- Oct 7, 2005
- 4,142
- 0
- 0
Originally posted by: SickBeast
They're an *amazing* stock to buy right now, even at 5% up.
At first glance I thought intel was buying them or something.
I've never heard of a bunch of private investors ganging up and buying out a company like that, it's interesting.
No that's silly. It's a bunch of large investment firms. They probably realize how great a buy they are right now.Originally posted by: gersson
Originally posted by: SickBeast
They're an *amazing* stock to buy right now, even at 5% up.
At first glance I thought intel was buying them or something.
I've never heard of a bunch of private investors ganging up and buying out a company like that, it's interesting.
maybe ex-Intel employees?
I've never heard of a bunch of private investors ganging up and buying out a company like that, it's interesting.
Originally posted by: Vogel515
I've never heard of a bunch of private investors ganging up and buying out a company like that, it's interesting.
This is normally VERY BAD for the products of the company. AMD balance sheet sucks, which means the private equity firms buying them see a way they can improve the balance sheet. They will do what they can to fix the balance sheet, then dump the company ASAP. It's like flipping a house... buy a beater, fix it cosmetically, and dump it for a profit.
AMD production ficility alone is wortht he stock price. Then AMD and ATI patents catalog is pretty large. The company is worth a lot more in parts then as a whole.
I think AMD needs this type of 'purge' to make them a more viable company. They've always had money problems, and this may fix whatever has been ailing them over the years.Originally posted by: Vogel515
EDIT: In reading more, this could be really positive for AMD as well, cash rich private equity could be just the source of resources AMD needs to get through their cash crisis... its a long shot
Originally posted by: Vogel515
I've never heard of a bunch of private investors ganging up and buying out a company like that, it's interesting.
This is normally VERY BAD for the products of the company. AMD balance sheet sucks, which means the private equity firms buying them see a way they can improve the balance sheet. They will do what they can to fix the balance sheet, then dump the company ASAP. It's like flipping a house... buy a beater, fix it cosmetically, and dump it for a profit.
Did I make a sound choice?
Originally posted by: Viditor
Originally posted by: Vogel515
I've never heard of a bunch of private investors ganging up and buying out a company like that, it's interesting.
This is normally VERY BAD for the products of the company. AMD balance sheet sucks, which means the private equity firms buying them see a way they can improve the balance sheet. They will do what they can to fix the balance sheet, then dump the company ASAP. It's like flipping a house... buy a beater, fix it cosmetically, and dump it for a profit.
That's not always the case, and I don't believe it is here.
IF Barcelona comes out as advertised, there really is nothing to stop AMD from getting back into the $40 range again...and that's a very tempting proposition for an Equity investor.
The type of LBO you are talking about is something Gordon Gecko...someone buys out the company and sells it for parts at a large profit. That really can't happen here as the market for those parts is almost non-existent.
Also, just fixing the balance sheet wouldn't make AMD an attractive company for flipping...investors for that kind of sale would be more concerned about long term stability and profit.
Originally posted by: Vogel515
I did say "normally".
The changes of a LBO leading to parting out the company are very slim, because of the creation of monopolistic competition, to say there is no market for the parts is an incorrect statement. The chip making industry is a very, very large and competitive industry and believe it or not there are many very cash rich smaller fabrication companies that could easily benefit from buying into AMD supply chain or acquiring AMD's 90/60/45nm 200mm and 300mm fabs.
From reading into it more, here are a couple scenarios starting with the most likely:
Scenario 1: This is just a rumor, AMD posts its 10-K (financial report) in the upcoming weeks, the rumor was generated to give the stock a kick in the ass. When AMD posts its 10-K, and shows a greater than expected loss, all of those guys buying put-options are going to get rich because of this rumor. (This is an incredible time to buy 'over-under' options on the stock...or was Monday)
Scenario 2: Private equity is really looking to fund AMD, they will buy a solid portion of shares, this will drive up the stock price temporarily. Then that PE firm will either attempt to streamline the company or give it cash to build a new 45nm/300mm fabrication plant and give AMD a better fighting chance. (This is very risky though because PE firms hate to invest like this, unless it is a sure thing)
Scenario 3: The PE firms are rumored to represent IBM or Motorola, but why the hell would IBM buy back into the semiconductor industry? This is madness. Motorola on the otherhand I would say is a much more likely candidate. Motorola is under a lot of pressure from Charles Icahn who is attempting to get on the board by buying up 12-16% of the company so that he can force them to use all of their cash to buy back stock and drive up the price. Through purchasing AMD, motorola would be adding another link in their supply chain and dumping the cash that is making them so attractive to Icahn.
Scenario 4: maybe intel is looking to prop AMD up
Fabs aren't really interchangeable...if they were, then AMD would have been producing ATI chips at Fab 36 right away. So the market for AMD's Fabs (even though they are state of the art) is EXTREMELY limited.
Ummm...that would be fine if it weren't highly illegal. As the puts generate a paper trail, I can't see this as a very likely scenario.
Why on Earth would they(IBM) want to do that(prop AMD up financial)???
Originally posted by: Vogel515
Fabs aren't really interchangeable...if they were, then AMD would have been producing ATI chips at Fab 36 right away. So the market for AMD's Fabs (even though they are state of the art) is EXTREMELY limited.
It's still cheaper to buy a fab than start over.
Ummm...that would be fine if it weren't highly illegal. As the puts generate a paper trail, I can't see this as a very likely scenario.
It is highly illegal, but it happens more frequently than you'd think. Citing put-options was silly on my part, usually there are much larger gains to be made in other ways.
Why on Earth would they(IBM) want to do that(prop AMD up financial)???
Governmental regulation of competition does not always work in favor of the consumer. In many cases keeping competition *closer* helps keep the better company more profitable. A perfect example was Microsoft past interest in buying large chunks of apple shares.