Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Seeking Alpha: Atmel Still Needs To Execute Better

Atmel (NASDAQ:ATML) still looks to me like a "couda, wouda, shouda" story. There are a lot of good and/or attractive things about this company - its leadership in MCU, its potential in the Internet of Things (or IoT) market, its margin self-improvement potential. Unfortunately, there are also legacy issues like strategic/execution missteps (xSense, for one), past failures to identify/execute good deals, disappointments relative to prior margin improvement goals, and ample competition.

I'm not sure why I want to like Atmel (maybe it's because Atmel was one of the first stocks I ever bought), but I still do. Certainly the NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI)-Freescale (NYSE:FSL) deal and the relative scarcity of good MCU assets helps the valuation proposition, but Atmel doesn't jump out to me as an obviously cheap opportunity. There is definitely self-improvement potential here (and the possibility for better revenue/margins to drive a higher value), but Atmel has frustrated investors with its unrealized potential in the past and I'm not sure management has earned the benefit of the doubt it takes to be really excited about the shares at this level.

Read the full article here:
Atmel Still Needs To Execute Better

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