Stocks-in-Depth

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With the launch of its Roomba 980 vacuum in September 2015, iRobot has added cameras, sensors, and Wi-Fi connectivity.  CEO Colin Angle explains why he feels a roving sensor platform aboard the Roomba places iRobot in a unique position to grab leadership in the connected home of the future, and why fixed-point sensor arrangements such as Nest and Dropcam have suddenly fallen from favor. In an analyst day presentation in New York City, CEO Angle unveiled a new corporate strategy that relies on home connectivity as an engine of differentiation and growth.  In this podcast, we discuss how the company’s new empirical approach to marketing may convert millions of skeptics into evangelistic promoters of robotic vacuums, explore a disruptive opportunity to capture share in lawn mowers and related services, and explain why management is deemphasizing defense and remote presence robots.

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Out of the blue we’ve heard from some smart people interested in this obscure molecular diagnostics company.  Yet it seems few really know what’s going on in this space.  All the focus is on the FDA clearance of Luminex’s new platform, Aries, which was designed to appeal to hospitals that might otherwise send out complex molecular tests to academic centers or big labs.  In this podcast, Bill Baker, CFA, reveals how despite murky corporate-level profit patterns and the excitement about Aries, a quietly building strength in high-margin royalties, assays, and consumables separates Luminex from the rest of the pack.  He shares his insight from years of following a number of molecular diagnostic firms, and debunks misconceptions of where profitability really originates at competitors that would be affected by the launch of Aries.  Next week Bill travels to attend the Association for Molecular Pathology annual meeting in Austin, TX.

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In 1965 Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, made an astounding prediction that transistor density on chips would double roughly every two years.  But few know that at the same time he warned chip fabricators would hit a wall when the geometries involved became as small as atoms or particles themselves.  In this podcast, Bill Baker, CFA, describes how this nimble provider of precision power equipment has bucked a morose trend in the semiconductor industry and gained market share among a field of barely profitable competitors.  He also explains why industrial power equipment markets are being targeted by the management of Advanced Energy.

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When Synaptic’s stock price withered from over $100 per share this summer to the mid-60s, according to Bloomberg a state-backed buyer from China offered to pay $110 per share for the company, and was rebuffed.  What did China see in Synaptics that institutional investors in the U.S. may have missed in this company?  In this podcast, Bill Baker, CFA, tears apart the the pieces of the company hidden behind opaque segment reporting and discusses the unique competitive advantages held by Synaptics.

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In Myriad’s analyst day held in NYC on September 14, 2015, management discussed the outlook for several new growth drivers, and it addressed challenges faced in its legacy BRCA1/2 hereditary cancer genetic testing franchise.  We explore what’s new, the ins and outs of each opportunity, and delve into the intricacies of companion diagnostics.

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Monotype Imaging is regarded as having a unique and somewhat bullet-proof franchise, being a “toll collector” when companies use fonts anywhere from on a laser printer to cloud-based publishing in mobile ads.  But why has there been margin erosion and deceleration of growth?  We explore what’s under the hood in this episode…