Seeking Alpha
Full index of posts »
Latest Followers
Posts by Ticker
Latest Comments
-
elenora123 on CalAmp Corp. (NasdaqGS: CAMP) Buzz Stock of the Day The initiative taken for the concern is very se...
Posts by Themes
alternative energy stocks,
biopharma,
biopharmaceuticals,
biotech,
Biotech,
buzz stocks,
buzzstocks,
CHCI,
china stocks,
chinese stocks,
chinese telecomm,
Cisco Systems,
coffee,
communications,
energy stocks,
financials,
Gencaro,
housing stocks,
investing,
media,
paper,
pharmaceutical stocks,
pharmaceuticals,
quarterly financials,
raptor pharmaceuticals,
real estate development ,
renewable energy,
smart grid,
social media,
Starent Networks,
supercomputing,
tech stocks,
technology,
telecom,
telecomm,
wireless communications
Instablogs are Seeking Alpha's free blogging platform customized for finance, with instant set up and exposure to millions of readers interested in the financial markets. Publish your own instablog in minutes.
-
Instablogged Stocks
Stocks that instabloggers have most recently written about -
Latest Instablog Posts
-
1
Chart of the Day - 11/24/2009 – USD/JPY
-
2
Quite a Contrast
-
3
APWR hits 52 Week High==Get Used to it all 2010
-
4
Dollar Index and Euro confirmation
-
5
FDIC in the red
-
1
-
Top Instabloggers
-
1
David Fry
-
2
TraderMark
-
3
Don Dion
-
4
Cliff Wachtel
-
5
Mike Havrilla
-
1
ARCA Biopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABIO) Buzz Stock of the Day
ARCA Biopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABIO) Buzz Stock of the Day
More »buzzstocks.blogspot.com/2009/11/arca-biopharma-inc-nasdaq-abio-buzz.html
Semitool, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMTL) Buzz Stock of the Day
Semitool, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMTL) shares soared Tuesday after Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Semitool for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $364 million in an all-cash tender offer based on the fully diluted capitalization of the company.
“As part of Applied Materials, we can accelerate the global adoption of the technologies Semitool has developed,” said Ray Thompson, chairman of Semitool. “With this agreement, we are providing our employees with a strong future and our stockholders with exceptional value.”
The announcement sent Semitool shares up over 30 percent to the to nearly the $11-a-share buyout price, which is a 31 percent premium above Semitool's Monday closing price of $8.40. Applied Materials was trading down 1.5 percent Tuesday after the deal was announced. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, and Applied forecasts the purchase of Semitool to add value to the company’s bottom line within two years.
Semitool, which is based in Kalispell, Montana, supplies electrochemical plating and wafer surface preparation equipment used by chip-packaging and chip-making companies. It will be operated as a unit of Applied's Silicon Systems Group.
Mike Splinter, chief executive of Applied Materials, said in a statement Tuesday, "The semiconductor industry recovery is being fueled by global demand for mobile devices such as smartphones, notebook PCs and portable media players for music, gaming and books."
Applied Materials, the world’s largest tool provider for the semiconductor industry, said the purchase will make it the leader in "advanced packaging and the memory industry's conversion to copper," which the company said are two of the faster-growing segments of the semiconductor business. Additionally, the acquisition will allow Applied to produce smaller and more adept microchips. Splinter continued,
"With this acquisition, Applied will help the world's leading chipmakers create ever-smaller and more powerful devices."
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009, Semitool posted a net loss of $11.4 million, or 35 cents per share, versus net income of $6 million, or 19 cents per share, last year. Revenue dropped 42 percent to $139 million.
The Semitool purchase is the second of the month for Applied after acquiring substantially all of the assets of Advent Solar Inc. for an undisclosed cash amount on Nov. 6. The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Advent Solar develops technology for crystalline silicon photovoltaics.
Although many analysts have praised the deal as “a good fit” and “a great acquisition for Applied,” the deal is not without controversy given that Levi & Korsinsky is investigating the Board of Directors of Semitool for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with their attempt to sell the company to Applied Materials, Inc.
The investigation concerns whether the Semitool Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to Semitool shareholders for the following reasons: the offer price is only a 13% premium over the $9.73 price that Semitool shares traded at as recently as October 12, 2009; furthermore, analysts set a mean price target of $12.00 for Semitool shares; and, finally, directors and executive officers of Semitool holding about 32% of the Company's outstanding common stock have agreed to support the deal.
Netlist, Inc. (Nasdaq: NLST) Buzz Stock of the Day
Shares of Netlist, Inc. (Nasdaq: NLST) were up as much as 53 percent in morning trading Monday after the company said it will introduce HyperCloud, the first 16-gigabyte, 2 vRank memory module for computer servers at the Supercomputing 2009 conference. According to Nasdaq, the 50-day average daily volume for Netlist is 368,000, on Monday, the volume reached 14,751,125.
More »Netlist, Inc. (Nasdaq: NLST) Buzz Stock of the Day
Shares of Netlist, Inc. (Nasdaq: NLST) were up as much as 53 percent in morning trading Monday after the company said it will introduce HyperCloud, the first 16-gigabyte, 2 vRank memory module for computer servers at the Supercomputing 2009 conference. According to Nasdaq, the 50-day average daily volume for Netlist is 368,000, on Monday, the volume reached 14,751,125.
More »3com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) Buzz Stock of the Day
The 3Com transaction, approved by the companies' boards, is expected to be completed during the first half of 2010. The deal values 3Com’s stock at $7.90 per share, which represents a 39% premium over 3Com shares' Wednesday closing price of $5.69. Bob Mao, CEO of 3Com, said in a statement Wednesday, “Our extensive product line and innovative technology together with HP’s breadth and scale will expand our global opportunity.” Hewlett-Packard’s acquisition of 3Com was taken as a call to battle against Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO). Although HP is growing business in computer networking, the 3Com acquisition doesn't even put it close to Cisco in market share. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard expects 3Com will help expand its offerings of products such as Ethernet switches and network routers, as well as increase its position in the Chinese market. 3Com also sells enterprise technology products such as Voice over IP gateways, wireless LAN access equipment, video surveillance, network management software, and security solutions. The company is headquartered in Hong Kong and has a strong foothold in China, with more than 30% of enterprise networking market. Mao continued, “3Com’s networking products are based on a modern architecture which has been designed to offer better performance, require less power and eliminate administrative complexity when compared against current network offerings. Our products are enterprise proven and widely deployed in the world’s largest banks, manufacturers, Internet service providers, public utilities and retailers.” 3Com Corporation is a $1.3 billion global enterprise networking solutions provider that sets a new price-performance standard for customers. 3Com has three global brands – H3C, 3Com and TippingPoint – that offer high-performance networking and security solutions to enterprises large and small. The H3C enterprise networking portfolio – a market leader in China – includes products that span from the data center to the edge of the network, while TippingPoint network-based intrusion prevention systems and network access control solutions deliver in-depth, no-compromise application, infrastructure and performance protection.
Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSII) Buzz Stock of the Day
Shares of Cardiovascular Systems, Inc (CSI) have been steadily rising in the week following the Company’s announcement of promising financials for the first quarter fiscal 2010 ended September 30, 2009.
More »