The Dutch company, which was formerly a division of Royal Philips Electronics (PHG), is selling the two businesses in order to focus on the design of chips for entertainment and media applications. Investors and analysts will view this move positively, since it is a welcome development for DSP Group. The company looked liked it was losing market share to the competitors and Wall Street will welcome any action that will change the current stalemate for the better.

If we compare the return on DSP Group's stock with similar companies, such as Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) or any of the other 17 semiconductor chip manufacturers on the Semiconductor Index, it becomes clear that DSP Group's shareholders actually do have reason to complain. The stock did go up and down together with the semiconductor field and with the expectations of what would happen in the field as a whole, but the fact that a stock behaved "just like the entire field" did and ultimately lost money for its owners, is hardly any cause for celebration.

In the more distant past, the model used when assessing Teva was to look at it as a unit that included several profit centers. The analyst would look at each unit individually vis-a-vis its respective market and at the end of the process he would summarize the estimates and arrive at a conclusion. The analyst of today does the same, but the emphasis is placed on specific events in defined fields.

For example, Teva's stock can suffer a substantial loss in value because the company fails in the development of a single popular generic drug. It can be severely harmed by a change of CEO, and it can also be severely harmed if another company develops alternative drug to Teva's, even if that alternative is not even on the market yet, or failed on the real market, as was the case with Tysabri. Ever since it first faced the challenge from Tysabri in 2004, the damage caused to Teva's stock has often been quite severe and when Tysabri was approved, the stock responded as if Copaxone had been completely neutralized completely in the real market.

But one thing cannot be taken from Taro, and that is its experience in the pharmacology field and its potential. Anyone who has visited the company's plants in Toronto and Haifa Bay, as I have, will be able to confirm that the infrastructure exists.

Setting aside for a moment the company's management in the U.S., Taro has managed to produce generic drugs which are both difficult to manufacture and which belong to fields where there is little competition. To put it another way, Taro has developed a medical niche with a potential that is sky high, and were it not for its odd management, the company's stock would almost certainly be at a much higher level than it is today. The company focuses on the manufacture of oils and generic ointments of the kind which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA] do easily approve since the FDA does not know the effect of these compounds, which are applied to the skin but then absorbed into the bloodstream.

"The next few quarters look challenging for Saifun as the majority of its revenues come from the NOR market with Spansion Inc. (SPSN) and Macronix International Co. Ltd. (MXIC)," says WR Hambrecht. "In addition, we do not believe that SMIC will ramp up data related products until late 2007." WR Hambrecht therefore advises investors to "remain on the sidelines" until such time as the company's products finally catch on in their markets, although it stresses that it continues to remain a believer in the technology in the long-term.

Both my assumption and that of many others is that Saifun's developments are at the forefront of memory technologies. I have no doubt whatsoever about this, since the company would not have been floated at so high a value had that not been the case. Four criteria are used when valuing technology companies in IPOs. The first is the dream behind the technology that the company wishes to sell to the public. Second is the technology's potential market, should be it a success. The third is the underwriter and his market strength, and the fourth criterion is the way the company in makes its presentation and that depends on the management. All these conditions were met when Saifun floated on Nasdaq, and the two offerings that the company has made have been a great success.

But knowing the company and Makov as I do, this has all the elements needed to attract a manager of his stature to Given Imaging, an appointment which would probably look to the bystander as a step down compared with the company he recently left. Makov has looked for challenges throughout his management career, and he will most certainly find one in his new post at Given Imaging. There can be no doubting that he knows how to tackle challenges, and his tenure at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) is proof of this.

Given Imaging is one of the most organized and efficient companies in Israel's high-tech industry, and it has done something that someone unfamiliar with the medical world will find difficult to understand. It introduced a new product and persuaded health trusts and insurance companies to recognize it - rather than working through one of the healthcare giants - and that is a tremendous achievement. Essentially, Given Imaging has created its own new business niche in the medical device field, and it is the leader in it.

