Kelvin & Justin,
I now speak for myself, not the company. Personally, I hope we stay
as far away from the NASDAQ as possible. Allow me to illustrate.
Below, please find data on all the public companies in the PC
graphics business, both chip and board vendors
Company, 9/25/98 closing price, % change last 52 weeks, P/E (Last
4 Qs) , P/Sales (Last 4 Qs), Market Cap
TDDDF: $4.75, -86.9%, 4.7, 1.1, $76M
TDFX: $12.375, -28.8%, 11.7, 1.5, $207M
TRID: $3.125, -81.8%, NM, 0.4, $41M
SIII: $3.00, -77.3%, NM, 0.4, $153M
NMGC: $11.125, -44.0%, 11.35, 1.6, $284M
DIMD: $4.8125, -59.0%, 41.6, 0.3, $168M
STBI: $6.875, -73.3%, 6.9, 0.3, $88M
CREAF: $9.5625, -65.5%, 4.7, 0.7, $912M
NINE: $2.5625, -39.7%, NM, 0.6, $24M
ATY: US$10.15, +112%, 22.2, 3.0, $1,989M
(C$15.35)
Sources: SI, NASDAQ, ATI, NMGC, Security APL quote server.
(Note that Matrox and nVidia are both private so their data is not
included. Intel's data is buried in their CPU figures, so I don't have
accurate data on Intel graphics.)
Some conclusions to draw:
-The PC graphics business sucks.
-Everybody but ATI has been a loser in the stock market this past
year. 52 week stock drops range from -39.7% to -86.9%.
-NASDAQ hasn't rewarded even the growing companies like TDFX
and NMGC.
-If you bothered to subtract the cash held by a few of these
companies from their market cap, you'd find companies with hardly
any market value at all.
-The pathetic Price/Sales ratios show the street has given up on
graphics.
-Check out the shorting activity on some of the NASDAQ stocks over
the past year. Horrifying. Makes it impossible to get the stock to pull
up.
Why would we want to stay on the Toronto Exchange?
-Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there an advantage for all those
Canadian mutual funds to invest in Canadian companies?
-How many world class technology companies are there in Canada?
Not many, as such, ATY will attract more than its share of
techno-hungry Canadian investors.
-The Canadian markets are rational and much less prone to shorting
activity. Make a buck and the Canadian market will reward you.
-ATI is still a little cork floating on a sea of capital, so ATI can get its
hands on as much capital as needed.
Again, these are my opinions, not those of the company. But I can't
see any reason to go to the NASDAQ. The PC graphic companies
get clobbered in the States.
My two bits.
Ski |
