F1Q10 (Qtr End 09/26/09) Earnings Call Transcript

Fortune Small Business is out with its annual FSB 100 list, which measures the fastest growing (by revenues) publicly-traded small business listed on U.S. exchanges. As always, it is both fascinating and frustrating.

Though the FSB 100 has many intriguing prospects, it is horribly laid out and almost impossible to assess in the format provided. For example, there’s no way on the FSB site to get a handle on the market cap of the list except one company at a time. It's another instance of a layout designed to generate unnecessary page views (and advertisement cpm’s) at the cost of reader convenience.

F2Q09 (Qtr End 12/27/08) Earnings Call

February 3, 2009 04:30 pm ET

The market continues to indiscriminately sell stocks. But in 2008, micro cap value took one of the biggest hits compared to other investment categories.

I occasionally like to remind myself of something Benjamin Graham said:

I attended Pericom Semiconductor's (PSEM) annual shareholder meeting on December 11, 2008. There was no presentation. Water and soda were available to attendees. It appeared I was the only non-employee who attended.

Pericom's main business is enabling high-speed serial connectivity. Pericom makes chips that connect high-speed components inside TVs, phones, computers, and servers. You can read more about the company here: http://www.pericom.com/about

Pericom Semiconductor (PSEM) is a high tech value play. The company has a genuine technological business with real sales and income, but also features a lot of cash and investment securities. At yesterday's close of 4.89, it is trading at less than its tangible book value of 7.98. TTM P/E checks in at 8.5. At these prices, it is safe to buy and hold, waiting for the recovery in semiconductors, whenever that may occur. I have had good results investing along these lines, specifically back after the tech crash.

Overview

Pericom specializes in serial connectivity. Their website includes an Investor Fact Sheet (pdf warning). R&D amounts to about 10% of sales and produces 6-8 new products in a typical quarter. They do business with the likes of Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL). Five year revenue growth has been 18% (GARP too!) and margins have improved in recent years.

An earnings "triple play" occurs when a stock beats earnings and revenue estimates and guides future earnings higher.  There were about 70 stocks that had "triple plays" during the first quarter earnings season.  As we enter the second quarter earnings season, investors may want to look at these stocks to find momentum plays or ones that had strong reports but fell by the wayside as the overall market declined.

In the first table below, we highlight "triple play" stocks from the first quarter that are up the most since they opened for trading following their last earnings report.  These stocks had a solid earnings report and haven't looked back since, even in one of the worst markets in decades.  For momentum traders out there, these names currently have great relative strength.

Pericom Semiconductor Corporation (PSEM)

Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Pericom Semiconductor Corp. (PSEM)

F1Q08 (Qtr End 9/29/07) Earnings Call