ROBV's Bottom

(This article originally appeared in the The Motley Fool's Evening News on Friday, October 25, 1996)

ROBOTIC VISION SYSTEMS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ROBV)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ROBV)") end if %> was thinned for a $1 3/4 loss to close at $11 1/8 today after pre-announcing break-even earnings or a slight loss in the fourth quarter. Though the company's core business is manufacturing 2-D and 3-D testing and quality control systems for the semiconductor fabrication market, it says it's not really being hit by the capital investment correction in the industry. For one thing, it does a large chunk of its business with INTEL <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: INTC)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: INTC)") end if %>. It also has little or no exposure to the ugliest part of the semiconductor industry over the last year, which is, of course, DRAM fabrication. The problem this quarter lies in the acquisition of a bar-code information company called Computer Identics. Robotic Vision hopes to leverage its optical equipment strengths in the emerging 2-D bar-code market, which is different from traditional bar coding in that it's all digital, higher density, and can survive harsher environments than one-dimensional bar-coding. While the market might come to the conclusion that Robotic Vision's main business is being hit by the semiconductor industry's uncertainty, such as with competitor COGNEX <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: COGX)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: COGX)") end if %>, it's more likely just a touch of growing pains in different markets that put the hit on ROBV today.

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