Palm schüttet 9 US$ aus. Annual Meeting 12.9.07 - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[lopolder]

Palm To Pay Out $9/Share Special Distribution, Faces Significant Challenges
posted on: June 04, 2007 | about stocks: PALM
Palm (PALM) Monday morning announced that the private equity firm Elevation Partners will invest $325 million in the company. The company will also take on $400 million in new debt, and then use the added cash to pay out a $9 a share cash distribution to shareholders.

Palm also named former Apple (AAPL) iPod exec Jon Rubenstein as executive chairman of the board; Elevation managing directors Roger McNamee and Fred Anderson (the former Apple CFO) will join the Palm board. Eric Benahmou, chairman of 3Com (COMS), and D. Scott Mercer both step down from the board.

Elevation’s investment is in the form of $325 million of convertible preferred stock with a post-distribution conversion price of $8.50 a share. The company said it has also secured commitments for $400 million of new debt and a $40 million revolving credit facility which it says is not expected to be drawn at closing.

The company notes that the distribution represents more than half of the company’s market capitalization; Elevation will not participate in the distribution.

Andy Neff, an analyst at Bear Stearns, upgraded the stock on the news, going to Peer Perform from Underperform, despite “numerous near-term challenges.”

“ Fundamentally, PALM faces numerous challenges with intense competition in its phone business, a decline in its old handheld business and the lackluster response to the new product demoed last week,” he wrote in a research note. “We are raising our rating to reflect our view that the private equity involvement will shift the valuation focus away from some of those near-term concerns.”
Jonathan Hoopes, an analyst with ThinkEquity Partners, who has been among the more vocal bulls on the stock, Monday morning asserted that the private equity infusion “should quiet” the skeptics on the stock. “We see similarities in where Palm finds itself today and where Apple found itself prior to the launch of the iPod and resurgence in its CPU share gains,” he writes, noting that the company now has several ex-Apple execs on the board. He maintains a Buy rating and $20 price target on the stock.

I’d note, by the way, that one possible interpretation of the Elevation investment would be that Palm couldn’t find anyone to buy the company in its entirety. I’d also agree with Neff that the company has significant challenges ahead, not the least of which is to shift the perceptions that the company’s new Foleo Linux-based laptop is DOA.

Here’s what I concluded about Palm in this week’s print edition of Barron’s:

The consensus at the show [the WSJ’s D: All Things Digital conference] was that the Foleo was a monumental dud: Too pricey to be a companion to a cellphone, but not full-featured enough to replace a full-powered laptop. It didn’t help that Hawkins performed one of the all-time bad demos; he talked about the device for 10 minutes before actually demonstrating it; half-way through, people were streaming to the exits. It looked like the 7th inning of a blowout at Chavez Ravine.

For months now, there have been rumors on the Street that Palm might be up for sale; theoretical suitors include Motorola (MOT) and Nokia (NOK) and various private-equity firms, but the chatter has faded lately. I would not be surprised to see the rumors mill heat up again, though. The Foleo is looking like a loser, which could trigger increased conviction that the company’s Treo phones could gain wider acceptance in the hands of a handset maker with deeper pockets.


Palm shares Monday are up $1.30 at $17.39.

[lopolder]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 31.535.924 von lopolder am 11.09.07 19:45:35

Palm upped to outperform by Morgan Keegan on valuation
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)
11:42am 09/14/2007

PALM was upgraded to an outperform rating from market perform by Morgan Keegan. In a note to clients issued late Thursday, analyst Tavis McCourt cited the approval by Palm shareholders of a recapitalization deal with Elevation Partners, which "brings more financial discipline and already apparent improvements in strategic focus." He also said the stock's valuation is "extremely compelling" if the company's long-term turnaround strategy pays off.

[Gilbertus]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 31.535.924 von lopolder am 11.09.07 19:45:35

Palm wieder Preiswert !


14.09.2007 - 18:58
Palm: Markt zu pessimistisch - glaubt Broker


Sunnyvale, California (BoerseGo.de) - Palm zählt zu den Gewinnern des Tages. Der Hersteller von Kommunikationselektronik wurde vom Broker Morgan Keegan von „Market Perform“ auf „Outperform“ hochgestuft. Die Stimmung des Marktes sei vor dem Start der neuen Produkte zu pessimistisch, heißt es. Außerdem zeige die Partnerschaft mit dem Handy-Dienstleister Sprint überraschende Stärke.

Palm gewinnt 3,55% auf 15.43 Dollar.


(Quelle; © BörseGo AG 2007

[lopolder]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 31.577.391 von Gilbertus am 14.09.07 19:35:03

Für die Mutigen bietet Goldman Sachs einen interessanten Call, der zum Vervielfacher werden könnte.

GS7YJ4 Goldman Sachs
Basis 20,000 USD (ex Ausschüttung 11,000 USD)
Laufzeit 21.12.07
Bid 0,017 Ask 0,217
Zeitwert 0,10-0,15

[lopolder]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 31.579.223 von lopolder am 14.09.07 22:14:08

Palm Gets a Grip
Palm (PALM: Nasdaq)
By Morgan Keegan & Co. ($14.91, Sept. 13, 2007)

WE ARE UPGRADING SHARES of Palm to Outperform based on a compelling valuation, which seems to price in almost no improvement from current trends. Although we expect growth to remain modest over the next 12 months, we do not expect an erosion of trends.

