| Mib - Dienstag, 18. Januar 2000 - 00:32 |
| http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?EBN20000110S0053 January 10, 2000, Issue: 1193 Section: Technology Focus: Flash memory Playing A Consumer Hand -- Convenience, cost, portability, and effectively unlimited storage capacity are driving demand for flash cards. Gil Bassak A hot consumer-electronics market is upping the ante for flash-card vendors that supply the portable digital medium that is replacing photographic film and audio tape. Digital-still cameras, MP3 music players, notebook computers, PDAs, and voice recorders are today's main targets for flash-memory cards. Poised to join them-and the impetus behind a new breed of small-format memory cards-are automotive navigation aids; digital electronic books; language translators; set-top boxes; and enhanced cell phones that store text, like e-mail or phone numbers, or double as music players. While ROM is a suitable, low-cost technology for storing pre-recorded music and images, most consumer devices (such as those that download data from the Internet) need the writeable, nonvolatile-storage capability of flash. Consumer applications lend themselves to high-density, serially accessed NAND-type flash rather than lower-density, random-accessed NOR flash, which is better suited for code storage in embedded-processor systems. NAND is used almost exclusively in such data-storage applications as voice, photos, and music-and therefore in flash cards. And while NOR sales continue to dominate the flash market, current and predicted NAND sales reflect the coming consumer tsunami. Technology drivers Convenience, cost, portability, and effectively unlimited storage capacity are the drivers for flash cards. Acting like a small floppy disk-the latest ones are the size of a stick of gum or a large postage stamp-flash cards offer an easy way to transfer stored images from a digital camera to a PC for display or transmission over the Internet. Alternatively, a card might bypass the PC altogether, slipping directly into a printer to yield an instant contact sheet. In the case of MP3 audio players, digital music is downloaded from a PC into a card, which then plugs into a portable player. Some cameras and players have flash memory built in. But this adds to the product's cost and limits storage capacity unless there's also a slot for flash cards. Moreover, without a card to carry the data, consumers must connect their players or cameras to the PC with cables for what can be a lengthy data transfer session. To further simplify transfers, one company, SmartDisk Corp., Naples, Fla., sells a product called FlashPath that lets PC owners submit flash data through a PC's standard 3.5-in. floppy-disk drive. FlashPath accepts a flash card and then plugs into the disk drive. However, CompactFlash cards, which make up the majority of consumer-oriented flash cards sold today, are too big for FlashPath's approach. As an alternative to the floppy-disk adapter, CompactFlash-card vendor Lexar Media Inc., Fremont, Calif., recently rolled out cards with a USB interface. Common to new PCs and Apple computers, USB opens a 1-Mbyte/s channel, compared with 28.8 Kbytes/s for serial ports and 500 Kbytes/s for parallel ports. In addition to CompactFlash, the consumer flash-card market includes MediaStik, Memory Stick, Multi-MediaCard, and SmartMedia brands. Plus, a Secure Digital memory card is in the works to address emerging copy-protection and content-purchasing schemes, as well as improve memory density and the data transfer rate over some earlier cards. PCMCIA, or PC, Cards and CompactFlash Type II cards, which can also serve as removable flash modules, are used mostly in industrial and telecommunications systems because the form factor is too costly for the price-sensitive consumer market. Competitive climate Differentiating features include memory density; size and ruggedness; power consumption; copy protection; compatibility with future flash chips; and cost, including licensing expenses. Although tomorrow's market will allow several card formats, some cards in play today will likely fall away. The granddaddy of today's consumer flash cards, and the most widely used, is the CompactFlash format. Introduced in 1994 by SanDisk Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., and licensed royalty-free by the more than 100-member CompactFlash Association, the card, at 36 x 42 x 3.3 mm, is about the size of a matchbook. CompactFlash densities range from 8 to 192 Mbytes, though not all vendors offer all sizes. The 50-pin interface on the flash card presents an industry-standard ATA (hard disk) interface to the host, effected by an on-board controller chip. Because CompactFlash cards are a popular choice for digital cameras, some flash vendors distinguish their products by write speed, which determines how quickly a camera can take shots in succession. Because photographers want the fast response of film cameras even as image resolution climbs into the millions of pixels, "click-to-click" time has become the focus of competitive, contentious comparisons, although performance differences among cameras confounds true comparison. Such competition led to a court battle between SanDisk and Lexar over advertised claims. Legal tussles notwithstanding, Silicon Storage Technology Inc., Sunnyvale, a flash-chip maker and relatively new player in CompactFlash, claims its card, touting a 1.4-Mbyte/s sustained write speed, is fastest. The key to high speed is what SST's product marketing manager Samuel Nak-himovsky calls a "performance formula" that is based largely on the design of the ATA controller. The first part of that formula is a large dual-port SRAM buffer inside the ATA controller, "so you can write to the buffer at the same time that the buffer is writing to flash," Nakhimovsky said. Also, a direct-memory-access channel carries data from the buffer to the flash, eliminating controller overhead, while an intelligent-flash file system writes data files to flash memory "in a sequence that gives the best performance," he added. Other features of SST's cards include a power-management unit and dynamic-memory management. In its most common application, as a replacement for film, flash cards don't need a copy-protection scheme. But for downloading commercial music, copy protection is essential, at least to the music industry. To meet music-industry demands, each CompactFlash card carries its own serial identification number that works in compliance with so-called category one protection as defined by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). That ID number is used by software to encrypt the music data as it is downloaded from a PC-and in the future from a kiosk-to the card. To hear the music, software in the player uses the card's ID to decrypt the data. Although the data can also be copied to another card or to a hard disk, it cannot be played as intended because the ID needed to decode it is missing. Ruggedness is an issue raised by some CompactFlash card vendors that say strength is on their side. They cite the consumer's need for a sturdy construction, while taking shots at the wafer-like thinness and exposed contacts of competitive SmartMedia cards or the newer bendable sticks. "In the consumer space, you need to be bulletproof," said Chuck Schouw, president and chief executive of Newark, Calif.