About Small Caps Article of the Week
by Allen Caron, About Small Cap
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center recently announced that it will be deploying at least 2,000 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablets throughout its system. According to an article by MobiHealthNews.com,
“Dr. Rasu Shrestha, Vice President of Medical Information Technology at UPMC and a practicing radiologist, described the ease with which a clinician could swipe between health IT systems as only requiring a ‘swipe’ of the screen.”
Tablets are becoming popular in all sorts of sectors, in addition to their popularity as personal devices. The education sector, especially, is using tablets to aid in lesson plans and especially crucial in aiding special education for children with communication problems, like autism.
With tablets still holding strong as a hardware device used in multiple sectors, it’s time to revisit the list of small cap stocks of tablet-based technology companies we covered last October.
Jhubei, Taiwan-based Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (NASDAQ:SIMO) is a company that manufactures controllers to support NAND flash products made by companies like Samsung and Toshiba. SIMO’s main product is components for smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs. A press release on June 4th revealed that its
“SM2246EN SATA (6Gb/s) client SSD controller now supports Micron’s 16nm 128 gigabit (Gb) MLC NAND flash, ideal for high performance, high capacity SSD solutions up to 1 Terabyte.”
SIMO closed October 28 of last year at $12.00. SIMO closed June 16 at $18.42, up $0.21, with a market cap of $602.09 million. Its 52-week trading range is $10.38 – $19.00.
OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OVTI), based in Santa Clara, CA, is one of the top three image sensor suppliers for tablets and mobile devices, particularly mobile phones. OVTI’s CMOS-based systems use up less energy than CCD-based systems and all their camera functions are on one single chip. In a press release on June 2nd, the company announced that it will be releasing the
“OV2740, an ultra-low power, full high-definition (FHD) PureCel™ image sensor… consuming only 90mW of power when recording 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second (FPS).”
The OV2740 is now the lowest power 1080p/60 HD image sensor on the market, and will likely be a go-to for front-facing cameras on next-generation smartphones, tablets, notebooks and Ultrabooks. OVTI closed October 28 at $14.13, and closed June 16 at $23.49, up $0.08, with a market cap of $1.32 million. Its 52-week trading range is $13.55 – $23.78.
San Jose, CA-based Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA) operates within the scope of interface solutions for tablets. SYNA has close to 500 patents issued or pending and more than 2 billion touch solutions on the market. A recent press release revealed that SYNA was planning to
“acquire all of the outstanding equity of Renesas SP Drivers, Inc., the industry leader in small and medium-sized display driver ICs (DDICs) for smartphones and tablets.”
SYNA hopes that this acquisition will
“increase its addressable market opportunity by 1.5X and to accelerate its product roadmap for touch-and-display driver integration (TDDI).”
SYNA closed October 28 at $46.50. SYNA closed June 16 at $86.28, up $2.33, with a market cap of $3.08 billion. Its 52-week trading range is $34.98 – $86.70.
In October we covered Shenzhen, China-based Nam Tai Electronics, Inc (NYSE:NTE), which has since changed to Nam Tai Property Inc. (NYSE:NTP). NTP is an OEM manufacturing company that designs and manufactures components for tablets and other electronic devices. One of its areas of expertise is color LCD screens. According to its website, NTP reassures investors that
“Nam Tai will continue to focus on producing best-in-class electronic components, aligning our values and strong relationships with clients to ensure continued sustainable growth and profitability.”
NTE closed October 28 at $7.33. NTP closed June 16 at $7.64, down $0.10, with a market cap of $343.62 million. Its 52-week trading range is $5.30 – $8.79.
With tablet use becoming more and more widespread, the companies that provide the components and features that support this technology may continue to thrive, and provide viable investment opportunities for those looking for good small cap stocks focused on tablet technology.