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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (285885)	5/2/2004 10:53:14 AM
From: broadstbull	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

<<<1. Abelson says that the way to get out of Iraq is to make Saddam apologize on tv, promise not to do any bad things, then give him back the keys to the country. A better idea than Bush or Kerry has. <G> >>> Wow, did he really say that? I think that would guarantee a 3 way civil war.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (285885)	5/3/2004 5:13:45 AM
From: zonder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Amazon is moving into jewelry. Bad move. Ebay will eat their ever-lovin' lunch, IMHO Amazon could actually do better than Ebay on jewellery & watches. The main problem with Ebay is the abundance of crooks who peddle false branded stuff. Any diamond you buy on Ebay is likely to be crystal, or more likely, glass -g- Ebay takes no responsibility... From what I read on their site, Amazon guarantees the diamond qualities (lots of price difference between a G and H clarity), sizes, and brands. For simple but essential jewellery like diamond stud earrings, it could work very well for Amazon...

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (285885)	5/3/2004 7:10:11 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

May 2, 2004 GRETCHEN MORGENSON In the Spinoff Sunshine, Storms Are Easy to Forget HEN Motorola announced first-quarter earnings last month, its semiconductor unit was a real standout. Not only were its $1.4 billion in sales up 21 percent from the comparable period a year earlier, its operating earnings were $107 million, Motorola said. That's a nice turnaround from the $121 million it lost last year. The results are certainly an auspicious lead-in to the planned spinoff of the semiconductor business, which will be known as Freescale Semiconductor. Last month, the unit filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although Freescale did not say how many shares it will sell to the public, it said it hoped to issue them as soon as possible. But as investors weigh the merits of such an offering, some analysts said that the first-quarter results Motorola highlighted in its news release might have painted an overly sunny picture. Take, for example, the $107 million in operating earnings. That number drops considerably when you strip out a one-time gain of $54 million that the company recorded when it reversed some previous charges. Thus, the 8 percent profit margin that the unit appeared to have was more like 5 percent after special items were excluded. A Motorola spokesman said that its press release was in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. He said the company noted the one-time gain in the semiconductor unit in the quarterly presentation it published on its Web site. It is no surprise that Motorola wants to spin off its semiconductor business now, with the industry growing. Neither should it shock anyone that Motorola might not want to shout about how one-time gains contributed to its semiconductor unit's results. Motorola closed at $18.25 on Friday. The spokesman declined to comment on its plans for the semiconductor unit. Wall Street analysts, exuberant by nature and eager for the investment banking fees that an initial public offering will generate, are valuing the business at 2.5 times its sales, or $5 to $6 a share. Wall Street has extra motivation to help Motorola sell the semiconductor unit for the highest price it can. These businesses are notoriously capital-intensive and typically require several offerings of bonds or stock. More fees. Yippee. An analysis by a money manager who is bearish on Motorola values the business at $2.50 to $3.75 a share, based on financial projections. He reached that range by assigning a price-to-earnings multiple of 15 times to the business and assuming growth in earnings before interest and taxes of 10 to 14 percent in 2005. Prospective investors should tread warily here for another reason: semiconductor spinoffs in the recent past have not been kind to long-term investors. Back in March 2001, for example, Lucent Technologies spun off Agere Systems at $6 a share. Two months later, the stock reached a peak of almost $9. It began falling soon after and closed at $2.26 last week. In the March quarter, Agere said, sales rose 4 percent, but the company reduced its forecasts for the current quarter. The stock is down 26 percent this year. OTHER examples of desultory semiconductor spin-outs abound. In August 1999, National Semiconductor sold its Fairchild Semiconductor unit in a public offering. The shares were priced at $18.50. They reached $48.44 in mid-2000 but soon returned to earth, and have significantly underperformed the Philadelphia semiconductor index. The stock closed Friday at $19.47. Two semiconductor businesses that Siemens spun off recently have not performed particularly well. One, Infineon Technologies, issued shares in March 2000 at $33.92; they raced to more than $77 four months later and then plummeted. Infineon closed at $12.86 on Friday. Siemens spun off another unit, Epcos, at $33.41 a share in September 1999. Sales have declined since 2001. Its stock closed at $20.77 Friday and is down 7.9 percent this year. Finally, there is the short and not-so-sweet history of investors in ON Semiconductor, which Motorola sold in August 1999 to the Texas Pacific Group, a venture capital firm. Texas Pacific sold the company to the public in April 2000, at $16 a share. Last week, ON reported higher revenues and rising gross margins, but showed a loss of 2 cents a share; analysts had been expecting the company to break even. The stock, which closed at $4.84 Friday, is down 25 percent this year. According to its prospectus, Freescale has generated $3.7 billion in operating losses and $4.3 billion in net losses from 2001 through 2003. Its sales and profits recently have underperformed those of its peers. It is possible that this spinoff will do better as a public company than some of its predecessors have. Then again, the past may be prologue. One more time. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company \| Home \| Privacy Policy \| Search \| Corrections \| Help \| Back to Top