-based M-Systems Inc., which sells CompactFlash and PCMCIA cards, although its main business is its DiskOnChip product, which packs up to 288 Mbytes in a 32-pin DIP or TSOP. For others, durability is a non-issue. "Rigidity is probably not much of a factor," said Narayan Purohit, an assistant vice president at the memory division of Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., Sunnyvale, which sells CompactFlash cards. There's no validity to the arguments attacking sturdiness, contends Zareh Samurkashian, associate director of nonvolatile memory at Samsung Semiconductor Inc., San Jose. The contacts on the SmartMedia card, which Samsung co-invented with Japan's Toshiba Corp., can withstand up to 8,000 V of electrostatic discharge, and the package and die are flexible enough "for everyday usage," Samurkashian said. These cards spend "most of their time inside a camera or music player-not in someone's pocket." Indeed, behind CompactFlash, SmartMedia cards are the second-largest seller among consumer flash cards, having been adopted for cameras made by Fuji and Olympus. Measuring 45 x 37 mm, SmartMedia cards are slightly larger than CompactFlash but, at a height of only 0.76 mm, much thinner. Memory capacities of SmartMedia cards will reach 64 Mbytes this quarter with the emergence of 256-Mbit flash chips. In addition, their data-write speeds, at 2.5 Mbytes/s, are among the fastest. But SmartMedia cards contain two flash die and rely on the host system to supply the controller. As a result, the actual write speed depends largely on the system. At the same time, the lack of an onboard controller, though helpful in keeping down a card's cost and power consumption, has spelled problems for some SmartMedia customers. According to Jack Peterson, Lexar's vice president of consumer products, thousands of Olympus cameras that shipped in 1997 and 1998 failed to work with new 16- Mbyte cards, and customers had to ship back their cameras for upgrades. Perhaps smarting from the experience, Olympus has rolled out a camera that takes both SmartMedia and CompactFlash cards. For the sake of audio applications, SmartMedia cards, like CompactFlash cards, carry a unique ID to thwart unauthorized duplication. Also like CompactFlash, the SmartMedia specification is controlled by a forum and made available without license fees. Such fees, required for some new formats like the Memory Stick from Sony Electronics Inc., Park Ridge, N.J., and the Secure Digital card from Matsushita, SanDisk, and Toshiba, are unpalatable to customers, Samurkashian said. Still these newer formats reflect the current trend toward smaller size and a lower pin-count interface suited for emerging cellular phones, small MP3 players, and other applications. And one format, the MultiMediaCard, introduced in 1997 by Hitachi, Infineon Technologies, and SanDisk, combines a small format with license-free distribution. The MultiMediaCard is 32 x 24 x 1.4 mm-smaller than a large postage stamp but much thicker-and carries up to 64 Mbytes of flash. A 120-bit ID field meets the SDMI's first-level encryption requirements. Unlike other flash cards, the Multi-MediaCard accepts mask ROM as well as flash memory. The card was also designed to carry one-time-programmable (OTP) memory, but that option "went by the boards as prices dropped" for flash, said Jeffry Davis, senior marketing manager at Infineon, San Jose. Moreover, a fully automated manufacturing process and low-cost seven-pin serial interface (features drawn from the company's smart-card experience) keep manufacturing costs "in the dirt range," he said. ROM versions of the MultiMediaCard offer customers the choice to buy pre-recorded music, said Davis, noting that consumers who use audio tapes typically choose to spring for the convenience of a pre-recorded tape rather than record their own music. A 32-Mbyte ROM card gives 30 to 40 minutes of MP3-quality music, said Davis, and costs well below the estimated $120 retail cost of a 32-Mbyte flash version. For that reason alone, he added, the music industry should worry less about finding new and tighter ways to protect its copyrights. The small chance of that happening has given rise to the Secure Digital memory card, a format that hopefully will be compatible with the MultiMediaCard but offer levels of greater protection as yet undefined by the SDMI. Measuring 32 x 24 mm, the SD card has the same footprint as the MultiMedia-Card, but at 2.1 mm is slightly thicker, allowing added memory capacity. Also, the addition of two contacts, bringing the interface to nine pins, gives the SD card a 10-Mbyte/s parallel-write feature. SD cards have yet to appear, however, so true compatibility with the MultiMediaCard remains more of a goal than a fact. The Memory Stick from Sony, at 50 x 22 x 3 mm, has shown itself to be a viable contender for flash-card customers. In true Sony fashion, the company developed the design on its own and retains sole licensing authority. More than two dozen companies, including Audi and Volkswagen, have licensed the Memory Stick technology. Sony has incorporated the Memory Stick into several of its own consumer products, including its digital video and still cameras, photo printers, audio products, and ultraportable PCs. Flash capacities for the Memory Stick are up to 64 Mbytes (with higher capacities in development), and the maximum write speed is 1.5 Mbytes/s across a 10-pin interface that protects the pins by keeping them recessed. A switch, unique to flash cards, prevents accidental erasure, and SDMI copy protection is available with so-called Magic Gate Memory Sticks. In contrast to these handful of flash cards vying for high-capacity, high-end applications is the lone MediaStik serial flash module from NexFlash Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. While the 45- x 15-mm configuration is similar to that of Sony's Memory Stick, the MediaStik's main target is the entry-level VGA-quality camera starting at about $100. "VGA cameras are highly adequate for most Internet applications, and our capacity range is good for that," said NexFlash marketing vice president Robin Jigour. MediaStik memory capacities range from 128 Kbytes to 4 Mbytes, which is commonly the low end for the other cards. The MediaStik has a 2-in. interface and carries a single-quantity price tag beginning at only $20. But while the size, capacity, and price of the MediaStick are modest, the company's ambitions for it are not. "A large segment of applications need to store data, voice, or images for which our capacity range is highly adequate, and the hottest one right now is the VGA camera," Jigour said. -Gil Bassak is a freelance technical journalist based in Ossining, N.Y. Copyright ® 2000 CMP Media Inc. |
| Mib - Samstag, 22. Januar 2000 - 04:16 |
| http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000118/67.html Tuesday January 18, 4:28 pm Eastern Time SST Q4 results SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 18 (Reuters) - Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. and Subsidiary Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands except per share data) Three months ended Year Ended December 31, December 31, 1999 1998 1999 1998 Revenues: Product $ 47,508 $ 17,366 $ 118,242 $ 66,875 License 820 717 6,552 2,536 Net revenues 48,328 18,083 124,794 69,411 Costs and expenses: Cost of revenues 33,707 18,670 94,652 62,703 Research and development 4,405 3,722 18,199 14,527 Sales and marketing 3,537 2,086 10,576 7,290 General and administrative 1,277 554 3,800 4,592 Other non-recurring charge 2,011 42,926 25,032 129,238 89,112 Income (loss) from operations 5,402 (6,949) (4,444) (19,701) Interest and other income 31 276 730 1,574 Interest and other expense (138) (32) (214) (32) Income (loss) before provision for (benefit from) income taxes 5,295 (6,705) (3,928) (18,159) Provision for (benefit from) income taxes (448) 42 88 (571) Net income (loss) 5,743 ( 6,747) ( 4,016) ( 17,588) Net income (loss) per share - basic 0.23 ( 0.29) ( 0.17) ( 0.77) Shares used in per share calculation 24,821 23,039 24,059 22,958 Net income (loss) per share - diluted 0.21 ( 0.29) ( 0.17) ( 0.77) Shares used in per share calculation 27,660 23,039 24,059 22,958 |
