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Posted on 02.21.07 by Nikhil @ 4:15 pm
Sometimes, when everything goes wrong, companies try to put on a happy face, releasing a flurry of news in the hopes of raising investor confidence. That could be what is going on at Openwave Systems (nasdaq: OPWV - news - people ), whose stock is down 60% over the past year. Just this month, Redwood City, Calif.-based Openwave (nasdaq: OPWV - news - people ) announced that it will pay $5 million to acquire WiderWeb, a British company that develops technology used to adapt Web content for mobile devices. Good news? Not for a while: Openwave says the acquisition will not have a material effect on its fiscal 2007 financial results. Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 02.13.07 by Nikhil @ 5:12 pm
Last week, Polycom, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based manufacturer of video and audio conferencing systems, said it agreed to buy communications equipment company SpectraLink for $11.75 per share, or about $220 million cash. The purchase price represented a 33% premium to the stock’s closing price last Wednesday, when the deal was announced. It was exactly what shareholders of SpectraLink needed. But is it a good deal? Earlier this year, shares of SpectraLink (nasdaq: SLNK - news - people ) were on a tear. The company, which provides phones that work off a wireless local area network (WLAN)–a Wi-Fi network designed for the workplace–had recently acquired KIRK Telecom, a privately held Danish provider of wireless communications products. SpectraLink paid $62 million ($30 million in cash and $32 million in debt). In addition to selling its phones to big retailers like Home Depot (nyse: HD - news - people ), where salespeople can always be reachable no matter where they are located, the belief was that KIRK, which develops and markets wireless voice and data systems for corporate customers throughout the world, would be a big boost for SpectraLink, broadening its market share to England and Germany, among other countries. It also seemed that KIRK, which provided wireless voice networks based on the European system, DECT, would find growth in the U.S., since that particular technology is less expensive to deploy for small- and medium-sized businesses. Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 02.07.07 by Nikhil @ 4:12 pm
Many investors fear Novatel Wireless. The company, which was supposed to ride the wireless broadband wave in 2006, instead ran into a number of problems. Its shares fell about 19% in 2006, hitting a low of $8.14 in November. But there is good news. The company is riding the demand for increased broadband wireless services; its developing new applications business is turning around; and the stock is beginning to rebound as well. I believe that this year, demand for Novatel’s products will grow and investors will be rewarded. To put Novatel’s (nasdaq: NVTL - news - people ) rebound into some perspective, let me quickly explain what happened over the past two years. No question, Novatel went through a difficult time in 2005 and early 2006. The company, which makes wireless PC card modems, reported disappointing earnings for the fourth quarter of 2005. Even so, the company ramped up its R&D spending to develop several technologies that would one day be embedded into laptops to provide high-speed connectivity rather than relying on add-on PC cards. Novatel took a charge of $2.3 million to write down its inventory of old 2.5G data cards. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
