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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: agrove who wrote (5966)	7/30/1998 4:59:00 PM
From: KM	Respond to of 93625

More commentary on the conference: The hottest presentation thus far at the Robertson Stephens Semiconductor Conference (if only because the windowless basement room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel was packed with over 250 fund managers) was the 9:30 a.m. Rambus (RMBS:Nasdaq) presentation. Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Tate and Chief Financial Officer Gary Harmon addressed a crowd that was well aware the stock had surged from 35 1/2 in mid-June to close at 52 1/2 yesterday. The assembled money managers seemed to like what they heard. Toward the end of the presentation, cell phones were whipped out, people made for the exits and, within 10 minutes of the presentation's conclusion, the stock surged 6 to 60 1/8 per share. The presentation from Tate was extremely bullish about the company's long-term prospects, and the news that Rambus' design would be used in every future Intel (INTC:Nasdaq) chip was particularly well received: "Intel, at the end of 1996, selected Rambus' design for future Intel chips sets. That's all Intel chips sets, including those from the lowest-cost desktop PCs." Tate cited a study by a research firm called InStat that drew wows from the crowd. "InStat says that the percent of DRAMS that are using Rambus technology and design will exceed 50% by 2001," said Tate. "Our estimated market share right now is about 1%, so that represents significant gains in the near term for Rambus." The company is a so-called "chipless" semiconductor manufacturer, meaning it designs proprietary Rambus DRAM chips that work up to three times faster than standard DRAM chips, but the company neither manufactures the chips nor subcontracts the work. That means it never gets stuck carrying inventory -- which is how most chip companies bleed to death. "We're just delivering on the things that we told Wall Street we would deliver on," Tate said after the presentation. "But if I knew what Wall Street wanted, I wouldn't have to run Rambus for a living." Tate also was the scheduled speaker for a 1 p.m. PST lunch -- just after the market closes. Rambus' shareholders are hoping he doesn't show up with a new presentation that starts with the word "Psyche!"