“Last night the ‘Fast Money’ crew and I took a hard look at Palm,” jim Goldman writes for CNBC.
“Since [Palm unveiled the Pre], the devil has been in the details, which quite candidly have been precious few: When will it be released? Palm, and partner Sprint won’t say. Price? No sir! Palm partners have hinted at a May release. Then yesterday, word was that Palm would go after Apple during its Worldwide Developers Conference and release then. Not terribly bright in my estimation,” Goldman writes.
“And yet Palm’s shares keep climbing,” Goldman reports. “Today though, a new voice has entered the fray, courtesy of Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar who says the Palm rally comes against a ‘skeptical backdrop.'”
‘Since the bottom in December, Palm has increased ten fold on take- out rumors and hype around its Pre smart phone launch with Sprint in 1H09,’ he writes in a blistering note this morning,” Goldman reports. “He adds something particularly dire: ‘Supply chain checks indicate that due to multiple hardware and software issues, PALM has dramatically reduced its production orders for Pre with its ODM partner. The Street currently has modeled over 1 million smart phone unit shipments for PALM in 2H09. We believe this is highly unrealistic.’
Goldman reports, “The reason this is particularly dire: despite protestations from Palm that business practices have changed, that it has somehow found a way to reverse years of execution missteps and bugaboos that nearly drove the company under, this analyst says it’s more like business as usual.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Beleaguered Palm named it the “Pre” because that’s short for “Precursor to Takeover or Dissolution.” As we’ve been saying for months: Palm’s Pre is cynical buyout bait at best and a delusional fantasy at worst.