Additionally, as the new operating system is launched in the second half of 2008 and [new Executive Chairman Jon] Rubinstein's impact on product design is fully felt in calendar 2009, we believe there is a potential for growth to pickup meaningfully over the next two to three years. At the current valuation, we believe this creates an intriguing risk/reward profile in the shares, although we note we would continue to expect near-term volatility in operating results.

On Wednesday, Palm shareholders voted in favor of the leveraged recapitalization plan proposed by Elevation Partners. Elevation will make a $325 million convertible preferred stock investment in Palm (convertible at $8.50 per share post-recap), and Palm will obtain up to $400 million in debt-financing and render a $9 per share cash distribution to shareholders.

Palm will finance the cash distribution through its net cash position, the proceeds from Elevation, and the proceeds from its credit facilities. Additionally, three partners from Elevation were added to Palm's board of directors, with Jon Rubinstein [former head of Apple's iPod division] becoming executive chairman. We assume the timing of the vote was such that the debt raise and completion of the transaction is forthcoming soon.


We have updated our financial model for the recap. We are anticipating revenue growth of 10% for fiscal 2008, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $103 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of 29 cents. We would note we have assumed the company raises a full $400 million and pays 9% interest.

We believe there is a chance the company raises somewhat less in debt and pays out more of the dividend using its current cash balance. We expect Palm to have net debt of roughly zero following the recap and the sale of its land holdings. A detailed model is attached.

We believe that shares of Palm look attractive heading into the recap for the following reasons:

1. Strategic Focus Improving: Over the past few months, Palm has ceased R&D on Windows Mobile platforms in order to accelerate development on its internal OS, and has scrapped the Foleo [mobile companion product]. We believe both of these decisions are significant positive steps for the company.

2. Recent Trends Likely Somewhat Weak: Our channel checks in mid-August showed expected weakness in Treo sell-through at AT&T, but some surprising strength at Sprint Nextel. We believe last week's price cut at AT&T is likely an indication that Treo sell-through was hurt incrementally by the price drop on the iPhone. However, we believe new handsets are on the horizon for the holiday season, and we do expect a normal seasonal uptick in sell-through.

3. New Products Near Term: On Wednesday morning, Vodafone announced that it will launch a new Palm smartphone, the Treo 500v, in Europe this October.

4. Investor Pessimism Running High: As evidenced by the recent increase in Palm's short interest, the market appears to have become increasingly pessimistic about the company's prospects. Investors have seemed convinced that Research in Motion and Apple will run away with the smartphone market, leaving no room for anyone else. However, as the dramatic market-share shifts in the last year in the mobile-handset industry have proven, this is an industry where fortunes can be made and lost relatively quickly. At the very least, this market is growing fast enough to support a number of vendors for at least the next two to three years.

5. Long-Term Product Initiatives: Longer term, we believe Palm's development of its own operating system (again) combined with Jon Rubinstein coming in as Executive Chairman and heading up product development are the key reasons to be excited about the company's long-term prospects.

6. Management Incentives: Although we have heard some discord from some investors that John Rubinstein will only need to spend 50% of his time on Palm business, we believe his incentive package full of out-of-the-money options provides significant incentive to dramatically improve Palm's long-term growth and profitability.

7. Valuation: At roughly 8.5 times enterprise value/EBITDA, 0.5 times EV/revenue, and 20 times non-GAAP EPS post-recap, Palm shares are essentially valued like a slow-growth tech company. Although we expect near-term trends to remain choppy, any sign of sustainable long-term growth prospects at Palm should led to both higher earnings expectations and substantially higher valuations. In sum, Palm will never be a "slam dunk" because of the short product life cycles and substantial competition in the smartphone business. However, at current valuation levels, the risk/reward for long-term investors appears very compelling.

-- Tavis C. McCourt, CFA
-- Christoph T. O'Donnell
-- Justin T. Patterson

[lopolder]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 31.655.631 von lopolder am 19.09.07 09:41:41

(Wann) Explodiert der Schein?
GS7YJ4

Aktie steigt bereits mit guten Meldungen.

Palm shares jump on debut of new Centro
Device maker targets wider cell phone market with $99 smart phone
By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:26 PM ET Sep 27, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- After being bruised in the heavily competitive smart-phone market, Palm Inc. unveiled a new device Thursday that the company hopes will appeal to a broader base of cell phone buyers.

Nevertheless, the news seemed to excite investors, who bid Palm shares up more than 6% following news of the launch.
Palm closed trading up 97 cents at $16. The stock is about 16% off its peak from late March.
Designed as a small smart phone comparable to the popular BlackBerry Pearl, the Centro was more notable for its price tag. At $99, the company is hoping the device will attract user shopping for regular cell phones who may be put off by the $200-$300 price tags carried by most smart-phone devices or the expensive iPhone -- the cheapest of which costs $400.

[geccos]

schaut net so gut aus für palm

wettbewerber sind zu stark

zum nachlesen

http://www.it-times.de/news/nachricht/datum/2007/12/07/palm-…