Avid develops the software used to make the majority of Hollywood movies, TV shows, and other high-end film/TV productions. In professional high-end markets, they are the #1 leader. Yet this company manages to lose money.
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Intel: trimmed my position
Need to free up cash for other ideas. I think that other stocks are a much better idea than Intel right now.
Enterprise storage stocks (EMC, NTAP, FIO, STEC, etc.)
I’ve been researching this industry. On my first pass at it, I’m not very excited about these stocks at the moment. I think it would be prudent to patiently wait for Mr. Market to have one of his mood swings. Valuations are not compelling at the moment.
There is a lot of hype surrounding flash technology. Many companies making flash-based products have very high short interest (e.g. FIO, STEC). While these stocks will likely go down, they may not be compelling shorts due to expensive put options and high short interest affecting the borrow on the common stock. Basically… nothing in this sector is really compelling to me at the moment.
Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs
Some key points are:
- Steve Jobs is a real asshole (e.g. he would unnecessarily insult and put down his employees)… it doesn’t seem to have hurt his success too much.
- Jobs is obsessed with great design and making amazing products that are the intersection of great design and technology.
- He worked hard to attract A players and to weed out the “bozos”.
- Jobs would push people to do the unimaginable. Sometimes they would do things that they wouldn’t think were possible. Of course, this doesn’t work all the time.
- He is obsessed with perfection… even for details that consumers wouldn’t see. The robots making Apple/Next computers had to be beautiful… along with the interior of the case and how the circuit boards are laid out.
Advant-e Corporation (ADVC) / Arbitrage opportunity
From the press release, Advant-e has announced that it is essentially doing a tender offer for odd lots (anything not divisible by 10,000 shares) for $0.27 a share. As of today, ADVC was trading between 23 and 27 cents a share. I actually got filled today at 23 cents with Interactive Brokers (I placed my order on the weekend before I knew about the press release).
Book Review: Only the Paranoid Survive (by Andy Grove, former Intel CEO)
Key ideas in the book are:
- Sometimes there are inflection points in an industry that changes everything, e.g. containerization of the shipping industry and the rise of the personal computer. The trick is to (A) correctly identify what things are and aren’t inflection points and (B) re-invent the business if you are on the wrong end of an inflection point.
- It is difficult for CEOs to make decisions that may be obvious to outsiders and to a company’s customers.
Overview of the semiconductor industry
I’m trying to expand my circle of competence to include the semiconductor industry. Here’s how I see the industry so far.
