E-Mailbag Monday: Alliance Fiber Optics Products, CommerceOne, USB
What looks good for the IPO market this week?
Reply: Do not expect much from the IPO market, as investors gear-up for Thanksgiving. There are a mere five deals on tap, with two from overseas.
Although, there is a fiber deal in the winds and it is Alliance Fiber Optics Products. The product line is extensive: splitters, couplers, interconnectors, WDM and DWDM.
In all, the company has 150 customers, including JDS Uniphase and Marconi. For the first nine months of 2000, revenues surged 164.9% to $13.4 million and losses were $200,000.
But there are some problems: three of its top ten customers are competitors and the company's manufacturing capacity is not strong.
The lead underwriter is Merrill Lynch and the price range is $11-$13 (the company plans to issue 4.5 million shares). The proposed ticker symbol is AFOP.
CommerceOne: Are the Rumors Real?
Rumors are that CommerceOne will miss its fourth quarter. What's your take?
Reply: It's a good idea to not pay attention to rumors - especially now. Investors are jittery - and short sellers are a bit cocky (after all, they have made huge sums of money during the past few months).
But CommerceOne
Universal Serial Bus
What is USB?
Reply: Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standard that allows for
low-to-medium speed connectivity between computers and peripheral devices
(such as printers, scanners and keyboards). The standard was developed in
1999. Essentially, it is a replacement for the traditional serial and
parallel ports.
Supporters of the standard include Microsoft, Lucent, Intel and NEC. In
all, there are more than 600 members. A study from Dataquest shows that USB
is expected to grow from 27 million devices in 1999 to 494 million by 2003.
is a leading B2B company and by all accounts, the B2B sector is still
growing at a brisk rate. In fact, the company issued a statement saying
that it does not expect a fall-off. The company is comfortable with
projections of $173 million to $177 million in revenues and a loss of 7
cents per share.