InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[rmarchma]

Talking the talk, but also walking the walk

This post is an addendum to my earlier referenced post. There is nothing wrong with talking the talk, and it’s even desirable to do so to help build-up credibility, believability, and investor confidence. However the company must follow the talk with action, ie walking the walk. Merritt is saying the right things, but he has to follow that up by doing the right things. If he does so, then his credibility will be greatly enhanced. If not, he risks losing credibility.

A case in point is the very specific statements made during the latest public CC about new 3G licenses (plural) during the third quarter. Since IDCC has gotten no new or updated licenses in over eight months thus far in 2005, the bold and confident talk of licenses within a short fixed time period was a welcome breath of needed fresh air for the investors and analysts.

One would tend to think that at least two new revenue-producing 3G licenses were already in the bag, and ready to be finalized, to precipitate those bold public projections in the August 4 CC. I am beginning to get a touch nervous, since it has been over one month ago when the declarations were made, with less than one month to go in the quarter, and still no new licenses.

Talk is good, but the walk is much better. Come on Merritt and IDCC, please begin delivering on those new licenses. If you don’t, I’m afraid you will have some unhappy and frustrated stockholders and analysts. If you can’t deliver on specific short-term promises, how can we believe that you will deliver on the more important general long-term goals like execution, profitability, cost containment, enhanced shareholder value, sound business resolutions, cutting-edge technology development, important strategic relationships, better communications, etc?