Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What are your thoughts on Mosaid Technologies? The company has a good dividend return and I understand it has a solid cash flow from patent licensing. Your thoughts as a long term hold?

Article Excerpt

Mosaid Technologies, $15.66, symbol MSD on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 10.3 million; Market cap: $161.2 million), mainly licenses patented semiconductor (computer chip) and telecommunications technology. This includes patents for technology used in smartphones and laptops. The company complements this business by developing its own memory and other technologies. In total, Mosaid holds about 1,800 patents and applications. The company licenses patents based on its own innovations. It also buys patents, and has secured sub-licensing rights to others. Mosaid is currently looking at buying patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks. Thanks to Mosaid’s long history of designing computer chips, the company has a wide range of techniques and technology patents that it licenses to others. Its customers include Nokia, Buffalo Inc., Oki Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics. Mosaid’s licenses require each licensee to pay an agreed amount over a fixed period of at least one year. In the three months ended July 31, 2009, Mosaid’s sales rose 28.2%, to $16.2 million from $12.7 million a year earlier…