Third Party Research

JNK’s exclusive semiconductor groups have multiple client facing consultants, many of which are former industry professionals with long histories within the sector.

We deliver a steady stream of leading edge information and data points on the following sub-sectors:

• Enterprise Networking/Storage, PC, wireless, and consumer supply chain research including component demand, market share shifts, lead times, pricing, and inventories
• EMS/ODMs
• FPGA’s
• Memory

Through our partners, we also distribute highly proprietary market conditions reports (“trackers”) on a monthly basis that assemble demand and supply trends, lead times, and ASPs on various aspects of the industry.

About our Semiconductors’ Partners:

One of our exclusive 3rd Party Research Providers worked for over 30 years in the semiconductor industry, of which 13 years was spent at Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM). During the last six years at Maxim, he was responsible for managing worldwide EMS. Previously at Maxim he managed their Eastern US and Canadian divisions as well as key strategic accounts (IBM, EMC, Nortel, RIM, and Lucent). Prior to Maxim, he worked for Altera Corporation (ALTR) and Texas Instruments (TXN).

Over his career, he has developed historic relationships at the executive level at Flextronics (FLEX), Celestica (CLS), Jabil Circuit (JBL), and Sanmina-SCI (SANM). He coordinated various supply chain programs between EMS companies and their top OEM customers. His strengths include a broad knowledge of the EMS Industry and how it relates to the overall market and end customers, and relationships that go deep into the EMS and ODM accounts and their end customers. His knowledge of and contacts in the Electronic EMS and ODM business as well as his work internationally in the Asia Pacific region and Europe along with his domestic background allow him to provide insights into the major EMS and ODM companies and their key end customers.

Another exclusive 3rd Party Research Provider follows the non-volatile memory industry, focusing on the companies, products and applications that make up its eco-system. We also follow market segments and companies that purchase and/or integrate non-volatile memory components and sub-systems into their own products. Additionally, we follow business and consumer trends that have the potential to influence and impact the non-volatile memory eco-system. Westwood Marketing conducts surveys, compiles data, analyzes and forecasts on the following segments and companies:

• NAND and NOR Memory Manufacturers - Elpida, Hynix, Intel, Micron, PowerChip, Samsung, SanDisk, Toshiba
• Memory Controllers - 3S, Anobit, Densbits, LSI, Marvell, SandForce, Silicon Motion, SkyMedi, USBest
• CE & Mobile - Apple, Corsair Memory, HTC, Kingston Technologies, Kodak, Lexar (div. of Micron), LG, Motorola, PNY Electronics, PQI, SanDisk, Transcend, Verbatim
• Solid-State Storage - Fusion-io, Intel, LSI, Micron, Seagate, SMART Modular, STEC, Texas Memory Systems, Virident, Violin Memory, Western Digital
• Intellectual Property – MOSAID, Tessera
• Industry Organizations – JEDEC, SNIA, CEA

JNK’s exclusive 3rd Party Research Provider offers primary research, detailed analysis and monthly market conditions reports on the global telecom and data center industries and telecom equipment/infrastructure suppliers and service providers plus data center hosting companies.

Their core value-add is depth of industry experience and the unique value of their tracker products. They glean particularly strong insights into emerging markets such as India and China and offer our clients an edge in understanding the Global Telecom and Data Center sector.

JNK’s exclusive 3rd Party Research provider offers an objective, in-the-stores approach to monitoring and analyzing the performance of companies in the Retail, Apparel and Consumer industries. Their research is based on the fundamental belief that store-level analysis and a true understanding of shopper behavior are both absolutely critical to evaluating the current and future performance of any retailer or consumer company.

Our Partner visits malls around the country seven days a week, evaluating trends and gathering insights on store-level and product-level performance. Over the last four and a half years, they have frequented over 175 of the top US malls and more than 75,000 stores. During a typical month, they visit 50-60 stores of each of the concepts it covers, visiting stores in 5 to 6 different markets in the US.

From this extensive research and analysis, our consultants translate day-to-day performance into extremely accurate assessments of short and long-term financial performance, concept/product viability, and growth opportunity. In addition, they have two proprietary nationally-representative consumer panels of 1,000 women and teens, respectively that provide it with a broader perspective and understanding of US consumer shopping patterns and validate in-store findings. Consumer panels are run monthly to get a pulse on household financial situations, shopping and spending levels, retailer and brand preferences, etc.

About our Retail Partner:

Our Retail Partner is comprised of two principals who are active in researching, analyzing and reporting on all companies in their sector.

