Israel Economics

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Thu: Lipman going from strength to strength
Lipman Electronics Engineering has excellent management and operates in a growing market, which is why investment institutions like the company.
Shlomo Greenberg

On Tuesday, I cited PowerDsine (Nasdaq: PDSN) as an example of a share that is falling without any discernable reason. Here’s one technology share that is constantly rising for obviously logical reasons Lipman Electronics Engineering (Nasdaq: LPMA; TASE: LPMA).
Lipman, which was founded in 1974 as an engineering company, is considered a very old veteran. The fact that the company has been around for a long time gives it a certain advantage over other technology companies with investors. Lipman has made its reputation in all aspects of electronic money transfers: terminals, both wireline and wireless; ATM devices, and money transfer management platforms tailored to each client. In short, Lipman is an interesting company in an interesting niche, with great growth potential. Up until now, the company has shown that it is among the leaders in its field. It has excellent management, and that’s what matters. The company’s offices are scattered around the world. What catches the eye is the stream of contracts coming in every week. Lipman’s strong hold in Turkey and India guarantees the company a lot of room for expansion. Lipman made a net profit of over $30 million on sales of $180 million. It has a lot of cash in the bank about $120 million. What’s interesting is that all the company’s shares are listed for trading, and parties at interest hold only a tiny proportion of its paid-up share capital.

Lipman president Isaac Angel rose from the ranks to lead the company. Market sources say that he is one of the best managers ever to emerge in Israel. The company board of directors, which includes very serious people from diverse fields, is equally impressive. Jacob Perry has been chairman since 2003. I see that the board includes First Israel Mezzanine Investors Fund general manager Ishay Davidi and David Rubner, one of the all-time greats of Israeli technology, who led ECI Telecom (Nasdaq: ECIL) and a few more companies.

An investors evaluating Lipman will discover that the company is stable, growing, has excellent management, and operates in a growing market. That explains why investment institutions like the company. In the past few days, Merrill Lynch and Oscar Gruss & Son have both recommended “Buy” for the share. What attracts analysts from investment houses is exactly what I’ve said here: stability, growth, and a great future. I definitely think that conservative investors (if there are any left) will like this share as an outstanding long-term investment.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 10, 2005


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