Ready, Fire, Aim! - Mihail's Public Blog: Palm tries to dig itself out

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Friday, September 20, 2002

Palm tries to dig itself out

Two years ago Palm briefly traded above $165 on the day of its IPO but, as is often the case, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required):

Ever since the maker of hand-held computers announced in late July that it would seek shareholder approval for a reverse stock split in the range of one-for-10 to one-for-20, Palm shares have tumbled by about half, to under the crucial $1 mark

...Palm shares have been excessively beaten down in connection with the reverse-stock-split announcement. Investors often react negatively to such moves because, though they increase share price, they reduce the number of shares held. That attitude confounds Bill Crawford, an analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, who points out that the market value of Palm, about $420 million, "remains the same" with a reverse split.

...So far, Palm has retained dominance in the hand-held-device hardware and software markets, despite tries by rivals such as Microsoft Corp. to dislodge it. Research firm International Data Corp. says Palm's devices had a leading 32.2% share in the world-wide hardware market for the second calendar quarter, while its software had about a 50% market slice.

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