There have been a number of portfolio managers who have been quoted as saying that the safest companies to invest in these days are the ones that don't need to continually go to the credit markets to fund their businesses. These are companies with substantial piles of cash that should allow them to ride out this recession without having to pay exaggerated borrowing costs in today's credit markets.

Though corporate bond issuance is currently robust, spreads are still quite high with the yield on double-A bonds more than 3.5% higher than comparable Treasuries. This is better than last year but significantly worse than the historical average. For bonds that are rated less than double-A, terms get even tougher and demand is correspondingly weaker.

Shares of companies that make chips for TV displays climbed Tuesday morning on news that one of their rivals, Genesis Microchip Inc. (GNSS), has agreed to a $336 million acquisition by Swiss semiconductor giant STMicroelectronics NV (STM).

Shares of Trident Microsystems Inc. (TRID) climbed 12.25%, and Pixelworks Inc. (PXLW) climbed 3.6%.

• We were wrong to have been constructive on PXLW over the past year and are downgrading shares to HOLD given our view that the firm will not recover as much lost TV business in 2007 as we were previously hoping for. Design win traction with meaningful customers appears limited in its TV business, and we do not believe holding out hope that PXLW is acquired is reason enough to recommend the stock. We do still believe the firm has a compelling technology position and product roadmap, though we favor Trident Microsystems (TRID) in this space given their strong execution and earnings power. For those still in PXLW, there seems to be potential acquisition appeal from Broadcom (BRCM), NVIDIA (NVDA), TI (TXN), STMicro (STM), or LSI Logic (LSI).

Since the first half of April TV panel prices have dropped as follows:

At 3M, Profit Warning Takes 9% Off Stock, Hits Dow Industrials

There is not enough lipstick for this pig. Pixelworks Inc. (NASD:PXLW) stock has cascaded from about $20 less than two years ago, and a 52-week high of $11.78 to $4.40. Company revenue was down slightly last year to $172 million from $176 million in 2004. However, operating income in 2004 was $28 million. In 2005, the loss was almost $22 million. The company managed to take its quarterly R&D costs from under $10 million in Q1 05 to over $15 million in Q3 and Q4, with nothing to show for it in revenue growth.

One might assume that all that R&D would pay off in 2006. Wrong. The company recently revised guidance down to between $35 and $36 million from a previous range of $39 to $43 million. In 2005's lowest quarter, the company did over $40 million.

* Q1 revenue pre-announcement again disappoints investors with management blaming weak sales of ATV chips in Europe and China; gross margins are also weaker than expected due to inventory reserves and poor new product yields.

Data in table version:

Ticker	Stock	Short Interest Ratio

AATI ADVANCED ANALOGIC TE 8.0