24/7 Wall St. » SIRF

SiRF’s Buyout, Quasi-False Premium (SIRF)

247wallst — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:25:43 +0000

SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRF) is soaring following a takeover. This is a huge premium deal on the surface, but there might be issues after you start peeling the onion.

A company called CSR, a British chip maker, is buying SiRF Technology in an all-stock merger. SiRF shareholders will receive 0.741 CSR shares. The deal values SiRF at roughly $136 million, or about 91 million pounds.

Here is where this gets interesting. This is a 91% premium to SiRF’s closing price yesterday. But the transaction leaves no room for the stock to rise. It also is at a premium that is so far under what this company was believed to have been able to have received when GPS was hot. SiRF was a $20+ stock back in the peak.

CSR also posted a loss and said that demand will remain weak in 2009. But its shares are up 10% overseas. Essentially, this ties bluetooth chips and GPS chips.

It makes sense for the acquirer. It might not make as much sense to those SiRF holders who have been crushed. The problem is that SiRF is under very tight control from management and holders do not have the same power as they might have elsewhere.

Jon C. Ogg
February 10, 2009

Posted in Mergers and Buy Outs, Semiconductor, Wireless Tagged: CSR, global positioning systems, GPS chips, GPS merger, SIRF

Day Trader Alert: SiRF Technology (SIRF)

247wallst — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:11:05 +0000

SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRF) has just made a mid-day mystery move on essentially no news. It seems that traders are tying it to the G1 phone launch from Google based upon an old press release. Unfortunately, even under the best case scenario this is already known. It was our understanding that the phone is being built by HTC with a Qualcomm baseband. This stock is frequently passed around in trader chat rooms, and that may be the biggest thing going for it today. Unfortunately, some of these low market cap stocks make mystery stock moves and sometimes on exaggerated or even old information. So far, that’s all this appears to be. When you add in that this was a former high-flier that crashed and burned, it doesn’t take much money to move the stock around. Even after a 10% rise today to $1.92, its 52-week trading range is $1.51 to $30.61. Shares briefly traded north of $2.00 on the sudden spike, and we haven’t been able to find anything new from the company itself to account for the move. As of 1:07 PM this has already traded 20% more than its full average daily trading volume.

Jon C. Ogg
September 24, 2008

Posted in Semiconductor Tagged: SIRF

The 52-Week Low Club 8/19/2008 (JCG)(CCJ)(FNM)(SIRF)

247wallst — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:59:24 +0000

J Crew Group (JCG) Analyst downgrade. Drops to $24.86 from 52-week high of $52.44.

Cameco Corporation (CCJ) Bad profits. Down to $27.56 from 52-week high of $52.33

Fannie Mae (FNM) Ongoing concerns about shareholders being wiped out. Plunges to $5.75 from 52-week high of $70.57.

Sirf Technology (SIRF) Losing case against Broadcom will not get ITC review. Falls to $1.96 from 52-week high of $30.16.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The 52-Week Low Club 8/11/2008 (SIRF)(CDE)(AU)(BWTR)

247wallst — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:47:56 +0000

Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE) Faces bad earnings and falling metals prices. Drops to $1.69 from 52-week high of $5.18.

Anglogold Ashanti (AU) Metals stocks down. Slips to $25.68 against 52-week high of $51.35.

Basin Water (BWTR) Delays results and audit committee begins investigation. Falls to $1.29 from 52-week high of $13.42.

SiRF Technology (SIRF) Loses patent ruling against Broadcom (BRCM) Drops to $2.15 from 52-week high of $30.61.

Douglas A. McIntyre

THe 52-Week Low Club (DGX, ED, KDE, SIRF, TWPG, FRNT, PNCL)

247wallst — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:00:17 +0000

Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX). Cost pressure strains on the health care sector hurting this stock. New low of $43.65 compared to a 52-week high of $58.63.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED). Poor reaction to volatile fuel prices slid this stock to $39.78 from a 52-wek range of $40.10 to $52.90.

