There's nothing special about $30/sh.
When Larson was able to pull in the sales (ie: up to mid-98), the street gave him the same kinds of valuations they now give to newbie Internet stocks.
When he screwed it up (ie: mid-98 to mid-99), the street figured he could not grow the company beyond the size it was at that time, and priced the stock accordingly.
Now that he is bringing in the sales again (by going back to the LAN-administrator-level sale he knows how to do so well), the street will, sooner or later, value his ability to grow the company once more.
I believe a change of CEO right now would delay the recovery of the stock price while the market figures out if the new guy can do any better than Larson.
Establishing new "mini-CEOs" of the NETA subsidiaries is a way of exposing both the value and the prowess of the subs to the market without taking them out from under NETA's wing. NETA's wing carries good value because under that wing lays many many trusting customers, which the subs can market to.
Bottom line: This stock is going up. Maybe not this week or next week, but surely before mid-Q2. A good Q1 (and given what we know about the revenue that was already waiting for Q1 that was disclosed in the Q4/99 conf call, how can we NOT have a good Q1) will give Larson 3 good quarters in a row, hopefully with not just good revenues but also good accounting metrics (low DSOs, high deferred revenue, etc.). I believe that investors will board the NETA train before, during, and after it leaves the station sometime in the next 3 months.
-E |