| Mib - Samstag, 22. Januar 2000 - 04:16 |
| http://fnews.yahoo.com/iionline/00/01/19/magic25c_000119.html Magic 25 Jan 19, 2000 SST Blows Out the Quarter Senior Analyst: Eric Singer (1/19/00) On Tuesday, Silicon Storage Technology (NASDAQ:SSTI - news) reported fourth quarter results ahead of expectations. Net revenue for the quarter totaled $48.3 million, an increase of 167% over the $18.1 million reported last year. Sequentially, revenue grew by over $13 million, or 38%. Operating profit for the quarter expanded to $5.4 million from $0.8 million in the immediately preceding quarter and a loss of $6.9 million reported in the same period last year. Net income per share was $0.21, $0.02 ahead of our estimates. For fiscal 1999, revenue grew to $124.8 million, up from $69.4 million in the same period last year. Net loss decreased to $4.0 million, or $0.17 per share, from $17.6 million, or $0.77 per share in fiscal 1998. Stabilizing flash memory prices, coupled with a well-executed product strategy resulted in a return to profitability in the third quarter of 1999 for SST. Over the past year, SST has introduced new product families and more than 30 new products that have been well received in the marketplace. Additionally, SST has expanded agreements with partners and entered into new technology licensing agreements with other collaborators. These agreements validate the benefits of the company's proprietary SuperFlash technology and provide a solid foundation for future growth. Gross margin for the fourth quarter totaled 30% and SST's operating margin totaled 11%. Over the next several quarters, we expect a SST to show substantial revenue growth and leverage its operating model to show expanded operating profitability. We are forecasting SST to expand its operating margin to 15% in the second quarter of 2000 and to over 20% in the fourth quarter. SST has secured sufficient manufacturing capacity to substantially grow its revenue. SST's balance sheet showed cash of $1.2 million, accounts receivable of $33 million and $29.7 million in inventories. Borrowings under a credit facility totaled $19.3 million. SST is in the early stages of tremendous growth, and the balance sheet is indicative of this. With additional borrowings under an existing credit facility and strong cash flows from operations, we are confident that SST has the financial wherewithal to execute its business plan. We expect SST to show strong sequential growth in revenue and earnings over the course of fiscal 2000. For the first quarter we are forecasting revenue of $51 million and earnings of $0.24 per share. With continued strong demand for flash memory and stable pricing, SST is well-positioned to continue to post positive earnings surprises over the course of fiscal 2000. Upside to estimates exists from SST's licensing agreements with Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM - news) . The timing and magnitude of revenue contribution from these deals is unclear, but clearly can be large and lucrative. While SST shares have had a spectacular run over the past few weeks, shares will continue to outperform the market. We reiterate our BUY rating. |
| mib - Donnerstag, 20. April 2000 - 18:00 |
| http://www.boerse-online.de/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=BoerseOnline/RenderMaxCache&c=Collection&cid=ZZZUJ80JFYB&preview=true |
| mib - Donnerstag, 20. April 2000 - 18:03 |
| sorry - obiger link ist etwas komplizierter: obigen link anklicken, dann "archiv" anklicken, dann empfehlung vom 30.03. anklicken. Hei§er Flash-Memory-Markt beschleunigt Kursentwickung von Otmar Weber: Market Movers ausgewählt vom Team WebersWeb [30.03.00, 23:07] Silicon Storage (SSTI) ist ein kleiner auf Flash-Memories spezialisierter Halbleiter-Hersteller mit 125 Millionen Jahresumsatz, der kräftig wächst. Beim Umsatz in 2000 erwarten wir etwa 150, in 2001 zwischen 80 und 100 Prozent Steigerungsrate. Flash-Memories sind knapp wie nie zuvor. „Nichtflüchtige" Halbleiter-Speicher, werden hauptsächlich in Handys und anderen Geräten eingesetzt, die auch bei Stromabschaltung die Daten gespeichert halten. Produktionskapazitäten im Halbleiter-GEschäft sind durch die hohe Nachfrage knapp geworden, die Preis sind fest, was sich positiv auf de Margen- und Gewinnsituation der Hersteller auswirkt. Silicon Storage ist ein sogenannter „fab-less" Halbleiter-Hersteller, also ohne eigene Produktionsstätten. Dies ermöglicht dem Unternehmen seine Energien auf Forschung & Entwicklung oder den Verkauf zu konzentrieren, Produktionskapazitäten werden bei Partner-Unternehmen eingekauft. Silicon Storage nutzt dieses Konzept in einer zusätzlichen Variation: Die Firma lizenziert seine Entwicklungen an Elektronik- und andere Halbleiterhersteller. Der Vorteil der Firma liegt darin, daß Kunden das Flash-Speicher-Design beliebig in ihre eigenen Produktentwicklungen integrieren können. Dies lohnt sich besonders bei Konsumprodukten, die in hohen Stückzahlen gefertigt werden. Das Unternehmen adressiert vor allem den neuen Markt der "Embedded Systeme": Computer-Systeme auf "Chip-Basis" mit eigenen Betriebssystemen, die Herzstücke bei Spezialanwendungen sind oder in neuartigen Internet-Informations-Geräten wie digitalen Set-Top-Boxen eingesetzt werden. Silicon Storage ist beim Kurs von 73 Dollar mit einem KGV für 2001 von 32 nicht übermäßig hoch bewertet. Bei dem zu erwartendem starken Umsatzwachstum und beginnender Profitabilität – seit zwei Quartalen liefert Silicon Storage Gewinne ab – bietet die Aktie ein Kurspotential von 115 Dollar. |
| avalon - Donnerstag, 20. April 2000 - 19:15 |
| Weiter so ! - da bekomme sogar ich wieder Geschmack an weiteren Amititeln. Aber erst wenn der Dollar kräftig gefallen ist und die Amis wieder normal geworden sind. Sind die jetzt besser als Sandisk ? - kann ich die noch über die Spekufrist retten ? Ist ja eigentlich egal, die paar Stückchen machen nicht arm auch nicht reich..... Avalon |
| laurin - Donnerstag, 20. April 2000 - 20:17 |
| da sagt doch dann der Laurin wieder dasselbe, wie schon vor ein paar Tagen: Sandisk in SSTI tauschen oder beide langfristig halten! |
| mib - Mittwoch, 26. April 2000 - 04:10 |
