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Technology Stocks : Applied Magnetics Corp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T Bowl who wrote (10353)	11/15/1997 12:16:00 PM
From: EyeDrMike	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12298

The following is from the recent report by APM, and my comments: "Net sales and gross margins in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1997 were negatively impacted by lower yields on newly qualified magnetoresistive (MR) programs and 1.7-gigabyte-per-3.5''-disk inductive thin film products, which were in their first full quarter of volume production. " lower yields on newly qualified MR products not a good sign, especially when APM seems to be behind the MR curve already; MR will dominate the disk drive market inside 12 months, this is not a guess on my part but a fact. (more on this later) has this lower yield problem been corrected? "Research and development expenses of $14.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1997 increased from $11.2 million in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year. " Seems to me these numbers are low; did they possibly under-invest in MR research and development? "The company is continuing its commitment to MR product development and became qualified on two new customer drive programs during the quarter, for high-end and for portable-disk-drive applications, with additional qualifications anticipated in the first half of fiscal year 1998. " so they're qualified for 2 MR programs during quarter; depending on who the customers are, this could either be a good thing or a bad thing; anyone know who these customers are and how much revenue could be derived? RDRT contract with WDC for MR was publically announced; if these 2 new customers are important for APM, whynot name them, and increase share price and shareholder value? additional qualifications are "anticipated in the first half of fiscal 1998"; that's 6 months boys and girls; an eternity on the speedway of tech companies; and there are no guarantees that they will be qualified. In 12 months, MR will dominate the market, if it takes the 6 months to get additional qualifications, the MR baseball game may be in the 7 inning by then and too late for APM. "The company believes that its pico form factor inductive thin film product solutions at the 1.7-gigabyte-per-3.5''-disk capacity point continue to offer its customers superior price/performance value and plans volume production of these products through fiscal year 1998. " can APM juggle to types on heads effectively? btw, margins fell 30% in the fourth quarter, so it would seem these old style products are generally substantially less profit. " However, this is expected to be the last new generation of inductive thin film products, making fiscal year 1998 a significant technology transition year as the company product mix evolves from thin-film to MR disk-head technology. " " The majority of new customer development programs, for which the company is currently in qualification cycles, utilize MR technology. MR products are expected to represent the majority of the company's shipments by the fourth quarter of fiscal 1998. " BINGO.............APM announces to the world that MR will dominate the market within 12 months. and their still seeking qualification status from their customers!!!! "Operating and financial results for fiscal year 1998 will depend heavily on the company's ability to continue to achieve qualification status on new MR programs, implement timely production ramps and improve process and production yields on its new programs. " sounds an awful lot like a legal disclaimer................... " Recently, the company announced the appointment of Dr. Virgil S. Speriosu to the newly created position of vice president, wafer development, where he will be concentrating on effecting the transition of the company's product technology from inductive thin film to MR during fiscal year 1998, as well as the development of future disk-head technologies and products. Speriosu comes to Applied Magnetics with more than 13 years of experience in the development of magnetic recording devices and materials, most recently at IBM's Almaden Research Center. Speriosu will be reporting directly to Craig D. Crisman, chairman and chief executive officer. " just hired an MR guy, and full transition is less than 12 months away, according to APM. but we all know that MR is already gaining market share every week. " The MR-wafer-fab-clean-room expansions currently underway will be completed and fully equipped by April 1998, as the company transitions during fiscal year 1998 to higher volume production of MR products. " april 1998??.........that's six months from now; seems that they won't be able to meet significant demand for MR til second half of 1998, and that's assuming no unexpected delays in contruction or the qualification porocess. Mike