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Editorial: CS Stocks Remain Amazingly Low
... As a technology journalist for over thirty years, championing truly "advanced" technologies, I can be rightfully accused of having too much passion for real innovators. It's a curse shared with many readers of The McDonald Report. Some of the most gratifying letters to the editor I receive start with...
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your calendars now and don't hesitate to contact us if you would like information
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Cree Signs XLamp Distributor for Italy and Cuts Silicon Microwave Losses with Closure of Sunnyvale OperationJune 2, 2005...Cree Inc. has signed an agreement with Tecnika Due srl to distribute Cree’s
XLamp power LEDs in Italy. Tecnika Due of Vittorio Veneto, Italy, an electronic
component and subsystem distributor established in 1982, has been distributing
Cree’s power components since 2002. Chris James, Cree’s vice president
of marketing stated, “Tecnika Due is well established in electronics
sales in Italy." He added, "Tecnika Due adds tremendous value
to our European distribution team.”
“We are looking forward to assisting Cree in its aggressive XLamp
marketing and sales efforts,” said Giuliano Cassataro, Tecnika Due
product line manager. “Cree XLamp high brightness LEDs are rapidly
gaining market acceptance due to unique technical innovations. Tecnika Due can
assist customers in evaluating and designing in the industry’s brightest
one-watt packaged LEDs from Cree.” Company
News Release
Cree signed an agreement with Vossloh-Schwabe Optoelectronic of Kamp-Lintfort,
Germany to be its key European Union distributor of XLamp LEDs in March of this
year. (Ref: article).
In other news, Cree plans to cut its losses on the silicon side of their electronics business and focus totally on silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride GaN-based RF microwave technology. Cree will close the silicon radio frequency (RF) and silicon-based microwave semiconductor business in Sunnyvale, California of its wholly owned subsidiary, Cree Microwave, Inc. This business manufactures silicon-based laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) and bipolar products. This part of Cree’s business reported a $9.2 million dollar loss for the nine month period ending March 27. Cree expects $13 to $15 million in pretax expenses to close the facility. The Company also announced that the parallel production of Schottky diode products will be consolidated in the Durham, North Carolina location in the first half of fiscal 2006. Cree expects aproximately 80 layoffs as a result of the closure. June 2, 2005...Mrs. Wu Ling, general secretary of China Solid State Lighting Alliance, was among the most highly anticipated speakers at our Blue 2005 event in Hsinchu, Taiwan in mid May. She pointed out that China is the second biggest user of electric power in the world with 1.91 trillion kilowatt hours (kWh) generated in 2003 and 2.187 trillion kWh generated in 2004. To underscore the importance and the potential cost savings of solid state lighting, Mrs. Ling estimated that 12% of this electricity generated in mainland China is used in lighting applications. According to Mrs. Ling, if energy efficiency of LEDs reaches 150 Lumens/Watt (lm/W) by 2015 and LED lighting is utilized for 25% of the country’s lighting market need, China can expect to save approximately 100 billion kWh of electricity annually. This would be roughly equivalent to the electricity generated each year by China’s enormous “Three Gorges Project.”
