Good morning!
So far, I’ve noticed the following bits of news:
Murgitroyd (LON:MUR) – interim resultsBegbies Traynor (LON:BEG) – small acquisitionGetech (LON:GTC) – trading updateVeltyco (LON:VLTY) – trading updateIQE (LON:IQE) – response to negative publication by shorterI’ll try to unpack the situation at IQE (LON:IQE) first.
IQE (LON:IQE)
Share price: 103p (-1%)No. of shares: 789 millionMarket cap: £813 millionResponse to ShadowFall Report
This opened lower but has recovered most of the losses by mid-morning.
IQE manufactures wafers for the semiconductor industry. It’s widely-followed by private investors and has been discussed here on numerous occasions before.
When I last covered it in November, I noted the material amount of short interest outstanding (6.5% was disclosed at the time) and guessed that this was due to 1) its high valuation against conventional metrics, 2) the lack of free cash flow generation, and 3) its reliance on a small number of customers. The share…