If memory serves, Tandem reports earnings before the market opens on Thursday, so that would make the report due on 10/24. $0.30 for the year is probably reasonable, and Tandem will meet or exceed that. Of more interest is the big strategy/direction announcement planned for the end of October. In this Tandem will announce a major move towards NT at the low/medium end, and new processors/systems at the proprietary high-end. The medium term goal (2-3 years) is to have all software NT compliant i.e. some degree of fault tolerance and transaction processing capability on an NT platform. Long-term vision is "open systems". Rumor has it Steve Ballmer from Microsoft will be in the announcement. Tandem may also announce the Compaq deal, and what they will be doing with the UB sub.
None of this should be new news, but it will be timed for after what they expect is a reasonably good quarter/fiscal year. I would not be surprised to see stock move up to $14-$15 by the end of the month. As a former employee, I'm heavily invested (at an average price of $19.30), and after a long dry spell am somewhat optimistic. So while I think I'm being reasonably objective, I can't deny that there may be some wishful thinking in my comments. Time will tell. |
