Two Tech Stocks: One Hold, One Buy

Article Excerpt

AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES $34.25 (Toronto symbol AAH; SI Rating: Speculative) (905-760-4200; www.aastra.com; Shares outstanding: 16.0 million; Market cap: $548.0 million) develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Aastra’s products include residential and business telephone terminals, screen telephones capable of accessing Internet content, cable modems, network access servers and digital video encoders, decoders and gateways for the broadcast, cable and telecommunications market. To cut risk, Aastra outsources all of its manufacturing. In the three months ended December 31, 2006, Aastra’s revenues fell 1.4%, to $160.8 million from $138.4 million. Earnings per share rose 109.9%, to $0.70 from $0.34. Sales in the Europe remained flat in the fourth quarter at $134.6 million. However, sales in North America fell 9.0% to $26.7 million, primarily as a result of weaker analog and digital terminal sales. Profiting from acquisitions Aastra has successfully expanded through acquisitions of money-losing product lines in which distressed sellers have invested large sums in research and market development. The acquisitions…