One of the co-founders has over eight years of experience working for retailers in the specialty apparel and home furnishings sectors. She was most recently Executive Director of Strategy & Customer Insight at Linens 'n Things, Inc. In this capacity, she was responsible for customer targeting and segmentation, market and consumer research, corporate strategic planning and competitive benchmarking. Additionally, she also led the launch of new businesses such as accent furniture and led a cross-functional team to develop fashion-right textile assortments. Prior to joining Linens 'n Things, was Director of Strategic Planning & New Business Development at Ann Taylor. In this role, she focused on projects such as launching Ann Taylor’s e-commerce site, developing a color cosmetics line and improving store operations.

In addition, this co-founder has a background in Investment Banking at Punk, Ziegel & Knoell, a health care and technology focused boutique and at Morgan Stanley as a credit analyst.

The other co-founder is equally active in researching, analyzing and reporting on all companies within their sector. She has over 15 years of experience working with leading companies in the retail and apparel sector. Prior to co-founding the Firm, she was an Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development at Linens ‘n Things, Inc. In this role, she was responsible for proprietary brand development, licensed brand management and new concept testing. For each of these initiatives, she was instrumental in developing the long-term strategic and financial planning, assortment selection, in-store merchandising and marketing programs.

This principal also worked for nine years in Investment Banking for such firms as Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., PMG Capital and Mabon Securities. She completed financing and M&A transactions for retail and apparel companies such as Jones Apparel Group, Warnaco, Petco, Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, Tuesday Morning, Lillian Vernon and Charming Shoppes.

JNK Securities 3rd Party Research Provider delivers detailed Gaming & Lodging Daily and Weekly products, which keep up with the daily “nitty-gritty” of the Gaming sector and Lodging sectors. In addition to the Daily and Weekly products, our partner provides ad hoc reports on timely issues on an almost real time basis. Many investors and industry players comment that our daily report is a “must read” for gleaning real-time commentary on changes across all aspects of the industry.

Our partner has covered the industry for over 20 years and has deep personal relationships with a plethora of industry executives among casino operators and within the gaming equipment industry.

They host small group meetings with key gaming executives each year at G2E with private booth tours and offsite meetings as well as hosting management meetings, lunches and dinners throughout the year in NYC. They also conduct Quarterly “Earnings Preview” conference calls.

About our Gaming & Lodging Partner:

JNK Securities exclusive partner in the gaming and lodging space has historically been one of the leading sources for investment professionals and industry executives for information and insight into the gaming and lodging industries. From April 1998 to March of 2003, as the President and CFO of Casino Journal Publishing Group, Inc., the largest media company in the gaming industry he gained tremendous industry knowledge and contacts. He resigned his position with the company upon completion of the launch of his own independent company.

Prior to this work, he was the President of Lucky Management Corp., an investment advisory firm which also held interests in other business including printing and real estate. As President, he was responsible for all investment advisory accounts including being the advisor to the Monitrend Gaming and Leisure Fund. Serving as an advisor to the fund from October 1993 to December 1994 and as a Portfolio Manager of the High Rollers Investment Partnership from December 1992 to October 1993 – our 3rd party provider, continued to be deeply rooted within the industry. Duties as an advisor and portfolio manager included updates on the gaming industry including trend analysis, technical analysis on securities of companies in the gaming industry, buy and sell recommendations, etc.

JNK Securities’ Airline partner provides research on domestic legacy carriers, major national carriers, low cost carriers, fractional airlines, international carriers, and regional carriers. In addition to providing detailed knowledge on how the industry operates, they also focus on labor unions, management, and shareholder perspectives. Our airline group researches and analyzes airline strategy initiatives, labor unions, mergers and acquisitions, and trends that will impact the industry landscape.

In addition to generating streaming research on numerous topics, they host a multitude of events including unique roundtable dinners and speaker/panel-based symposiums with industry/labor executives and leaders.

About our Airlines Partner:

One of our partners was the President for the Allied Pilots Association (APA), led the last pilot strike and Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) against AMR, and also was a three-time elected Chairman. He was the APA Negotiating Committee Chairman through many contract negotiations and wrote many of the current sections of APA's current contract. He also served as the Vice-President and Chief Negotiator for AMR Eagle when APA represented the Eagle pilots through Federal mediation and cooling off. He was involved in resolving the dispute between AMR and APA over the Reno Air merger as well as crafting the current agreement that integrated TWA with AMR. Since 2007, our partner has been part of more than a dozen arbitrations with AMR, both as a professional witness for APA and a member of the grievance settlement board.

As a former airline Captain pilot with over 30 years of airline industry experience and a retired Lieutenant Colonel after 8 years active duty and 14 years of Air Force National Guard and Reserves. We believe that his background provides him with an advantage over the competition when it comes to business contacts, labor and fundamentals in the industry.