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Technology Stocks : Disk Drive Sector Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark Oliver who wrote (7085)	9/13/1999 12:42:00 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9256

The only news I've seen on HTCH is (1) that Maxtor has allegedly increased its orders to its suppliers, and (2) that Seagate continues to evaluate TSA, and is building test drives incorporating TSA. Also, more microdrives coming into play, with Halo's being the most recent that I know of, and I suppose that they all use TSA (of course, I also suppose that in the ripeness of time flash will win out over microdrives for most applications where they are appropriate, but that's another story to be fought out in the marketplace and in the engineering rooms). But I to am hopeful that this is a real move here. We are coming up to a point which was at one time strong support--the 31-33 area, where, in fact, I made my first purchase of HTCH, posting on this very thread memorable words to the effect of, "Well, 31-33 looks like pretty strong support for HTCH, so I bought on this last dip." It took maybe two weeks, I think, for that "support" to be breeched, though really I'm all that unhappy with it, I have averaged down three times in the high teens and low 20s since then. I still think that it is at least possible that we could get back to the old highs by Jan-Feb, unless the move to single platter drives and fewer heads is really a lot stronger than I believe. Plenty of enterprise drives out there which require lots of heads too. And the addition of Seagate as a volume TSA customer--presuming it occurs--should offset the move the single platter drives pretty well. Best, Sam

To: Mark Oliver who wrote (7085)	9/17/1999 4:16:00 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

Mark, In case you missed it, INVX lead wire business "dying" faster than expected. Good news for Hutch? Also, INVX moving a plant from Mexico to Thailand. As we know, Seagate is Thailand's largest private employer. Not a coincidence, I would guess. Innovex sees Q4 EPS below estimate, plans charge HOPKINS, Minn., Sept 17 (Reuters) - Electrical components maker Innovex Inc. (Nasdaq:INVX - news) said Friday it expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings to be between $0.10 and $0.14 a share, below analysts' expectations, because of weak demand for one of its product lines. Analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial had expected Innovex to post a profit of $0.17 a share in the fourth quarter ending Sept. 30. Last year, the company earned $0.13 a share in the fourth quarter. Innovex said many of its customers were opting for flexible circuits instead of lead wire assemblies, both of which are used in computers. Innovex said that at the end of the fourth quarter, lead wire assemblies would account for less than 5 percent of its revenues, compared with 75 percent in the prior fiscal year. Innovex said it was trying to switch to flexible circuits, but capacity contraints had slowed production. Innovex said it would take a charge of up to $2.6 million in the fourth quarter to cover costs of excess equipment and inventory caused by the lower demand for its lead wire assembly products. The company also said it would take another charge against earnings in the fiscal first quarter to cover costs of moving a production plant to Thailand from Mexico. A company spokesman said Innovex had not yet determined the amount of the charge. He said the move to Thailand would reduce costs. ``Innovex continues to successfully execute its strategy to replace its lead wire business with a line of rapidly growing flexible circuit products,' William Murnane, president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. ``Although we are disappointed that the decline of the lead wire business occurred more rapidly than anticipated, we are eager to put this dying business behind us and focus on integrating the ADFlex acquisition and managing the explosive growth of our flexible circuit business,' he said. Innovex agreed to acquire ADFlex in July, a move that made Innovex the largest flexible circuit manufacturer in North America. Shares of Innovex were up 1/16 at 9-11/16 on the Nasdaq before trading was halted for news dissemination.