While the analysts' consensus predicted earnings per share of $0.23 for the first quarter of 2007, the company said it would report a loss of $0.14-17 per share. It claims that this "is due to the cumulative effect of several unrelated events." First of there is the increase in maintenance costs incurred at three sites, which was attributed to two factors. The first is maintenance overhauls that are scheduled every four to five years, as well as the increase in costs to assure higher well availability in the summer months. Sales had fallen during the overhaul period. The second factor is the delay in the completion of a number of projects and the resulting increase in costs. Ormat also said that it also incurred settlement expenses of an outstanding dispute regarding royalty payments claimed in respect of its Steamboat 1 project.

That these reasons have only been disclosed now is rather odd, but on the other hand, the announcement could bring Ormat's stock to values that are a lot more economic, thereby giving a good many investors - who have been constantly chasing this stock but have never bought it because of the price - the opportunity to buy shares in an excellent and interesting company with tremendous potential at a "normal" price. It is important to note in this regard that the company also said in the latest announcement that it "expects to be profitable for the remainder of its fiscal year and believes that its business and prospects remain strong."

I remind you that one of the reasons for the fall in the stock last year was the analysts' consensus forecast, which claimed that the company was not growing, and that they could not see any growth engines. Twenty-three percent represents significant growth, but who remembers last year? The net profit fell, if you calculate it according to GAAP, or it rose handsomely if you use non-GAAP. Check Point's management says that year-on-year growth will continue to be just over 23% in the second quarter, and that it will reach 23% for 2007 as a whole. Eisenstein notes that the company's balance sheet is now stronger and that the company's traditional businesses are now back on track.

What Eisenstein is saying, in other words, is that the company is now back on track and that we will now have to wait and see how it progresses following the two acquisitions it made during the last twelve months. So if that's the case, why not buy this stock? Supposing the management has been right up to this point, and assuming that Check Point does indeed expand its areas of activity, what logic would there be in me staying in "Hold"? Eisenstein is apprehensive about the company's performance capacity. Check Point, he explains, recently underwent a restructuring with the aim of increasing sales and stemming the fall in sales of its brand product. The company strengthened its global sales operations, and it has unveiled new products, as it attempts to penetrate the data protection field (through its acquisition of Pointsec Mobile Technologies).

Zoran, as I see it, is one the most resounding failures of analysts covering the chip industry. If I were an analyst, I would have set a target price for this stock of $26-28 for the next twelve to eighteen months, 42% above its current price, without any due diligence. Why? Because if you take the analysts' consensus for the last five years, you will notice that the expectations for Zoran's performance were affected to a much greater extent by the business environment of video and imaging chip design than by what actually happened with the company.

Zoran, it should be noted, designs chips for specific purposes, such as digital cameras, image transmission and others. These chips are ordered from fabs such as Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (TSEM), and essentially, they are tailored to suit customers' requirements.

After ending Monday at $1.50, it started Tuesday's session at $2.13, a 42% gain. It achieved this thanks to the approximately half a million hands, five times the average for this stock, that made a grab for shares as the session got underway. The reason for the stampede were the announcements by news agencies and the company itself, about the results of the latest trial of its marijuana-derived product, cannabinor, for the alleviation of post-operative pain.

The intravenously-administered drug was given to around 100 male dental surgery patients who had undergone tooth extractions. The patients were divided into groups, each of which was given the drug in different dosages. Pharmos said that the lowest dose of cannabinor (12 mg) produced a "statistically significant decrease in pain." The company said that the trial, which was conducted at University College London, had produced "an unexpected pattern of results," and that it would continue to explore possible explanations. Dr. Stephen A. Cooper, one of the world's leading experts in dental extractions, commented that "overall, there appears to be sufficient signal to warrant testing of cannabinor in chronic pain. It is also particularly noteworthy that even at relatively high doses there was no evidence of a dose-related increase in adverse events."

As Brandes' reputation speaks for itself, Guru Focus wonders whether it would be worth buying Taro at $7 a share. I find difficult to believe that Brandes' managers did not make a few inquiries before investing $28 million in Taro shares, and anyone familiar with Taro and its management would have been wary of investing such a sum at that price. I actually have an explanation for their decision - they probably invested under the their "100 year philosophy," because the company's management will eventually be replaced at some point, won't it?