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Bellsouth Selects JDSU Platform for Next-Generation BroadbandJune 1, 2005...Bellsouth, one of the largest communication companies in the USA, has selected
part of JDSU’s core technologies for broadband. Specifically they have
chosen the WaveReady platform for passive optical transport in the loop portion
of its next-generation broadband network. Shipments of the subsystems are expected
to begin within the next year. "The JDS Uniphase passive optical technologies
will be a key component in allowing us to economically get Gigabit Ethernet
from the Edge Aggregation Router to the IP-DSLAM," said Bill Smith,
chief technology officer of BellSouth. "In cases where we do not have
a dedicated fiber available because the fiber is already in use, the CWDM approach
will allow multiple wavelengths of light to share the fiber." Company News Release
Emcore Buys Analog CATV and RF Over Fiber Businesses From JDS Uniphase
Scott McMahanMay 31, 2005...JDS Uniphase’s analog CATV and RF over fiber businesses apparently no longer
fits with the company’s objectives. JDS Uniphase of San Jose, California USA acquired Acterna, whose
testing and measurement equipment is used for the cable TV and DSL business. Understandably, analog cable does not fit
with a digital cable and DSL business. According to JDSU, the sale is just
part of the company's cost cutting measures. The same company however is a perfect
fit for Emcore who purchased it. Emcore Corporation of Somerset, New Jersey
USA, has acquired the analog cable TV (CATV) and radio frequency (RF) over fiber
specialty businesses from JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU). Emcore paid JDSU $1.5 million and has agreed to purchase between
$2.8 million and $3.8 million in components and parts. Emcore will assume some
open purchase orders for inventory components, and will pay JDS Uniphase a royalty on
licensed intellectual property. As part of the deal, Emcore and JDS Uniphase entered into a bilateral "preferred supplier" commercial agreement,
in which Emcore and JDSU will supply various optical components to each
other. Emcore has also hired a team of JDS Uniphase employees to continue the
marketing, sales, application engineering, and product design functions for
the acquired products. Emcore plans to soon establish a small design center
in northern Pennsylvania, near several major CATV product customers.
The product lines that are part of the agreement include: hybrid fiber coaxial
(HFC) 1550-nm broadcast transmitters, in both legacy and linearized optical
modulated designs, to link between cable network headends and hubs, 1550-nm
DWDM quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) transmitters, associated analog receivers,
1310-nm transmitters linking cable network hubs and nodes, amplifiers for extending
fiber network reach for FTTX applications, and radio frequency (RF) and microwave
over fiber specialty products for defense and satellite communications. Both
Emcore and JDSU are continuing to consolidate their optical businesses. Now
Emcore will sell analog cable and RF over fiber to some of the big cable companies
which were JDSU customers. Emcore and JDSU have chosen to ally themselves
to strengthen their positions in the volatile optical market. The question remains,
who will be left standing?
"This acquisition adds a valuable product portfolio and extremely
talented design and engineering team to our existing CATV, FTTX, and satellite
communications businesses," said Dr. Hong Hou, Vice President and
General Manager of Emcore's Ortel Division. "Emcore now offers complete
product solutions to OEMs in this communications market, and the acquisition
further validates our commitment to this industry with a best-of-breed product
portfolio, continued innovation, and customer support."
"Emcore is the ideal partner to continue the development, marketing
and sale of the JDSU analog CATV business," said David Gudmundson,
vice president of JDSU Corporate Development and Marketing. "This
agreement will provide continuity to our customers, will broaden EMCORE's offering
and will allow JDSU to focus on our core businesses." Company News Release Three Five Systems Receives Notice of Delisting From NYSEMay 31, 2005...Three Five Systems Inc. (TFS) has again received notice that its average daily
share price has fallen below $1.00, the minimum requirement for the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) in Section 802.01A of the NYSE Listed Company Manual. Other requirements
include average market capitalization of not less than $50 million over a 30-trading-day
period and stockholders' equity of not less than $50 million. On April 26 of this
year, the company also received notice of the same violation. At that time the Company received warning that it
must bring its share price and average share price back above $1.00 by October
25, 2005. The NYSE has requested that TFS submit business plan that demonstrates
how the company will be in compliance within the next 18 months. The NYSE will
provide written notice to the company if it determines to suspend trading and
delist the company’s stock after its review. TFS is currently evaluating
whether it will submit a business plan to the NYSE. The company is also looking
at its options regarding its potential delisting from the NYSE. (Ref: Form
8KA-Notice of Delisting or Transfer)
Spirit of Innovation Alive and Well at IEEE Design Competition Sponsored by Fairchild Semiconductor
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 27, 2005...Fairchild Semiconductors of South Portland, Main USA, a dominant player in the power electronics market, has for the fifth year in a row sponsored the IEEE student design competition. The company has helped ensure that the spirit of innovation is alive and well in Unite States universities. The design competition held at the Rochester Institute of Technology featured 24 teams from 16 Universities from the northeastern United States. A team from Boston University beat out the others with their entry-- a wireless system to detect free parking spaces in a complex parking lot.
