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electronics and the trade war ?3

10:03 04-Jun-18


Integrated Device Technology has just formed a sales partnership with RFMW Ltd.  This looks to go somewhat beyond a standard reseller marketing agreement, in that RFMW will provide design insight to IDT engineers, quite possibly giving the latter a head start on products for the coming wave of 5G devices that I keep talking about in relation to RESN and CTL.  IDT also just improved the terms of its debt.  All this extends the bright future I've forecast for the company, but I'm not buying IDTI at at all-time highs.

Part of the reason is China. Unsurprisingly, the situation there is deteriorating, and it's not the only place.  With China, though, electronics are going to be a particular focus and that has every chance of affecting to IDT.  As always, whether to hold or take profits depends mostly on individual parameters.

Fitbit also just announced that it has shipped over 1M Versa since the device was introduced on April 16th.  This is right in line with my expectations for improvement, but not game changing numbers.  I still see the company as failing to capitalize on the potential I hoped for from its Pebble purchase, and it's also facing continued quality issues in legacy products.  That's mostly old news, but it does represent an image problem.  I've already talked about Fitbit's somewhat muted international appeal, and I see it as having very little opportunity in China, where consumers tend to go for domestic products on the low end.  That's a shame, given the size of the market, but it's unlikely to change.  What is likely to change consumer perception of all this data.  So far the bright side has been emphasized, but the downside is beginning to get its due as well.