| ueberragende Zahlen von SSTI: statt der erwarteten 0.23 $ Gewinn pro Aktie wurden 0.34 $ erzielt!!! http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000425/ca_sst_1.html Tuesday April 25, 4:14 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SST Reports Record Results for First Quarter 2000 1Q00 Revenue Up 29%, Profit Up 68% Over 4Q99 SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2000--SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.) (Nasdaq:SSTI - news) today announced record results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000. Net revenues for the first quarter were $62.3 million, compared with $48.3 million in the fourth quarter of 1999, and with $18.3 million in the first quarter a year ago. Gross unit shipments this quarter were the highest in the company's history, growing approximately 34% from the record shipments of the fourth quarter of 1999, and approximately 207% from the first quarter a year ago. Net income for the first quarter of 2000 was $9.6 million, or $0.34 per share, based on approximately 28.3 million weighted average shares outstanding. This compares with a net income of $5.7 million in the fourth quarter of 1999, or $0.21 per share, based on approximately 27.7 million weighted average shares outstanding, and with a net loss in the first quarter of 1999 of $6.6 million, or a loss of $0.28 per share, based on approximately 23.2 million weighted average shares outstanding. All per share amounts are calculated on a diluted basis. ``We have continued to experience very robust growth in our business, driven by the production ramp of the new products that were introduced during the past several quarters. These new products allow us to address a very broad range of applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. During the first quarter, we saw strong growth in many applications including digital TVs, DVD players, MP3 players, PDAs, network switches, routers, DSL modems and cordless telephones,'' said Bing Yeh, president and CEO. ``The market demand for our products, old and new, is so strong that nearly every density of product is on allocation despite the substantial increase of our production capacity. Our continuous challenge is to bring up new capacity quickly enough to catch the strong demand. Recently, we announced the addition of National Semiconductor as a licensee and wafer foundry. We continue to talk with other potential manufacturing partners in order to substantially increase capacity for the year 2001 and beyond. We expect the current industry shortage situation will get worse before it gets better. ``Riding on the new product introduction momentum of last year, we continue to execute on our product diversification and proliferation strategy. We expect to introduce more than thirty new products this year. During the first quarter, we announced eleven new products in the product families of MPF (Multi-Purpose Flash), ComboMemory, FlashFlex51 microcontroller and the Firmware Hub. ``The digital evolution, driven by the Internet, will continue to fuel the demand for flash memory. We believe the flash market will become very fragmented, characterized by the coexistence and continued growth of all memory densities and various configurations to meet the specific requirements in each of the emerging broad applications. As a result, we believe our strategy of diversified product offerings and technology licensing for embedded applications will work very well. Now with more than 50 products in ramping, and more new products to be introduced this year, we believe that SST is well positioned to take full advantage of the current industry upturn,'' he said. Conference Call SST's quarterly conference call will be held today, April 25th at 1:30 p.m. PST. To participate in the call please dial (712) 271-3646 using pass code Silicon Storage Technology. A one week replay will be available by calling (402) 530-7725. A webcast of the conference call will be available on www.streetfusion.com. About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communication and Internet computing markets. SST's product families include high-functionality flash memory components, CompactFlash card mass storage products and 8-bit microcontrollers with on-chip flash memory. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees IBM, Motorola, National Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., TSMC-Acer Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TASMC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). Further information on SST can be found on the company's website at http://www.ssti.com. The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. MPF, ComboMemory and FlashFlex are trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Forward-Looking Statements Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market conditions, the company's future financial performance, the performance of new products, the company's ability to bring new products to market and the company's ability to secure additional capacity that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, obtaining wafer foundry capacity and allocation, the terms and conditions associated with licensees' royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999. FINANCIAL TABLES TO FOLLOW- Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. and Subsidiary Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands except per share data) Three months ended March 31, ------------------------------------- 1999 2000 ------------------ ----------------- (unaudited) Net revenues: Product revenues $17,793 $61,813 Technology licensing 535 501 ------------------ ----------------- Total net revenues 18,328 62,314 Cost of revenues 16,979 36,475 ------------------ ----------------- Gross profit 1,349 25,839 ------------------ ----------------- Operating expenses: Research and development 4,734 8,076 Sales and marketing 2,197 4,627 General and administrative 1,206 2,639 ------------------ ----------------- Total operating expenses 8,137 15,342 ------------------ ----------------- Income (loss) from operations (6,788) 10,497 Interest and other income 251 17 Interest expense -- (444) ------------------ ----------------- Income (loss) before provision for (benefit from) income taxes (6,537) 10,071 Provision for (benefit from) income taxes 40 427 ------------------ ----------------- Net income (loss) ($6,577) $9,644 ================== ================= Net income (loss) per share - basic ($0.28) $0.38 ================== ================= Shares used in per share calculation 23,193 25,435 ================== ================= Net income (loss) per share - diluted ($0.28) $0.34 ================== ================= Shares used in per share calculation 23,193 28,349 ================== ================= Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. and Subsidiary Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands) ASSETS December 31, March 31, 1999 2000 ----------------- ----------------- (unaudited) Current assets: Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments $1,223 $198,551 Accounts receivable, net 33,285 56,442 Accounts receivable from related parties 5,573 6,037 Inventories, net 29,766 40,153 Other current assets 3,341 4,487 ----------------- ----------------- Total current assets 73,188 305,670 Equipment, furniture and fixtures, net 11,131 12,141 Other assets 4,487 4,193 ----------------- ----------------- Total assets $88,806 $322,004 ================= ================= LIABILITIES Current liabilities: Borrowings under line of credit facility 19,287 - Trade accounts payable 19,207 27,932 Accrued expenses and other liabilities 4,707 10,580 Deferred revenue 4,144 8,977 ----------------- ----------------- Total current liabilities 47,345 47,489 Other liabilities 446 446 ----------------- ----------------- Total liabilities 47,791 47,935 ----------------- ----------------- SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Common stock 60,570 283,980 Retained earnings (accumulated deficit) (19,555) (9,911) ----------------- ----------------- Total shareholders' equity 41,015 274,069 ----------------- ----------------- Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $88,806 $322,004 ================= ================= Contact: Stapleton Communications Inc. Leslie Green, 650/470-0200 or Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Jeffrey L. Garon, 408/735-9110 Vice President & Chief Financial Officer jgaron@ssti.com |
| stw - Mittwoch, 26. April 2000 - 23:21 |
