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Technology Stocks : MWAV-M WAVE COMM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FIFO_kid2 who wrote (367)	9/25/2000 5:21:27 PM
From: Tom Hua	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 443

Jeffrey, No I didn't see the 9/25 article. I'll go look, but here's the 9/20 article. Regards, Tom September 20, 2000 Dow Jones Newswires Offshore Manufacturing Sparks M-Wave Turnaround By ANN KEETON Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES CHICAGO -- After floundering in a sea of competitors, M-Wave Inc. (MWAV), a maker of printed circuit boards, is riding a crest of success, thanks in part to moving the majority of its manufacturing to Asia and making custom products. The company was unable to stay competitive by making a single product, a circuit board printed on Teflon. So this year, M-Wave shifted to what it calls "virtual manufacturing," sub-contracting 70% of business to increase its ability to deliver products to the booming wireless telecommunications industry. M-Wave makes about 30% of products in its U.S. facility and the balance in Asia. Chief Executive and founder Joseph Turek told Dow Jones Newswires he expects M-Wave's third-quarter earnings "to be better" than the 33 cents a share reported in the second quarter. He said he couldn't comment on earnings for the year because customers in the high-tech business can change their plans quickly. Typically, he said, fourth-quarter earnings in his industry are lower than they are in the third quarter, due to year-end holidays. He said expects sales to top $30 million this year. The company lost 30 cents a share on sales of $11.3 million last year. Although no analysts are following the company, the market has noticed M-Wave's achievements; shares traded recently at $17.25, well above the 52-week low of $1.63, set in November. The 52-week high was $20, set on Thursday. Turek said M-Wave expects to reach sales of $100 million in three to five years, depending on market conditions. That's a key sales target, he said, because competitors, including Hadco Corp., a private company, and Honeywell International Inc.'s (HON) Advanced Circuits unit, do at least that much business. Turek said M-Wave downsized its domestic manufacturing business last year. "'We needed to grow rapidly, but we were a small company without much capital to support that growth," Turek said. Surveying the market, he said, "We found that manufacturers in Asia are making products that are less expensive than domestic products, but are very high quality." Furthermore, there's a shortage of circuit boards in the U.S., which Asian manufacturers could fill. But, Turek said, "historically, Asia has had a hard time breaking into the U.S. market. We could see that it's only a matter of time before Asian suppliers get a foothold in the U.S." To take advantage of Asian manufacturing capabilities, M-Wave, which serves wireless telecommunications customers like Motorola Inc. (MOT) and Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU), hired subcontractors in Japan and other Pacific Rim countries. "We created 'virtual manufacturing' capability," Turek said. M-Wave takes designs from customers and makes a prototype in its suburban Chicago factory. "It makes a big difference in the manufacturing process that we get all the bugs out before we send it to the subcontractors," Turek said. The Asian-made products are tested and repackaged at M-Wave in the U.S. before they're shipped to customers. Using ten subcontractors, M-Wave can make whatever the customer needs. That means the company's potential market in the printed circuit board business has expanded to $3 billion from $50 million in just one year, Turek maintained. With the ability to deliver goods in three to four weeks, or faster for some products, M-Wave is ahead of the average 10-week lead times for the U.S. industry, Turek said. "We think we can achieve the growth we're looking for by getting more business from our existing customers," the executive said. -Ann Keeton; Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4120