As part of the insanity gripping the markets, I’d like to mention here a small, forgotten company named Deltathree.com (Nasdaq: DDDC), which has had its ups and downs, and even decided to be delisted. The company is being reborn, now that Internet telephony, the company’s business is starting to gain attention. Deltathree is based in New York, but with Israeli management, so it is considered Israeli.
This company, whose share climbed 17% on a very small turnover yesterday, still has $0.80 in cash per share, while its share trades at $0.48. A company named Netphone, also in the VoIP field, made headlines this week, when it was discovered that its business is actually growing. “The company’s telephony service is topnotch, at a price approaching zero,” an expert explained on CNBC. That doesn’t mean you should run to buy Deltathree or Netphone shares; it does mean that the companies that have survived in recent years are starting to recover, because their product is interesting and competitive. We don’t know whether Deltathree will manage to take advantage of the situation, but it’s now worthwhile following it, because things in this business appear to be moving.
VocalTec Communications (Nasdaq: VOCL), on the other hand, still another VoIP company and the real pioneer in the field, yesterday announced the start of a painful and difficult restructuring plan, including the firing of a third of its staff and a draconian cut in development. The unseen hand of the free market works in mysterious ways, but it does do its work – of that, I’m sure.
NDS Group plc (Nasdaq: NNDS) took another tumble, this time sliding 8% to $7.20. The new lawsuit was filed by giant EchoStar Communications. NDS’s only remaining comfort is that there will soon be no one left to sue it, because there are only two or three companies left in the field. If that’s good news, then the bad news is truly bad, because NDS faces three pending lawsuits.
NDS president and CEO Dr. Abe Peled hurried to dismiss the report as unfounded, but in a market like today's, no one will touch a share with three pending claims totaling several times the company’s value. Were we paranoid, we’d immediately holler conspiracy. Why is everyone persecuting NDS? Can’t anyone think of anything else? What’s going on here?
The field of biotechnology, drugs, and the human genome demonstrated its power yesterday, with many shares moving up nicely, especially the genomic ones. Unfortunately, this didn’t include the Israeli shares. Compugen (Nasdaq: CGEN) sank 7.1%, and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX; LSE: KRX) tumbled 13.3%. As of today, the two companies’ combined market value was less than $50 million.
Taro Pharmaceutical Industries (Nasdaq: TARO) was down 3.3%, even though Goldman Sachs had good things to say about it. Even Teva (Nasdaq: TEVA) slipped a bit. On the other hand, Given Imaging (Nasdaq: GIVN) shot up by over 10%. I assume some investors saw the interesting price, were reminded of the fact that the company is about to display its wares at the upcoming exhibition, and bought a little.
Bio-Technology General (Nasdaq: BTGC) was down by almost 4%, despite (or perhaps because of) its announcement that it had closed the deal to acquire Rosemont, and put its affairs with Nasdaq in order, and will on the Nasdaq. Who knows, maybe that’s what pushed the share down. Incidentally, I had a talk with the manager of one company that fell into the Nasdaq cellar – the Bulletin Board. After surviving the shame, as he put it, he now acts like a man who’s gotten a load off his back. “Look, no interviews, no harassment,” he says. “I can work in peace, and for a month already, no one has asked me what the share did yesterday. The craziest part is that it’s much cheaper.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on October 1, 2002