Good for Costar. We used to buy tons of their used cameras from walmart stores when they would update all of their stores and turn around and sell em on ebay. At that time they were OEM'ing from Hitron. Unsure if they are actually manufacturing products but this is a great move for them to move in that direction.
New Top Bidder, Arecont Goes To Auction
$10 million cash will not be enough to buy Arecont.
Though Arecont signed a purchase agreement with a turnaround specialist, a rival video surveillance manufacturer has entered a higher bid. Now, Arecont will be auctioned between those two bidders.
In this note, we examine the rival video surveillance manufacturer with the top bid, their background and how this could impact the future of that manufacturer and Arecont.
Top ****** *** - ****** ************
****** *************** ****** *********, ******* ** ** auction ** **** *, ****, ****** ***** ****** *****:
Who ** ******?
****** ** * ******** ****** *******, with**** ************* ** $** ******* *** ****** ************** ****** $** *******. *** ******* ******** of****** *****, * ******-******* ***** ************ ********,******, ** ********** ***** ************ **************** ******** ** ****, *********** ********, ******* ****** ******* ************ ************** ******** ** ****.
***** ******* ******* ****** ***** *** CohuHD ** *****, **** ****** ** made **** ******, ** *** ******* below *****:
**** ***** ****** ****** *** *&* expenditures *** ***, ** ************ **% and *.*%, ** ***** *****:
Costar ********
******'* ******** ** ************ ** ******* markets ***** ******* ******* ************, ********* to ******** **** ******** ************:
** **** ******* *******, **** **** be ********* ************* **** **** $** million ****** ******* *** *********** **** doubling ***** *******.
**** *** ******** ** ** ********* these ******* ********** ** *** ******* clear ** **. *******, ** *** very *****, ** ** ***** * lot ** ******* ** * ****** low *****.
****** ********* ** *** ******* ****** that **** ***** **** ** ** once *** ******* ******* ** ****.
Poll / ****
Winner ******** **** ****
*** ******* **** **** ***** **** 9th **** *** ****** ********* ** the ****:
** **** ****** *** ******** **** those *******.
Costar took over a lot of IDIS as well. With IDIS analog, they either OEM from Hitron or Hitron from IDIS
Costar (CSTI) seems to have very little interest on the Street. Trading volume is usually in the hundreds and most days seem like no volume. Wonder if this will help spike interest in the company if they acquire Arecont.
Wonder if this will help spike interest
At the level they are at, most anything would help...
Arecont's name alone may not make much of a difference but the increase in revenue could as well as if they tell a story of being more of a technology developer rather than an OEM, i.e., Arecont's FPGA technology. Of course, how much they retain / use, if they win, remains to be seen.
FYI, COHU is a big player in transportation. At least half the State DOTs that I'm talking to in the US are installing them on their big highway systems.
#2, you are either wrong or transportation is a tiny market. CohuHD's revenue was not even $20 million last year. Thoughts?
Fairly small market. I would estimate there are somewhere around 50k DOT highway cams nationwide, maybe 75k. With a lifespan of 5-10 years, you can estimate how many are being replaced yearly. Not talking public safety cameras, these are DOT operational traffic cameras.
Wisconsin is a recent notable adopter: Wisconsin Department of Transportation
High Definition Video System Upgrade
I was recently at a NJ DOT technlogy expo and Sony and Cohu were the only 2 camera manufacturers present. So they definitely appear to be transportation focused
Cohu is ITS/Traffic based almost exclusively compared to Costar playing in the typical retail/SMB/residential space.
Arecont would give them the viable commercial/governmental product line that they really don't have now.
Traffic changes every decade or so. Cohu is certainly a player in highway bids and some military. Now so is Axis, Bosch, Pelco still. There’s a lot of old analog still running.
Goodbye Arecont. No password arse default gui.
Update: Arecont announces sale to Costar. We will release a post in the morning covering it.