AMCC
Vitesse Q207 Conference Call Notes
Vitesse (VTSS.pk) delivered the required fiscal discipline in Q207. While running a super-tight ship does not come without downsides, at this point I believe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
My biggest concerns going into the call were inventory and cash management, and the company executed well in these areas in the face of declining shipments.
AMCC Kicks the Distribution Habit?
AMCC (AMCC) pre-announced a major shortfall in revenue for the March quarter and revised guidance for June down even further. The magnitude of the revenue decline is breathtaking – $76M in Dec ’06 to $70M in Mar ’07 to a projected $60M in June ’07. Analysts were projecting around $76M in June ’07 revenue.
Enterprise Access Capex – A Ray of Hope?
Only one half of Verizon’s wireline (VZ) revenue comes from consumers; the rest comes from business connectivity and services. Verizon, as well as other carriers, have been spending money to deliver better broadband services to consumers. What will happen when they spray this capex hose in the direction of their long neglected business customers? Which equipment companies will benefit?
Finisar FQ307 Earnings Commentary
Finisar (FNSR) reported revenue Monday evening of $107.5M. No written transcript of the call is available, though a replay is and the company overview was updated. I thought there were three notable announcements.
Vitesse Investment Thesis
I’ve been engaged in constant debate with readers and other investors about my position in Vitesse Semiconductor since disclosing it. Based on reader email, it was one of my more unpopular opinions. I thought it would be appropriate to share my investment thesis from early August with a wider audience.
Cortina Acquires Intel Comm Semi’s
It’s official. Looks like Cortina acquired a digestible portion of Intel’s (INTC) comm semi product line, forgoing the network processors that would bring high SG&A overhead. They focused on the parts they could plug into the company to generate cash flow.
Quake – Another Failed AMCC Acquisition
The slow motion disaster movie that is Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC) is still in theaters even though investors stopped buying tickets long ago.
AMCC announced this morning an all cash deal to buy Quake Technologies for $69M net. AMCC has managed to spend nearly $1BB in cash on a number of acquisitions, none of which have provided a return better than simply sticking the dollars in the bank. We feel that Quake will be yet another failed acquisition.
Intel’s Communication Group – Destiny Fulfilled
Intel corp (INTC) lands on Page A1 of the WSJ with a story covering their Analyst Day presentation in New York yesterday. The big news that is getting widespread coverage in many media outlets- including BusinessWeek – is that they are cutting $1BB (8%) in spending but without across the board job cuts.
The big problem is Intel’s work force grew 17% in the last year alone. So, the obvious path is to find businesses with high costs and low revenue, and spin those out to people who can manage them tighter. It sounds like this is exactly what Intel plans to do.
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AMCC demonstrates GPON MAC
AMCC (AMCC) demonstrated a GPON chipset in a Xilinx FPGA at OFC in Anaheim. No announcement (that I saw) was made, and no press was in Lightreading.
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AMCC GPON SERDES
AMCC (AMCC) announced today that they have a SERDES for GPON ONU equipment. This isn’t really that spectacular given that these 2.5G components are typically just re-branded SONET/SDH components priced with lower margins and tested to lower standards. Even the burst mode support required at the OLT isn’t a big challenge for the CDR (keeping the analog front end linear is another story). It is a good way for a company to make waves about FTTH without doing a lot of work. Rumor has it that AMCC is also working on a GPON MAC device, which would be much more interesting news.
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