Hello David: Have you tried WP Office 2000? It's compares far better with MS Office than some reviews may lead the masses to believe. As a matter of fact, save for a few features, either way, they are very close.
Regardless of what actually occurred nearly two years ago, my position then (and still is) that the best way for Dr. Cowpland to restore credibility is to make the company attractive to the market. Renewed price appreciation can compensate past capital losses. The difficulty? To quote Tom Clancy, "A boat this size doesn't exactly turn on a dime."
My recommendation: Watch the news between now and about September 23rd, and look for developments leading up to the earnings report, and be prepared to buy back in at these extremely low levels, when you feel comfortable. Q3 results will tell the market whether or not products are moving to end users. And I think they will. After using the Suite, despite the reported bugs, its very, very good. WordPerfect is still better than Word.
As to the bugs, Corel's Officecommunity website is accessed from a web icon on the icon bar of each application. A simple click on the icon will put the service release in easy reach for download and fix.
As to the Q2 financial statements, there is very little, if any, fluff remaining. The fact that sales came in at $70 M and receivables at about half that indicates that A/R must be largely made up of new shipments of Draw 9 and WP9. I do feel the inventory number is too high however. Overall, I believe the balance sheet has bottomed out and clearer skies are ahead.
As I reflect on that horrible time prior to the restatement of earnings, or rather, the lack thereof, that the independent auditors played a large role in the inflated statements, in that they allowed it to happen, even if Canadian GAAP may not have been as strict as US GAAP. But it is now US GAAP, and new auditors. I doubt that the mistakes of the past can be repeated.
I'm further encouraged by the high professionalism Mr. O'Reilly has exhibited. His handling of Q1 was the right thing to do, and therefore, very professional. Q2 results appear highly reliable due the reduction in the ratio of A/R to Sales. Dr. Cowpland has acknowledged past difficulties by recruiting Mr. O'Reilly and relying on his expertise. I didn't know what to think about O'Reilly at first, but now I feel confident that he's a "straight shooter" and dependable.
Furthermore, Dr. Cowpland has restructured the product line by terminating unprofitable projects, and is rightly focusing on the core products . . . and the core products are totally competitive. (Don't rely on my "hot air," check them out yourself!) The Linux initiative has much more promise than all the other initiatives combined, and is therefore wisely being pursued at at fairly low development costs.
The biggest downside to investing in CORL right now is marketing. I hope Corel takes the cash from their settlement with the government and creates effective marketing campaigns to get the Suite and Draw moving in a big way.
Although others may differ (I haven't exactly gone "easy" on Dr. 'C'), you have an opportunity to make back your losses and more by watching Q3 unfold and buy in low, at a time that is right for you. One thing is for sure, time heals all wounds, especially if they are treated with the balm of capital gains.
I nearly bailed out a short while back, but after using the new releases, and considering the overall improvement, I am still looking for a profitable up, up, and away!
Scott |
