Why a Fund Gambled $13M on Ambarella Before Its 20% Plummet 🎩

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Let me tell you about the curious case of S Squared Technology, a New York-based fund that decided to play poker with Ambarella chips just as the market decided to fold. On November 13, they disclosed buying 35,000 shares of the semiconductor company (AMBA +1.77%), a transaction akin to ordering a second espresso right before discovering the coffee shop sells decaf. This brought their total stake to $12.7 million worth of tiny electronic brains that help cameras see better than my optometrist with a magnifying glass.

The Plot Thickens

Picture this: a fund manager in a pinstripe suit, squinting at a spreadsheet like it’s a cryptic crossword, suddenly decides Ambarella deserves 4.8% of their portfolio. That’s like dedicating nearly half your bookshelf to a single author whose latest novel hasn’t even hit shelves yet. The purchase increased their position by roughly the weight of a baby elephant, though I suspect baby elephants are less volatile.

Portfolio Peeking

For those keeping score at home, their top holdings now read like a tech enthusiast’s Christmas list: Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) at $25.4 million, Krystal Biotech (KRYS) at $19.3 million, and so on. It’s the financial equivalent of having five different GPS devices in your car – just in case one decides to recalculate its life choices mid-journey.

The Numbers, Plain and Simple

Metric Value
Market Capitalization $3.1 billion (about 600 times less than the US national debt)
Revenue (TTM) $373.9 million (enough to buy 37.4 million cheeseburgers)
Net Income (TTM) ($79.7 million) (apparently the cheeseburgers were overpriced)
Price (as of Monday) $71.73 (give or take a latte)

What Exactly Do They Do?

  • Ambarella makes system-on-a-chip solutions that help video cameras compress data better than my grandmother compresses her annual Christmas letter into a single paragraph.
  • They sell these silicon marvels to companies building cars that park themselves, security cameras that recognize faces, and robots that might someday steal my job.
  • Their customers include automotive manufacturers (the folks who build your self-driving Uber), security camera makers (Big Brother’s preferred vendors), and consumer electronics brands (the people who make your phone smarter than you).

The Curious Incident of the Earnings Report

Now here’s where things get interesting. S Squared placed their $13 million bet just before Ambarella’s late-November earnings “surprise” – a corporate event that sent shares tumbling 20% like a poorly balanced washing machine. It’s the investing equivalent of buying flood insurance just before discovering your house is built on a riverbed.

But wait! The numbers told a different story. Record revenue! 31% growth! Edge AI revenue breaking records like a particularly ambitious college athlete! Management even raised guidance to “up to 38%” – a number that makes my calculator blush. Yet the market decided to focus on margins thinner than a diet-conscious cracker.

Financial Folklore Explained

13F Report: That quarterly SEC filing every institutional investor dreads like a pop quiz in middle school.

AUM: Assets Under Management – the grown-up version of “How much money are we playing with today?”

System-on-a-Chip: A tiny computer the size of a peppercorn that does more math than I’ve done in my entire life.

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2025-12-19 19:52