Research deferrals add to Gennum’s risk

Article Excerpt

GENNUM CORP. $5.01 (Toronto symbol GND; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 35.4 million; Market cap: $177.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; SI Rating: Above Average) gets 70% of its revenue by making equipment that stores, manipulates and transfers video signals. The other 30% comes from chips that improve the flow of data inside computer networks. The company focuses on designing products, and outsources most of its manufacturing to chipmakers in Asia. We’ve long recommended Gennum, partly for its high research spending, which is usually over 30% of its revenue. Last year, it started deferring some of its research costs related to certain products. Gennum will recognize these costs once it starts selling the products. However, the company operates in a highly competitive field, and there’s no guarantee of success. Deferring these research costs helps current earnings, but increases the risk of a future writedown against earnings. Gennum recently abandoned its friendly takeover bid for rival chipmaker Tundra Semiconductor Corp…