very rapidly once we get these contracts into orders and sales. The company has brought the cost side [overhead] down making breakeven easier to accomplish. I mentioned a clue to the names of the companies that SSPI has won OEM ins from they are all very large Fortune 500 companies. The clue is in the text of Q2 conference call. I continue to accumulate shares as IMO the stock is being given away at these prices. A reference point is despite any lags in marketing etc I expect the company to be throwing off substantial cash if you have a 12-24 month time frame I think you could easily get a 4-500% return that $8-10/share in that time frame. Despite all the unhappiness on the thread myself included re. the stocks performance the company is in a great position to take advantage of the migration of dsp into factories, wireless basestation markets, military: sonar/radar surveillance, and the semi equipment markets. The reasons for the poor recent performance include global slowdown, customers waiting for new cores C6/Sharc cores, and the time from an IN to WIN and the time from WIN to product hiting the market 12-18 months and then being marketed by the oem before sales come to Spectrum. I think we should see some of those WINS start to show revenue as we go through 99 and by 2k we should be firing on many product cylinders.
I hope this helps. It is all IMO and as always do your own homework. I will say that compared to the other dsp board companies Spectrum is regarded within the industry by OEM and core companies as cutting edge.
Regards
Norden |