"Fairchild applauds all the teams who participated in this competition that support the spirit of technical innovation," Malee Leeaphon, Fairchild's University Relations manager, said. "We're extremely pleased to sponsor an event, which stimulates the imagination of university students to develop electronic applications that may be the 'must have' appliances of tomorrow. This competition provides a valuable resource for the students, who will be the designers of the future." Company News Release Fujikura Develops White LED
LIGHTimes StaffMay 30, 2005...A Japanese company other than Nichia has developed a white LED of their own with
a new phosphor material. Fujikura Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan, a telecommunication and technology company, has collaborated with
the National Institute for Materials Science to develop a new brighter, white
LED that uses a special phosphor material, according to an article
in Nikkei Business Daily. The new phosphor is a mixture of silicon, aluminum,
oxygen, nitrogen. The device uses a blue LED coated with a resin containing
the phosphor material. The company claims that the increased brightness is due
to the improved efficiency of the phosphor material. Fujikura will begin shipping
samples of the new LED before the end of the fiscal year. Cree's Japanese Distributor, Sumitomo Corporation Orders $200 Million of Cree's LED Products
LIGHTimes StaffMay 26, 2005...Cree, Inc. of Durham, North Carolina USA, announced that its Japanese distributor,
Sumitomo Corporation's Electronic Materials & Equipment Division, (which is part
of Sumitomo
Corporation's Media, Electronics and Network Business Unit) has agreed to purchase $200 million of Cree's LED products during Cree's fiscal
year ending June 2006. This record purchase agreement is up 25% from the previous
year’s order, which at the time stood as Cree's historic high purchase order (Ref: May 18, 2004 coverage). The deal was added to the existing distributorship agreement, which
extends through Cree's fiscal year ending June 2007. The agreement is subject
to end-customer demand and other terms and conditions. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... StockerYale and its CEO Settle SEC Investigation
LIGHTimes StaffMay 25, 2005...StockerYale of Salem, New Hampshire USA, has reached a settlement with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC). The settlement resolves
the investigation into certain press releases and sales of stock by the StockerYale’s
CEO in April of 2004. StockerYale, a designer and manufacturer of LEDs and photonics
components, announced that the SEC has given final approval to the settlement
which calls for fines to be paid on behalf of company CEO, Mark W. Blodgett.
The investigation alleged that Mr. Blodgett failed to take adequate steps to
ensure the accuracy of its press release information, and that certain of his
stock transactions were questionable.
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - compoundsemi.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - compoundsemi.com
or call +1 (512) 257-9888 |
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The
McDonald Report
Commentary & Perspective...
CS Stocks Remain Amazingly LowJune 1, 2005...As a technology journalist for over thirty years, championing truly "advanced"
technologies, I can be rightfully accused of having too much passion for real
innovators. It's a curse shared with many readers of The McDonald Report.
Some of the most gratifying letters to the editor I receive start with praises
and phrases such as "I love how you write" which translates
to... casual, informal, conversational. Another favorite is "I enjoy
your refreshing viewpoint"... which translates to irreverent, libertarian,
candid, overly superfluous. Best of all is when someone takes the time to personally
thank me/us for making LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News "The
Good News Channels". It seems that lots of people are tired of having the
negative shoved down their throats. I've found good news goes down more smoothly
and its often more interesting, and relevant, than bad news.
Over the years, I've watched while hundreds of companies started from scratch,
which you can see for yourself from the five years worth of columns archived
on this site. I've reported their rollouts with VC backing, their highs and
lows, their fame or demise. Out of journalistic zeal and attempts to remain
impartial, I've never held stock in any of them and in the last twenty years,
but that doesn't mean I don't have my favorites. As a columnist and commentator,
if I like a company I tend to say so. If I don't, I tend to stay quiet about
them.
I've watched the rise of some from their IPOs at $10 per share soar to $150
at the height of the telecom boom, only to plunge back down to single digits,
which is where many of them still remain. While we'll probably never see those
triple digits again, I really can't see the current stock prices getting much
lower, which is why I announced
in early May that in the twilight years of my career, I finally elected to enter
the stock game myself. I'm not at all wealthy and don't expect to be. Ranching
in Texas is all the wealth a person needs. However, I do have a modest investment
portfolio that, until now, has never included any of the companies we cover
in these pages... other than some of the really big companies, like Cisco and
Intel, and you can bet any references in these pages to those giants won't cause
any soaring of stock prices. Consequently, and as previously disclosed, my broker
and I have put together a modest, model portfolio of CS and SSL industry-related
stocks, just for the heck of it, and to give me something fresh to write about.