Disclosure: The author invests in various equities and may have a personal holding in the stock of companies named.

I know of two analysts who expect Alvarion's earnings per share to exceed $0.80; one of them predicts earnings per share of $0.92 for 2008. The company's stock price has climbed following these forecasts, since if the analyst who expects $0.92 per share is right, then the stock is currently trading at a multiple of around 9 for 2008, which is fairly low. Last week, for example, it rose largely on the back of the Chinese story with Intel Corporation (INTC); it turns out that Intel will unveil in China mobile systems based on Alvarion's technology.

The question that was always asked previously was why Alvarion never appeared in any deal with Intel. People wondered, "If Intel is making so strong an entry into WiMAX chip production, why is Alvarion, its veteran partner in Israel, inconspicuous?" Alvarion's president and CEO Tzvika Friedman repeatedly claimed that everything was in order and nobody believed him, but the belief is now there again. It has happened, not because of Intel and the exhibition in China, but largely because WiMAX is now starting another northward round on Wall Street. Very few people understand the telecommunications world well enough to know whether or not WiMAX will catch on. In the past, for example, they convinced me that WiMAX would replace WiFi and now they're telling me that the two technologies actually complement each other.

A member of the Emblaze Ltd. group, BluePhoenix, which now specializes in the optimization and upgrading of software systems announced yesterday that it had completed an application and platform migration project for a leading financial services firm, including the migration of certain systems to an Oracle/UNIX operating environment.

BluePhoenix has an extremely wide customer base and it is one of those companies that has access to a rapidly expanding market, and which has the know-how it needs to operate in it. I am referring here to a field known as "Network-based operations optimization," which includes a diverse range of sub-niches such as revenue assurance, theft prevention, system-wide security, upgrades of existing systems or adaptation to ERP systems such as digital documentation and others. As I see it, BluePhoenix remains firmly focused on its strategy, and that, apparently, is a good reason for the trend in the stock.

My claim about the economic value that the stock represents even after these gains is based on the following assumptions. Earlier this week, TAT filed a draft prospectus for the flotation on Nasdaq of its U.S. subsidiary LIMCO Airepair Inc, which will managed by the underwriters Oppenheimer & Co and Stifel Nicolaus, both of which are more than capable of leading an offering like this. TAT wishes to raise $45 million for the Oklahoma-based LIMCO (which wholly owns Piedmont Aviation Component Services) at a value of $100 million before money. Should the flotation be successful, (which, as experience has shown, is not always the case), then TAT, which is now worth a total of $122 million, will have potentially phenomenal value.

The online news site Bellwether Report is fast establishing itself globally as a site that many use as source for investment information. At the end of March, it published an extremely complementary review on TAT. "TAT Technologies helps militaries keep their cool; in the Middle East that's no small thing," wrote the site's aviation industry analyst. He was, of course, speaking in a jocular vein, but he really liked what he saw in TAT and rated it "Buy" due to the stock's fall to $20 from $26 on the eve of the publication of the company's report for the fourth quarter of 2006 and the year as a whole which, incidentally, were excellent.

This is not to say that Commtouch is now a phenomenal business success, but the company has been managed wisely and efficiently and time is on its side. Its quarterly report on trends in spamming has long since become a global accepted source of information on this, and I will not be surprised at all if sooner or later Commtouch's reports become the standard monitoring tool worldwide. They won't make any money on it, but it will bring the company recognition from all corners of the globe, and every such report draws yet more visitors to its site and more investors on the hunt for opportunities.

Commtouch's founder and CEO, Gideon Mantel, has shown himself to be a good marketing executive and good manager. The company's latest report indicates that in the war waged by companies against spammers, the latter are gaining the upper hand. Between 85% to 95% of all email traffic circulating the web in the first quarter of 2007 was spam. Zombies have been spreading throughout the world rapidly, and have now been found in more than 100 countries.