4 Kids Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: KDE). The new low keeps getting lower after a quarter losses posted last week and the economy slows. Down 7% to a new low of $9.56. The 52-week range is $10.19 to $19.90.

SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRF). Tuesday’s announcement that job cuts will result from lower sales and UBS analyst predictions that Sirf’s competitive edge will continue to decline dropped the company to a new low of $4.71 from a 52-week range of $4.90 to $30.61

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPG). The bank may have upgraded its security software today, but share prices are anything but secure. New low of $6.81 from a previous 52-week range of $6.99 to $20.80

Huge gains in oil and more FAA inspections not helping any airlines, but these were on lows: Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRNT) Down to $2.05 from a previous range of $2.10 to $7.46. Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL) New low of $8.94 from range of $9.13 to $20.34/

Douglas A. McIntyre.

Nasdaq Short Interest: Big Bets Against Tech And Telecom

247wallst — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:26:35 +0000

The short interest for stocks traded on the Nasdaq as of February 15 shows that investors made very big bets against telecom and technology stocks. The numbers compare to those on January 21.

Short interest in Level 3 (LVLT) soared 48.7 million shares to 209.2 million. Short interest in Microsoft (MSFT) moved up 22.6 million to 112.3 million. Short interest in Yahoo! (YHOO) jumped 12.7 million to 55.2 million.

Shares sold short in Intel (INTC) moved up 6 million to 69.9 million. Short interest in Dell (DELL) jumped 7.5 million to 52.3 million.

Largest Short Positions

Company Shares sold short.

Level 3 209.2 million shares short

Sirius (SIRI) 121.5 million

Microsoft 112.3 million

E*Trade (ETFC) 96.5 million

Charter (CHTR) 93.4 million

Intel 69.9 million

Comcast (CMCSA) 59.4 million

Yahoo! 55.3 million

Dell 52.3 million

Cisco (CSCO) 45.2 million

Oracle (ORCL) 39.1 million

Larges Increase In Short Position

Company Increase In Shares Sold Short

Level 3 48.7 million

Microsoft 22.6 million

Yahoo! 16.7 million

Source Interlink 10.6 million

Sirius (SIRI) 9.2 million

Largest Decreases In Short Position

Company Decrease In Shares Sold Short

Appled Materials 6.9 million share decrease

SiRF (SIRF) 6.1 million

Charter 5.9 million

Altera 5.9 million

Hudson Bank 5.2 million

Comcast 3.9 million

Data from NASDAQ and WSJ

Douglas A. McInyre

The 52-Week Low Club (SIRF)(RMKR)(WOOF)

247wallst — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:10:32 +0000

Primus Guaranty (NYSE: PRS) Bad quarterly earnings. Shares drop to $3.64 from 52-week high of $12.96.

SiRF Technology (NASD: SIRF) Big miss on earnings takes half of stock’s value in one day. Trades down to $6.97 from 52-week high of $34.15.

Rainmaker Systems (NASD: RMKR) Company loses biggest client and is downgraded. Drops to $2.81 from 52-week high of $11.08.

ARM Holdings (NASD: ARMHY) Weak quarterly numbers.Down to $5.57 from 52-week high of $10.07.

VCA Antech (NASD: WOOF) Quarterly guidance is off the mark. Falls to $31.40 from 52-week high of $46.23.

Douglas A. McIntyre:

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ACI, RATE, BKS, GS, HAS, MOS, OXPS, POT, SIRF, YHOO)

247wallst — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:24:22 +0000

These are not the only analyst calls impacting stocks this morning, but these are the key calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on this morning:

Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Bankrate (NASDAQ: RATE) downgraded to Hold at Jefferies.
Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) downgraded to Market Perform at Oppenheimer.
Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) raised to Buy at Banc of America.
Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) raised to Buy at Citigroup.
OptionsXpress (NASDAQ: OXPS) started as Sell at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Potash (NYSE: POT) raised to Buy at Citigroup
SiRF Tech (NASDAQ: SIRF) downgraded across the board: Jefferies, Lehman, Oppenheimer.
Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) raised to Buy at Canaccord Adams; downgraded to Neutral at Banc of America.