| Da hast Du aber wieder mal einen tollen Riecher gehabt, mib. SSTI wird dem Auslandsdepot sicherlich noch viel Freude machen. :-) stw |
| mib - Freitag, 5. Mai 2000 - 14:58 |
| Sehr schoene Zusamenfassung zu SSTI von Motley Fool! http://biz.yahoo.com/mf/000504/double_000504.html Thursday May 4, 6:24 pm Eastern Time MotleyFool.com - Daily Double Silicon Storage Feasts on Profits By Paul Larson Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Ticker: (Nasdaq: SSTI - news) Phone: 408-522-7345 Website: www.ssti.com Price (5/3/2000): $96 5/8 How Did It Double? Few other industries can top the extreme feast-to-famine-to-feast cyclicality of the semiconductor industry. When you then look at the memory chip market within the overall chip sector, the wild swings in fortune are even more pronounced. One company that's currently riding high on today's semiconductor upswing and feasting away at fat profits is flash memory maker Silicon Storage Technology. Before this current feast, things weren't looking very good for the company. Back in 1996, SST reported sales of $93.3 million and net income of $12.4 million. Things were good. However, by the time the books were closed for 1998, sales were down to $69.4 million and the company had lost $17.6 million. Ouch. Nevertheless, as you might guess since this is the Daily Double, SST's fortunes have really turned around in recent times. One look at the company's financials and the current trend is blatantly obvious to see. In the first quarter of this year, SST reported sales of $62.3 million, which was more than triple the sales in the same period of 1999. Earnings are also way up -- the company reported a record profit of $9.6 million in the first quarter, blowing away the mean analyst estimate by almost 50%. Demand has been soaring across the board for SST's products, and the company's short-term growth has been at breakneck speed. SST's financial health is not the only thing that has been on the cyclical roller coaster. Back in 1996 SST was trading above $20, but it had withered down to below $2 in 1998. Today? Well, let's just say it's just a little bit higher. Business Description Based in the Silicon Valley town of Sunnyvale, California, Silicon Storage Technology (or SST for short) produces and sells a wide range of flash memory products. Flash memory is a type of memory that keeps its data even when no power is applied to the chip and can also be reprogrammed quickly. It is used in everything from computers to mobile phones to digital cameras. What makes SST different from its peers is that it has a patent on its so-called "SuperFlash" technology. This technology gives SST's products a slight performance boost over the competition in addition to allowing SST to be one of the lowest cost producers in the industry. While headquartered in the U.S., SST outsources the vast majority of its manufacturing to Asian contractors, and most of the company's revenue (80% in 1999) is derived from sales in Asia. Financial Facts Income Statement 12-month sales: $168.8 million 12-month income: $12.2 million 12-month EPS: $0.45 Profit Margin: 7.2% Market Cap: $2739.2 million Balance Sheet Cash: $198.6 million Current Assets: $305.7 million Current Liabilities: $47.5 million Total Liabilities: $47.9 million Ratios Price-to-earnings: 214.7 Price-to-sales: 16.2 How Could You Have Found This Double? One way to have perhaps seen the SST rebound coming was to consider its industry and the geographic location of its customers. The company got whacked by both the cyclical downturn in semiconductors as well as the Asian financial panic of 1998. Both of these events were transient in nature, and it only makes sense that when both cycles came back around that SST would be one of the major beneficiaries. Another noteworthy positive trait of SST is its SuperFlash technology, which is a technology that allows flash memory to be more reliable and cheaper to make. Working in a high-volume commodity industry, any sort of edge a company can get over its peers can be leveraged for enormous profits. Where to From Here? While things are looking very rosy today for the semiconductor industry as a whole and SST in particular, it's worth noting that this is a cyclical industry. Investors tend to forget this when the industry is down (look at 1998) as well as when the industry is flying high. In other words, it's not really prudent to take the recent success and extrapolate it out ten years or more. That said, the next downturn doesn't look to be anywhere in sight at the moment. SST is basically selling everything it can make, and the company is rapidly ramping up production to meet the exceptionally strong demand. SST recently had a secondary offering, and most of this cash is earmarked for increasing output. The company also gave guidance after the first quarter that it expects the product shortage situation in its niche of the memory market to get worse before it gets better, certainly good news for SST. Analysts following the company also seem to think that the short-term profit outlook is strong. The mean analyst estimate calls for $1.71 in earnings per share this year (versus a $0.20 loss in 1999) and another $3.51 per share profit in 2001. How long will the good times continue? It's hard to say. But for now, SST and its shareholders are harvesting a windfall of profits. For more things Foolish, go to the The Motley Fool's complete site! We aim to inform, educate and help you make good money, Fool. Also, check out the FoolMart, the place to shop for Foolish investing tools. Become a Fool for Motley Fool stock features, updates, contests, and product discounts! |
| mib - Montag, 8. Mai 2000 - 22:18 |
| http://biz.yahoo.com/fo/000508/mu2699.html Monday May 8, 2:36 pm Eastern Time Forbes.com As The Gadget Market Grows, So Does Flash Memory By Arik Hesseldahl Electronic gadgets are big business. Consumers are snapping up mobile phones, pagers, PalmPilots, MP3 players and digital cameras in record numbers. As many as a 1.2 billion mobile phones will be shipped each year by 2004, according to Cahners In-Stat Group, Scottsdale, Ariz., up from about 400 million this year. S3 (Nasdaq: SIII - news), which sells the trendy little Diamond Rio MP3 player, reported a 69% surge in unit sales over the fourth quarter of 1999 and has plans to expand into home and car audio systems. A recent study by InfoTrends Research Group found that digital cameras will outship film cameras by 2002 and will exceed 42 million units by 2005. And inside each is a little piece of silicon called flash memory. Flash memory is a type of semiconductor chip that, unlike the memory found in most PCs, stores information even after the power has been turned off. Enter an address or appointment into your PalmPilot and it is flash memory that stores the information when you switch off or change the batteries. Ditto for the music files and pictures in your MP3 player or digital camera. Flash memory is called that because it allows you to quickly erase and save data in large blocks of several thousand bits at a time, or ``in a flash.'' Conventional SRAM and DRAM memory data are erased and saved a bit at a time. Brian Matas, vice president of IC Insights, a semiconductors market research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., estimated this year's global flash market at $10 billion, an increase of 119% over the previous year. He expects the market to grow in size to $18.3 billion by 2003. Unfortunately, there is not enough flash to go around. Semiconductor manufacturers such as Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - news), Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD - news) and Japan's Fujitsu are among those struggling to a sudden surge in flash demand. Fujitsu said last Wednesday that it plans to spend $550 million to triple flash manufacturing capacity at its facility in Oregon by 2002. Intel is also expanding its capacity, pumping $1.5 billion into a Colorado fabrication facility, or ``fab,'' it acquired from Rockwell International for flash production. Intel said it shipped flash in record numbers last quarter, though it didn't give specific numbers. AMD chief executive William J. ``Jerry'' Sanders III said in a recent speech to shareholders the company plans to double flash capacity in 2001 and possibly add a third fab to the Japanese facility it co-owns with Fujitsu, which he said could double capacity yet again in 2002. Yet in a case straight out of Economics 101, flash prices have stabilized but have not necessarily begun to increase. In response to the increasing shortage, electronics manufacturers with the holiday gift-buying season in mind have been locking in exclusive long-term deals with flash suppliers. Examples include mobile phone maker Ericsson's (Nasdaq: ERICY - news) $1.5 billion deal with Intel, and a $400 million deal between AMD and Korea's Samsung. Similar deals with other flash suppliers are likely to follow. Those who haven't arranged their flash supplies may find themselves running short. Other semiconductor companies looking to cash in with renewed interest in flash include Japan's Toshiba, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM - news) and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT - news), each of which reported more than $100 million in flash business last year, according to Rich Wawrzyniak, analyst at Semico Research, based in Phoenix, Ariz. And while flash is just part of the story behind increasing profits at semiconductor giants like Intel and AMD, the upswing in the market is most visible at pure-play companies like Silicon Storage Technology (Nasdaq: SSTI - news) and SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK - news), both based in Sunnyvale, Calif. Last month SST reported a $9.6 million profit on revenue of $62.3 million, versus a loss of $6.6 million on revenue of $18.3 million in the same quarter a year ago. Shareholders in SST have ridden the flash shortage to all-time highs--from about $7 per share last July 1 to more than $105 on May 1. SanDisk, which makes removable flash memory products that are particularly useful in digital cameras, just reported a 148% surge in first-quarter revenue over the quarter a year ago. Shares in SanDisk started July at $44 per share, climbed to $149 by Feb. 23, when it split 2-for-1 and topped out at $145 on March 27. On May 4 it closed at $90.50. Analysts expect the shortage to continue into 2002, after which new manufacturing capacity will begin to come online in 2003 and 2004, eventually pushing the market toward another likely period of oversupply, Matas said. While IC Insights is forecasting a year-over-year growth rate of about 22%, or $3 billion, in the flash market between 2001 and 2002, that growth will slow over the following two years to slightly more than 8% ($1.4 billion) in 2003 and to less than 3% ($500 million) in 2004. The semiconductors industry is, after all, a very cyclical business. ``There will be a lot of new capacity coming online, and we expect an overall industry slowdown around then,'' Matas said. Go to www.forbes.com to see all of our latest stories. |
| mib - Donnerstag, 11. Mai 2000 - 15:36 |
| Ist zwar schon was aelter (26. April) aber dennoch recht interessant, was Salomon Smith Barney so sagt.... SSTI: Monster Q1; Raise Estimates and Target Price Silicon Storage Technology Inc(SSTI)#* Rating: 1S 2000411 Salomon Smith Barney ~ April 26, 2000 04/26/00 Silicon Storage Technology (SSTI $72.69,1-S,Tgt $105.00) Jonat --SUMMARY:--Silicon Storage Technology--Semiconductors * SST reported first quarter EPS of $0.34 (vs loss of $0.28), $0.10 above our estimate and consensus. Revenues of $62.3M were 3% above our forecast. * Led by rising prices and falling unit costs, gross margins were the key driver of the upside, rising to 41.5%, 11.2% higher than the previous qtr. * The June & September quarters are fully booked, and SST is now taking orders for Q4. Driving the demand in both integrated products and standard Flash products are explosive emerging applications in MP3 players, PDAs, DSL modems, and wireless handsets. * Given the solid outlook for SST, we are raising our earnings forecast materially, mostly based on higher revenues and margins. Our 2000 EPS goes from $1.46 to $1.75 and 2001 from $2.36 to $3.50. Our target price goes from $94 to $105, 30x our new 2001 estimate. 04/26/00 Silicon Storage Technology (SSTI $72.69,1-S,Tgt $105.00) Jonat --EARNINGS PER SHARE-------------------------------------------------------- FYE 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr Year Actual 12/99 EPS $(0.28)A $(0.15)A $0.02A $0.21A $(0.17)A Previous 12/00 EPS $0.24E $0.32E $0.40E $0.48E $1.46E Current 12/00 EPS $0.34A $0.40E $0.44E $0.56E $1.75E Previous 12/01 EPS $0.43E $0.53E $0.64E $0.76E $2.36E Current 12/01 EPS $0.65E $0.78E $0.94E $1.12E $3.50E Previous 12/02 EPS $N/A $N/A $N/A $N/A $N/A Current 12/02 EPS $N/A $N/A $N/A $N/A $N/A Footnotes: 04/26/00 Silicon Storage Technology (SSTI $72.69,1-S,Tgt $105.00) Jonat --FUNDAMENTALS-------------------------------------------------------------- Current Rank........:1S Prior:No Change Price (04/25/00)....:$72.69 P/E Ratio 12/00.....:41.5x Target Price..:$105.00 Prior:94.00 P/E Ratio 12/01.....:20.8x Proj.5yr EPS Grth...:25.0% Return on Eqty 99...:N/A% Book Value/Shr(00)..:9.68 LT Debt-to-Capital(a)0.1% Dividend............:$N/A Revenue (00)........:339.00mil Yield...............:N/A% Shares Outstanding..:28.3mil Convertible.........:No Mkt. Capitalization.:2057.1mil Hedge Clause(s).....:# Comments............:(a) Data as of the most recently reported quarter. Comments............: Growth Part I: Emerging Applications Driving Standard Product Revenue While many of the larger Flash suppliers move to higher density products (16-32Mb), SST has been scooping up an ever-larger share of the low-density market (8Mb and below). The company's SuperFlash technology, which has an inherently lower cost structure than conventional Flash devices, allows SST to mine the low end for significantly greater profit. Far from all moving to the high end, low-density Flash is being designed into emerging applications in the digital consumer, communications, and computing segments. In fact, SST's sales into digital TVs, DVD players, MP3 players, PDAs, network switches / routers, and DSL modems were each up over 100% sequentially. The rapid growth in these widely diversified endmarkets are also allowing for far greater balance in SST's end-product market mix: the company is no longer a supplier just to the PC BIOS market. Instead, some two-thirds of its sales now come from networking, digital consumer, and wireless markets (see the table below). % of Q1 Revenue Networking 19.8% Digital Consumer 38.9% Wireless 7.0% Internet Computing 34.4% Growth Part II: New Products Further Accelerating Top-line The second major kicker to SST's growth over the next 18 months will come from new products. The company's Combo memory product, which is a marriage of SRAM and Flash, already has 6-7 wins in cellular handsets. The FlashFlex products integrate an 8-bit 8051 microcontroller with Flash memory, and the FlashBank