Knobias Clip Report (9-17-2007)

Sumbmited From Knobias ClipReport

ZVUE: Announces Share Buyback Program

Monday’s action was predictably slow with many waiting on the Fed’s announcement on Tuesday. Over the weekend ex Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, gave his thoughts on the economy which were pretty gloomy. Inflation and some fallout from subprime were his reasoning for the bleak outlook.

In the small cap space, news was a bit slow with only a few names reporting anything of substance. One name’s lack of reporting news caused shares to fall some 22.5%. iRobot Corporation (IRBT) was expecting a Department of Defense contract to be announced on Monday. Instead, it was announced that Robotic FX received the contract.

iRobot is a provider of robots that perform dull, dirty or dangerous missions in a better way. The company's proprietary technology, iRobot AWARE Robot Intelligence Systems, incorporates advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. This proprietary system enables iRobot to build behavior-based robots, including its family of consumer and military robots.

Before the announcement, analysts reiterated their strong buys and overweight ratings last week even with the litany of insiders that were selling shares. With the loss of the contract, analysts acknowledged the loss as a big negative, but have yet to change their ratings. Shares could see increased selling pressure with rating changes over the coming days even though some of the analysts feel that Robotic FX may not be able to deliver on the contract in the time frame specified. In either event, the name should be one to watch over the coming weeks.

Another company in the small cap space reported some positive news but it raised a few eyebrows. Handheld Entertainment (ZVUE) is a global digital entertainment company offering products and services that deliver fun, entertaining digital media for people on the go. Its ZVUE Network of Web sites (Putfile.com(TM), Holylemon.com(TM), UnOriginal.co.uk(TM), YourDailyMedia.com(TM), Dorks.com(TM), FunMansion.com(TM) and ZVUE.com(TM)) now houses more than 850,000 user-generated and commercial videos available for purchase or free viewing, as well as millions of free user-submitted photos and other media, and is expected to deliver nearly one billion page views/video streams in 2007. The Company also recently purchased eBaum’s World which is a fairly popular website. Its ZVUE(TM) personal media players are mass-market priced and currently available for purchase online and in more than 2,200 Wal-Mart stores throughout the U.S.

On Monday, the Company announced that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to 1 million shares of HandHeld's common stock, or approximately 6% of shares currently outstanding, over the next six months. The 6% is somewhat of a misleading number.

What was surprising was the amount of cash and cash equivalents the Company had on their balance sheet as of their latest quarter. Cash and cash equivalents was $1.41 million while restricted cash was only $50 thousand for a total of $1.46 million total cash.

Between the end of the quarter on June 30th and Monday’s announcement, the Company announced the acquisition of eBaum’s World for some $17.5 million of which $15 million was to be paid in cash.

To help finance the acquisition, HandHeld also entered into an agreement to sell $24.0 million of three-year, 7.5% convertible debentures with a fixed conversion price stock at $1.90 per share subject to adjustment. Of the proceeds, $15.0 million was for the acquisition of eBaum's World and $9.0 million is for future mergers and acquisitions, working capital and fees.

In July, the Company also announced the issuance of $1.425 million in unsecured notes, bringing their total cash balance to around $11.89 million before their cost of operations over the past few months. To purchase the shares, the Company would have to use some $1.7 to $2 million of the money they recently received from their private placement to fund the buyback. Plus, the financing agreement is most likely contingent on the acquisition closing, of which, has yet to happen.

In the world of finance, it’s not looked upon very highly to sell shares and then turn around and use the money to fund buybacks. The buyback, though, is only a program that the Company can choose to act upon. They actually do not have to repurchase the shares. Either way, the Company does expect to be cash flow positive by the end of the year and grow revenues by 100% for 2008. With such huge expectations, investors would certainly be wise to watch.



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