ECI joined the other tech stocks in the recovery that started at the end of 2002, staging an admirable rally from $1.25 in October 2002, to $9 in January 2004. Save for a short wave of excitement in the second quarter of 2006, following excellent quarterly results and expectations of more to follow that sent the stock up to $11.45, it has held steady for the last four years at $8-9. It turns out that this stock, which has probably not given its investors much cause for joy, has fared better over the last five years than other companies in the telecommunications infrastructure sector such as Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), and Nortel Networks (NT).

In his update on the company, Meron says that for now he prefers to sit on the sidelines and not enter the stock, while he "waits for fundamental triggers to emerge." In ordinary language, what he is saying is that the company's position is neither good nor bad.

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It is also ahead of ECI Telecom Ltd. (ECIL) which currently has a market cap of $994 million, and it is higher than the combined market cap of Pharmos Corp. (PARS), Given Imaging Ltd. (GIVN), Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SVNT) and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (KERX), and it is even higher than the market cap for companies such as Ormat Technologies Inc. (ORA), and Syneron Medical Ltd. (ELOS).

Protalix is classed as a biopharmaceutical company at the clinical stage, that is to say a start-up that has commenced initial trials of products that it is planning or hoping to produce. To put it in a nutshell, Protalix is still a dream company, and anyone buying its stock at $27 a share should know that he is investing in a company whose chances of business success are fewer and more distant.

As in other similar cases, Alon USA's success is due entirely to its management. After falling from last September's high of $42, the company's stock is once again touching the $40 mark, and it appears to be on track to break its previous record. After everyone downgraded their ratings for Alon USA at the end of last year, three analysts have now upgraded their ratings to "Buy." Only yesterday, I received two reviews, one by the Bank of Montreal, which rates Alon USA "Buy, and the other by Lehman Brothers, which for some reason rates the company "Underweight 3" and has set a target price of $34, lower than its current market price.

The earnings per share estimates for 2007 of the seven analysts currently covering the stock range from $3.20 to $4.01, with the consensus standing at $3.60. If we opt for the lower estimate, then Alon is currently trading at a multiple of 12.3 for 2007. A multiple like this is very low if Alon continues at the rate it has done for the last five years, and very high if the sales and profit are likely to fall in 2008, as the analysts fear. They believe that earnings per share will fall to a consensus level of $3.09 in 2008 and that this will have a negative impact on investors. The analysts' sales forecasts range from $3.06 billion to $5.40 billion.

AudioCodes was one of those companies, along with the likes of msystems [now part of SanDisk Corporation (SNDK)], and Alvarion Ltd. (ALVR) that I believed was destined for glory. I still feel that way, because of AudiCodes' leading position in a rapidly growing niche, and also because of its managerial and technological capabilities.

When I read company chairman, president and CEO Shabtai Adlersberg's updated guidance, I felt unable to express my views objectively. Something happened on Main Street which Adlersberg, one of the veterans of the VoIP industry, was unable to explain. That a market should behave contrary to the expectations of even its most experienced insiders is not uncommon in the business world. But those not from the industry who studied AudioCodes' announcement could, quite rightly, think that something was wrong and stay away from the stock, especially given the rush by analysts to downgrade their ratings.

The company's stock has been, without doubt, one of the most successful in terms of return since the slump in 2002. Between September 2002 and February 2003, its price ranged from $5.50 to the $3.70 low it reached in February 2003. Since then, it has risen elevenfold in value, 1,100%, excluding the generous dividends that the company has distributed. In February 2005, Elbit Medical Imaging distributed a dividend of $1.717 a share; in December the same year it distributed a further dividend of $1.11 and last week it announced a dividend of $1.51 a share, which means that if we calculate the dividends in percentile form, anyone who bought shares at $4 each at the beginning of 2003 has made more than 1,200% on his investment, or an annual return of more 300%, without doubt a handsome sum.

People keep asking me how long this can last. My answer is simple. This stock is a supplier of dreams that come true against all odds. Elbit Medical Imaging's band of supporters just keeps growing, as it becomes ever increasingly clear that a) the company keeps its word (loyalty); b) the dreams it spins never seem to run out and c) this is the premium that popular managers usually get on Wall Street.