Jon C. Ogg
February 5, 2008

Media Digest 2/5/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

247wallst — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:13:13 +0000

According to Reuters, Microsoft (MSFT) would borrow some of the money for a purchase of Yahoo! (YHOO).

Reuters writes that Toyota’s (TM) net grew 7.5% on emerging market growth.

Reuters writes that Yahoo! may consider an alliance with Google (GOOG).

Reuters reports that News Corp (NWS) lifted its outlook and sees no advertising slowdown.

The Wall Street Journal writes that social networks and video sharing sites are delivering big ad numbers more slowly than expected.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Moody’s is thinking of changing its ratings system.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Boston Scientific (BSX) posted a loss for the last quarter.

The New York Times writes that factory orders rose in December

The New York Times writes that BHP Billiton (BHP) is reviewing its options now that a Chinese firm has bought part of Rio Tinto (RTP).

The FT writes that BP (BP) will cut 5,000 jobs.

The FT reports that China is on a course for an economic slowdown.

Barron’s reports that SiRF Technology (SIRF) dropped sharply on poor quarterly numbers.

Bloomberg writes that Toyota says that its profit may decline this quarter.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Many Major Tech, Media, Telecom Hitting New 52-Week Lows

247wallst — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:51:36 +0000

With about 20 minutes to go into the close and on one ugly day, we have the DJIA down nearly 300 points, the NASDAQ down almost 40 points, and even the S&P 500 down over 35 points. We have been commenting about the recession for some time now and this is going from the good to the bad to the fugly. Of course financials, REIT’s, retail, and other classic sectors had more than their fair share of 52-week lows. But Telecom, Media, and Tech reached these critical 52-week lows and these are looking horrible.

The markets are hostage to the ratings agencies now. Here is what happens when you look at "VALUE INVESTING" in technology:

Alliance Data (ADS), Answers (ANSW), ATMI Inc. (ATMI), BigBand Networks (BBND), British Sky ADR’s (BSY), CA inc. (CA), CBS Corp. (CBS), Century Tel (CTL), Cincinatti Bell (CBB)…

Cisco Systems (CSCO) is a new entrant, this was surprising but those teen prices were in 2006.

Cogent (COGT), Cohu Inc. (COHU), Computer Science (CSC), Compuware (CPWR), DireTV (DTV),
Echostar (DISH).. unsure because of reorg…, Emulex (ELX), Epicor Software (EPIC), General Electric (GE), Getty Images (GYI), Gluu Mobile (GLUU), Hungarian Telecom (HTC), Internet Capital Group (ICGE), Interactive Intelligence (ININ), J2 Global (JCOM), ML Internet HOLDRs (HHH), ML Telecom HOLDRs (TTH), PlanetOut (LGBT), Liberty Media (LINTA), Loral Space (LORL), Live Nation (LYV), Sourcefire (FIRE), Flextronics (FLEX), Monster Worldwide (MNST)….

Motorola (MOT), Martha Stewart (MSO), Mattson Tech (MTSN), Network Appliance (NTAP), Orbitz Worldwide (OWW), Plantronics (PLT), Powershares Dynamic Media (PBS), Qwest Communications (Q), RCN Corp. (RCNI), RF Micro Devices (RFMD), Riverbed Tech (RVBD), Savvis (SVVS), Sprint Nextel (S), SiRF Tech (SIRF), Stamps.com (STMP), Time Warner (TWX), Trimble Navigation (TRMB), Veeco Inst. (VECO), Vishay (VSH), Voltera Semiconductor (VLTR), Xinhua Finance Media (XFML) ,

Yahoo! (YHOO) ouch.

This is almost enough to make many people cry. The VIX is trading at 27.34 and is up 2.96 points but we aren’t even at 30 yet meaning that massive critical oversold and true panic levels haven’t yet been reached.

Jon C. Ogg
January 17, 2008