The stocks in the portfolio are held in my name and the whole experiment is
mine, and mine only. As previously described, and in plenty of time to
keep them from soaring simply because I bought a few shares (dream on), I've
kept the investment discretely modest, for a number of reasons. Mainly, I can't
afford to gamble much and I'm not a gambler at heart. Also, it's merely an experiment.
My intent is to hold the shares for a few years, not months. That way I can
report on how the portfolio is going, as a whole, which will hopefully serve
as an interesting barometer of the overall industry. The selected stocks are
all traded on the USA's Nasdaq exchange. They include: Emcore (EMKR), Cree (CREE),
TriQuint (TQNT), Color Kinetics (CLRK), Anadigics (ANAD), JDS Uniphase (JDSU),
Spire (SPIR), RF Micro Devices (RFMD), Kopin (KOPN), WJ Communications (WJCI),
and Vitesse (VTSS).
Why those initial eleven? Here's my reasoning. First and foremost, and from
my pocketbook's viewpoint, the current pricetag for that batch is amazingly
low and has stayed low for some time now, especially compared to prices a few
years ago. That means I can actually afford them. 100 shares of something priced
at around $1.50 per share is about my limit for such an experimental project.
Except for Cree and Color Kinetics, the above eleven trade in single digits.
From what I see, the only reason Cree and CK are in double digits is that they're
heavy hitters in the solid state lighting (SSL) industry, which is doing comparatively
well compared to the other compound semi sectors. As other SSL-related companies
go public on the USA exchanges, I might add them to the portfolio. And if my
broker and I figure it to be worth the challenge to invest in "foreign stocks" we might
add some of those. I'll keep you informed in plenty of time prior to my purchase
in case something weird happens, like the action picks up just because I'm going
to buy a few shares (again, dream on).
Please keep in mind that I am not encouraging readers to follow suit
and mirror my investments. This portfolio project is simply something for column
fodder. I certainly don't mind making a bundle off them, but more importantly, I expect the investments to entice me into following the companies more closely.
We source our news from fully public sources, such as off the wires, press releases, and news reports and take it
from there. That means we won't know anything that you wouldn't know anyway if you were in a due diligence mode prior to investing in a company. You can read what I write about the field, but don't hold me responsible
for stock performance, I'm not that influential! However, in the interest of
journalistic integrity, disclaimers, full disclosure and all that, and mostly
because so many people like to fuss about such things, with regard to this portfolio, I'll let
you know what I'm going to do before I do it as a matter of policy.
Here's my official description of what I'm doing: Matching with the intention shared earlier in May, I now own some stock in some of the companies
I will comment on in this column. To make sure that there is no opportunity
for me to profit on moves with those stocks based on what I write here, (like
I really believe my comments are going to swing a market... but hey, why not
think big?) I will tell you about my intention to buy or sell a stock in
advance, allowing time for any resulting fluctuations to settle out before I
make my transaction. CompoundSemi Online will also publish a full list
of CS/SSL stocks that I hold, which I'll link to at the end of each column,
so that you can not only take that into account when I offer my opinions, but
you can participate in the observation and commenting process. We don't ever
intend to use the news to influence the value of those stocks, and we keep the
regular news reporting separate from The McDonald Report commentary.
We are sharing this with you so that there aren't concerns over any "secret
holdings" and so that you may correctly filter any biases we might knowingly
or unknowingly have.
So, let's hope things are indeed picking up. We'll see.
If you have questions about the
solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or have news
or views to share, I'm Jo Ann McDonald, Editor of LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News.
Feel free to contact me directly, anytime. 
My direct tel at the ranch is
+1-325-463-5345
From time to time Jo Ann may comment on companies in which she holds a
modest investment - be sure to read
her disclosure at some point in time... |
