Even in tough times, some companies are simply impressive in the way they fail to impress

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

October 24, 2008

3 Min Read
The Un-Sweet 16

4:15 PM -- It's tough to tell how companies are doing just by looking at a stock screen. But some screens make us wonder: Why is this company so unpopular, even relative to all the carnage on Wall Street this week?

Here's a sampling of the technology sector, with 16 not-so-sweet names I picked out for having two characteristics. First, their book value per share is higher than their current share price. Second, their market capitalization is lower than their current cash and investments.

And, while the S&P 500 is down around 40 percent so far this year, all but one of these companies has suffered a 60-plus percent share price drop.

Hold your nose, here are the Un-Sweet 16:

Table 1: Troubled Companies?

Stock Ticker

Company Name

Book Value per Share ($)

Curr. Price

Market Capitalization (mil.)

Cash & Cash Equivalents ($ mil.)

Price Chg. - YTD (%)

ADCT

ADC TELECOMMUNICATIONS INC.

9

4.66

549

656

-70.03

AIRN

AIRSPAN NETWORKS INC.

1

0.18

11

26

-89.77

CALL

CALLWAVE INC.

2

1.08

23

30

-65.16

CIEN

CIENA CORP.

11

7.75

700

873

-77.28

FTWR

FIBERTOWER CORP.

2

0.41

62

172

-82.02

WAVE

NEXTWAVE WIRELESS INC.

1

0.25

26

41

-95.35

NT

NORTEL NETWORKS LTD.

5

1.19

591

3,071

-92.11

OPWV

OPENWAVE SYSTEMS INC

2

0.75

62

196

-71.15

PRXM

PROXIM WIRELESS CORP.

0

0.19

4

5

-80.81

RDCM

RADCOM LTD.

2

0.91

4

5

-68.84

SOAP

SOAPSTONE NETWORKS INC.

7

2.71

40

101

-65.83

UTSI

UTSTARCOM INC.

5

1.98

249

254

-28

VRAZ

VERAZ NETWORKS INC.

1

0.73

31

31

-84.85

VOCL

VOCALTEC COMMUNICATIONS LTD.

1

0.24

2

4

-70.73

WSTL

WESTELL TECHNOLOGIES INC.

1

0.44

25

60

-69.44

ZHNE

ZHONE TECHNOLOGIES INC.

0

0.15

23

44

-87.18



— Phil Harvey, Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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