Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Ampex Corporation (AEXCA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hal Campbell who wrote (8106)	5/5/1999 9:36:00 AM
From: Carl R.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17679

The financials weren't good, but they weren't really surprising, either. It will be interesting to see if after NAB we start seeing rising sales at Ampex Data Systems, which combined with rising Micronet sales and rising royalty revenue would make some positive changes on the financials. As for the royalty income, it appears to have started increasing back in Q3 1998. The only positive note I saw was an indication that sales are rising at Micronet. It would have been nice to have gotten a little better picture of what was the financial picture looked like at TVW, Reiter, and AENTV, but we didn't, so we'll just have to wait another quarter. As for the balance sheet, a couple notable changes. The conversion of the convertible issue did help to reduce the negative book value some, though even a conversion of the rest won't eliminate it. The other change is that they apparently burned about $12 million in the first quarter. At that rate they'll need more money before the end of the year, so it shouldn't be too long before they are forced to play one of their cards and do either another convertible issue, or IPO a subsidiary. As for the IPO possibility, I note that many of the current IPOs involve only about 10% of the stock of a company. That way the cost to the company and the benefit to the "flip artists" is minimized, and is limited to perhaps 5% of the worth of the subsidiary. I also note that none of the ones I am looking at are making money, and few have more than a year or two of operating results, and they rarely have more than a few quarters of real revenue. As for the effect on the stock, I don't expect much to happen. The stock appeared to bottom yesterday at 4 3/16 and be ready for a rally today. We may see an early selloff followed by a sharp rally, but I expect the close today to be higher than the close yesterday. Carl