series combine Flash with EEPROM. Perhaps the most impressive product to date is SST's Firmware Hub, which incorporates Intel's (INTC, 1M) BIOS (basic input/output system for running a PC) with SST's low-cost MPF Flash product. The Firmware Hub is complementary with Intel's 800-series chipset family and presents a 100 million unit opportunity for the company, all with Intel's blessing, who wants to chase higher-density opportunities. Gross Margins Ratchet Upward SST's gross margins jumped over 11% from the previous quarter to reach 41.5%, just shy of the company's long-term target model of 42-43%. The sudden jump was a result of continued rise in pricing (the third consecutive quarter of Flash pricing ascents), cost reductions (as the company shifts from 0.33 to 0.25 linewidths), and a gradually improving mix (integrated products carry higher margins). We don't anticipate that gross margins will rise much in coming quarters given that further price hikes are unlikely and the company will face lower profits (due to lower initial yields) on new products as they ramp over the next couple of quarters. Much Needed Capacity Coming On Line As with most Flash memory vendors, SST remains capacity constrained and unable to meet demand. As mentioned, the company is booked out for most of 2000 and now taking orders into Q4-00 and Q1-01. The additional capacity will come from two directions: (1) the company is transitioning several products from 0.33 to 0.25 linewidths, which increases the number of die per wafer by 50-60%. The shrink will occur over the next two quarters. (2) Also, as previously announced, the company has signed on to use spare capacity at National Semi's (NSM, 1H) S. Portland, ME, fab. After the process technologies are moved from both TSMC and SST to the Maine fab, SST should achieve working silicon in late Q3 and volume production in early 2001. In addition, the company has also solidified its relationships with top tier Taiwanese foundries for the capacity needed to meet customer demands. Increasing Estimates and Target Price Given the improving supply outlook and continued firm pricing environment, we're raising our revenues from $320 million (up 156%) to $339 million (up 172%) for 2000 and from $511 million (up 60%) to $690 million (up 104%) for 2001. We've also increased our gross margin outlook from 33.9% to 42.6% and 39.2% to 43.0% in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Our 2000 EPS goes from $1.46 to $1.75, while 2001 goes from $2.36 to $3.50. Our new target price is $105, which implies an 30 multiple on our new 2001 estimate. |
| mib - Montag, 15. Mai 2000 - 04:16 |
| Portable devices send flash memory industry soaring By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com May 9, 2000, 4:00 a.m. PT Flash memory, which has never been one of the high-tech industry's glamour products, this year will be one of its most important. Demand for flash memory--which is used to store data and programming algorithms in cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 music players--has surged, creating a spiral of consequences for the industry. With sales expected to climb from $4.5 billion to $10 billion this year, manufacturers such as Intel, AMD, Atmel and Fujitsu are expected to reap substantial profits. At the same time, the surge in demand is creating a crimp on supply. Although manufacturers are rushing to expand flash factory capacity, shortages exist and are getting worse. In the end, appliance makers will likely have to delay products, water down configurations or even raise prices. Consumers also will likely see fewer cell phones, handhelds and MP3 players on shelves. "Flash this year will be the limiting factor in how many (cellular) handsets will be produced," said Eric Rothdeutsch, an analyst at Merrill Lynch. "I imagine that the shortage will get a lot worse. We're going to be tight for all of 2001 at least." Flash memory serves as a hard drive for consumer devices. Music, phone lists, applications, operating systems and other data are generally stored on flash chips. Unlike with computer memory, the data isn't erased when the device is turned off. There are two basic kinds of flash memory, Rothdeutsch explained. Code storage flash, made by Intel, AMD and Atmel, stores programming algorithms and is largely found in cell phones. Data storage flash, which is made by SanDisk and Toshiba, stores data and comes in digital cameras and MP3 players. Until last year, participation in the flash market was something of a frustrating enterprise. For years, the amount of flash emerging from factories, as measured by the total number of bits, has doubled annually, according to Dataquest analyst Jim Handy. A total of 1.3 billion MB of flash left factories in 1999, roughly twice the 690 million MB produced in 1998. Prices have declined at the same rate, however. "The new effect of this is that revenue has been static," Handy said. Static revenues eviscerated profits as well. One semiconductor executive once told Handy that "in aggregate, the entire flash market has had zero profit." That picture began to change in 1999. Flash demand continued to grow, but prices stayed flat and even started to rise by the end of the year. As a result, revenue went from $2.5 billion, where it had been since 1996, to $4.5 billion. Because manufacturers' fixed costs hadn't changed, the bottom line was substantially fattened. "I would venture to guess that $2 billion of that increase was profit," Handy said. The future looks even better. The market for flash is expected to expand to $10 billion this year, fueled by higher demand and escalating prices. "There is no question that prices are going up," Rothdeutsch said. The math that makes semiconductors an attractive business will aid these companies as well, Handy noted. Many manufacturers, including Intel and AMD, have said they will begin to produce flash chips on the 0.18-micron manufacturing process. Migration to this manufacturing process will lead to smaller chips and hence more chips, and profits, per wafer. Concurrently, manufacturers will begin to pack more bits per chip, Handy said. "Profits could massively over-account for any losses" in previous years, he added. Intel also will use flash demand to boost sales of other products. Ron Smith, general manager of the company's wireless computing group, said recently that Intel is working on "integrated solutions" for cell phones that would combine most of the necessary silicon--flash memory, digital signal processors and microprocessors--into a single package. Such an integrated solution would be less expensive but also would give Intel an opportunity to sell more StrongArm processor cores and an as-yet-to-be-released digital signal processing core. "We will be producing four times the megabytes of flash that we produced in 1999," Smith said. "We are adding the equivalent of one factory a quarter." AMD is equally bullish and is aggressively expanding manufacturing capacity and lining up multiyear contracts. AMD cooperates with Fujitsu on manufacturing. "With the current industry shortage of product, assuring access to adequate supplies has become a strategic imperative for many of our customers," AMD chief executive Jerry Sanders said at the company's stockholder meeting. "As a result, we have entered into multiyear agreements with key customers, such as Alcatel, Cisco Systems and Samsung. We expect to announce additional multiyear agreements." Still, despite plans to increase factory capacity, shortages are likely to get worse. How the shortage of code flash will affect the cell phone market remains to be seen. Because the price of cell phones is amortized over the life of the service contract, people may not see an increase in handset prices. Instead, companies may decide to lengthen the term of the contract or change the monthly fee, analysts said. Consumers also might see a tight supply of cell phones, especially toward the end of the year. Another effect could be the slowing of the race to add features because memory won't exist to support those features. Tight demand for data storage flash, by contrast, is already having a direct effect on the availability of products. Late last year, manufacturers of this type of flash, which include SanDisk and Toshiba, allocated their tight supplies to digital camera manufacturers in Europe. Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research, said that MP3 manufacturers also are reducing the amount of flash they put into their devices. Some are even "unbundling" the memory unit. "It is a tight market," he said. |
