I better start this post with a disclaimer: IANAFE;A,IABWM: I Am Not A Financial Expert; Actually, I Am Bad With Money.
Now that we have that out of the way, here's some news: Recently there have been a couple news stories about financial advisors taking a look at Palm. The first comes to us from Motley Fool, dated June 30, 2006. In the article, Tim Beyers describes concerns he has about Palm's financial picture and their stock levels:
Of course, all looks well at first blush. [...] So, what's the problem? [...] Certainly, I could be reading too much into the financials. It's just that I prefer to buy only when I understand the impetus for unusual fluctuations. So far, Palm hasn't offered a thorough explanation, [ ... ]
The second note was mentioned moments ago in Annie Latham's Talkin' Treo v072106. She notes a Forbes article by quoting the following:
Bear Stearns has upgraded Palm to "peer perform" from "underperform," saying shares of the handheld device maker have a more balanced risk-reward profile at current prices. Good news, right? Well not from the viewpoint of analyst Andrew Neff.
So we have two articles that mention Palm's relatively healthy financial picture right now, but then go on to express concerns about their immediate future. What's going on here? It appears that they're both worried that Palm won't be able to keep their steady progress going in the next few months -- that we're looking at a high point right now.
Yet it seems to me like much of this doomsaying doesn't properly take into account the fact that Palm announced their "plans to launch a new GSM Treo by the end of the year on Vodafone's European networks." Both articles do mention competition from Motorola, especially in terms of the Motorola Q. But while the MotoQ is less expensive, it also seems to me that you get what you pay for. Poor battery life, no touch screen, and no ability to edit office documents says 'smartphone lite' to me. I think Palm still has the upper hand and can keep it if they pick up the pace a little bit.
Seriously, though, folks, I Am Not A Financial Expert; Actually, I Am Bad With Money!
