We should pay attention to this discussion about "key markets". The slow down in dotcoms is for real, and NTAP has done very well in that market. We may see some shortterm effect. Keep in mind, though, that NTAP tends to be at the middle to upper scale of the dotcom marketplace, simply because a little dotcom with a few NT or Unix servers in probably not in need of NTAP's products.
Also, realize that NTAP's presence in the major ISP's, including AOL and Earthlink, is real. What deserves an answer is how are the capacity requirements of the ISPs being affected by the dotcom deflation.
NTAP's presence in the Fortune 1000 is also very significant and will cushion a dotcom slowdown, imo.
I do expect discussion about the effect of dotcom and telco slowdown during the cc. I expect management to be very cautious about this.
I think the downgrade is prudent, but may be temporary, based on what management tells us in a couple of weeks.
One thing I like realizing is that the analysts know little more than we do, now, unlike a few months ago. So this downgrade is based on analysis, not on privileged communications. |
