07-08-2014, 01:56 PM
InvenSense buying motion-processing/positioning tech firms • 5:52 PM
- InvenSense (INVN) is buying Movea, a French provider of algorithms and software for processing/analyzing motion and audio sensor data, and Trusted Positioning (TPI), a developer of software that improves location tracking by combining data from motion sensors and GPS/Wi-Fi networks. The company is paying a total of $81M ($75M in cash).
- InvenSense declares pairing its motion sensors with Movea and TPI's technology will allow it to offer "intelligent" sensor SoCs supporting always-on location and activity tracking for mobile apps/services.
- Movea has an IP portfolio featuring 100+ patent families, and calls itself "amongst the leading patent holders for motion sensor based functions." It offers motion-processing/data fusion libraries aimed at mobile devices, sports wearables, and living room gear. TPI, meanwhile, argues its software allows for positioning to work in areas where wireless signals are blocked.
- Two weeks ago, voice processor vendor Audience (ADNC) announced it's buying Movea rival Sensor Platforms. The deals have implications for QuickLogic (QUIK), whose sensor hubs have relied on Sensor Platforms' algorithms and have some feature overlap with InvenSense's motion sensors.
- SA authors have gone back and forth regarding the competitive threat posed by InvenSense to QuickLogic, with bulls having argued InvenSense is only a threat on the low-end.
- Last fall, InvenSense bought Analog Devices' microphone unit for $100M+.
Explains the rally in a falling market today with a new 52 week high, but these shares are fully valued, IMHO:
- Yes, smartphones and other wearables are great growth opportunities
- But prices of the gyroscopes and other stuff are falling almost as fast, and Invensense has a habit of producing disappointing quarterly figures and the shares aren't cheap by any means.