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
No comments:
Post a Comment