| mib - Montag, 10. Juli 2000 - 23:22 |
| 3:1 split am 11.August |
| mib - Montag, 14. August 2000 - 21:53 |
| SSTI hat heute gesplittet |
| mib - Mittwoch, 13. September 2000 - 21:49 |
| Boerse Online empfiehlt SSTI als 'spelulative Empfehlung' und nennt Kursziel von 60 $ (in Einklang mit US-Analysten). Top Stock Silicon Valley von Otmar Weber: Market Movers ausgewählt vom Team WebersWeb [08.09.00, 22:03] Silicon Storage (SSTI) profitiert von der schnell wachsenden Nachfrage der Endverbraucher nach Elektronik-Produkten, in denen Flash-Speicher eingesetzt werden. Dazu zählen neben PC zahlreiche Produkte der Kommunikationstechnik (oder mit Kommunikationsfunktionen), aber etwa auch Spielkonsolen. Das Unternehmen liefert außerdem anwendungsspezifische Speicherbausteine und Mikrocontroller mit integriertem Flash-Speicher. Die neue SuperFlash-Technik von Silicon Storage erlaubt die Produktion besonders kompakter Speicher. In Verbindung mit schmaleren Leiterbahnen ergeben sich dabei gleich zwei Vorteile. Niedrigere Herstellkosten dank höherer Ausbeute pro Wafer und Platzersparnis in den Geräten, in denen die Speicher eingesetzt werden. Das Unternehmen entwickelt nicht nur eigene Produkte, sondern vergibt auch Lizenzen für seine Flash-Technik an Firmen wie IBM, Motorola, National Semiconductor oder Samsung. Von Schwankungen am Handy-Markt, wohin lediglich zwei Prozent der Umsätze gehen, ist das Unternehmen ziemlich unabhängig. Wegen niedrigerer Wachstumserwartungen im Handygeschäft war der Kurs Ende Juni von 38 auf 19 Dollar im August gesunken. gefallen. Flash-Speicher sind ohnehin Mangelware und werden zunehmend für neue Elektronik-Geräte gebraucht. Analysten schätzen den Gewinn pro Aktie für das laufende Jahr auf 87 Cents, was ein KGV von 33 ergäbe, und für 2001 auf 1,58 Dollar. Ein Analyst hob seine Gewinnschätzung für 2001 gerade sogar auf 2,20 Dollar je Aktie an, was einem KGV von 14 entspricht. Die Aktie, die jetzt bei 31 Dollar steht, ist bei diesem niedrigen KGV unterbewertet. Das sollte dem Kurs auch weiterhin Auftrieb geben. Nächstes Kursziel ist 60 Dollar. |
| chinaman - Montag, 18. September 2000 - 09:39 |
| Silicon Storage (SSTI) wurde zwischenzeitlich vom individualinvestor (magic25) auf "sell" gesetzt. Vermutlich denken die sich, von Gewinnmitnahmen ist noch keiner arm geworden. Weist jemand genaueres über die Hintergründe dieser Abstufung ? Bis zum Kursziel von 60 USD wäre es ja noch ein weiter Weg. :-) Gruß Chinaman |
| mib - Montag, 18. September 2000 - 15:08 |
| "sell" ist schon eine Weile her, - deren timing war goldrichtig, aber der Grund fuer den Verkauf ("gut gelaufen") ist ziemlich hirnrissig. Alles bei SSTI laeuft besser als von II erwartet, warum also jetzt verkaufen? Ich halte 60 $ als KZ zwar fuer uebertrieben, aber die 50 sollten bis naechsten Maerz (normale Entwicklung des Marktes vorrausgesetzt) erreicht werden. SSTI ist fuer mich ein klarer Kauf. |
| mib - Mittwoch, 27. September 2000 - 15:41 |
| SSTI meldet schon vorab (pre-announcement) ueberragende Zahlen!!! Tuesday September 26, 11:59 pm Eastern Time Press Release SST Preannounces Record Results for 3Q00 SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2000--SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.) (Nasdaq:SSTI - news) today announced that it expects to report record results for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2000. The company expects to report third quarter revenue of greater than $150 million, or an increase of greater than 45 percent over the second quarter of 2000 and greater than 325 percent over the third quarter a year ago. In addition, the company expects to report earnings per share for the third quarter of 2000 to be greater than $0.35. ``In the third quarter, the company experienced better-than-expected yield improvements and production ramp at certain foundry partners of several new products, which carry improved gross margins,'' said Bing Yeh, president and CEO. ``With our diversified product offerings and the strong demand for our products, the company has continued to experience rapid revenue growth and profit expansion. We believe the flash market is very fragmented, characterized by the coexistence and continued growth of all memory densities and the various configurations to meet the specific requirements in many emerging applications. By expanding to more than fifty types of end applications so far, our diversification strategy has allowed us to withstand any slowdown in one or two of the end application markets. Demand for our products continues to outstrip our capability to supply. We expect this situation to last well into 2001. ``We expect to continue increasing our capacity in an effort to meet the growing demand.'' The company expects to report final results for the third quarter of 2000 on October 12, 2000 after the market is closed. About SuperFlash Technology SST's SuperFlash technology is a NOR type, split-gate cell architecture which uses a reliable thick-oxide process with fewer manufacturing steps resulting in a low-cost, nonvolatile memory solution with excellent data retention and higher reliability. The split-gate NOR SuperFlash architecture facilitates a simple and flexible design suitable for high performance, high reliability, small or medium sector size, in- or off-system programming and a variety of densities, all in a single CMOS-compatible technology. About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. SST's product families include high-functionality flash memory components, flash mass storage products and 8-bit microcontrollers with on-chip flash memory. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees IBM, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). TSMC offers SuperFlash under its trademark Emb-FLASH. Further information on SST can be found on the company's Web site at http://www.ssti.com. Forward-Looking Statements Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market conditions, the company's future financial performance, the performance of new products and the company's ability to bring new products to market that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2000 and June 30, 2000. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contact: Stapleton Communications Inc. Leslie Green, 650/470-0200 or Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Jeffrey L. Garon, 408/735-9110 jgaron@ssti.com |
| mib - Donnerstag, 12. Oktober 2000 - 23:27 |
| in "froher Erwartung" der exzellenten Zahlen steigt SSTI heute um fast 12% trotz eines katastrophalen Marktumfeldes. |