>JDSU news...KK will be on Power-Lunch today.
a slew of informative posts today -- thank you, boys (and girls).
fwiw, here's the transcript of KK's appearance (including a link to the audio if you prefer).
mktnews.nasdaq.com\\www\nasdaq\news\msnbc\1999\9\3\NASDAQ_1310_24567.htm&usymbol=JDSU&logo=True&companyname=JDS+Uniphase+Corporation
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CNBC - POWER LUNCH
INTERVIEW WITH JDS UNIPHASE CHAIRMAN AND CEO KEVIN KALKHOVEN
SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
SUMMARY: Kalkhoven comments on the currently strong demand for bandwidth. Kalkhoven says the company is highly profitable.
Bill: Shares of JDS Uniphase on the move again today. The stock is up over six dollars. There are analyst recommendations all over the place. The latest in a string of buy recommendations from Wall Street over the past few weeks, which have helped push this stock into the stratosphere. Today it is up five and change at 112.
JDS Uniphase is the leader in fiber optic technology equipment maker. A white-hot growth area as demand for larger bandwidth has made fiber optic the primary choice for phone networks. Here to talk about his industry and the outlook going forward is Kevin Kalkhoven, Chairman and CEO of JDS Uniphase, joining us from Stanford, California. Merged last June, what was it, closed the deal?
Yes.
Bill: You made it work apparently. Everybody loves this company.
That is nice to know.
Bill: The one problem, you can't keep up demand right now?
Yeah, everyone is asking me the risk of the company and my answer is the same, manufacture, volume. The company has had, as a joint entity, a three year historic growth record of 66% and now we're heading toward a billion dollar company, 66% is a lot of growth that we have to do in terms of actual manufacturing capacity, in the like turning out floppies. Clearly, something we have a lot of attention on, I mean just a huge amount of attention and it is an issue that both Joseph Strauss, the President and coo and myself are committed to solving.
Bill: How are you planning to solve that? I mean, do you ramp up production and risk over doing it at some point, or you just try and get along as best you can while you are in this phase. Let me ask you, how long do you expect this kind of white-hot demand to continue?
Well, let me answer the first question. The way in which you increase capacity is really twofold. One you have to build more conventional manufacturing capacity. Then on the other side, simultaneously, you have to be working on breakthroughs in automation and technology and frankly, the company is doing both in parallel at this moment. In terms of demand, how long is demand for bandwidth going to go on. There is a historical perspective of that computer mips.
Years ago as a computer programmer, the thought of a mip was enormous. Today, everybody has one or two or five or ten. That keeps growing. Connect them together and the demand for bandwidth keeps growing and that is our business.
Bill: How long before we are all enjoying the benefits of a cable modem and broadband technology and so forth?
I think it you look at industry forecasts, they are saying the breakthroughs in supplying more speed to the end consumer, you and I as opposed to inter computer linkage, is really, I think going to start next year. We're going to see the advent of a lot of cable modems, the advent of a competitive technology from the DSL. All of these, as they grow and provide, you know, maybe as much as ten, twenty, fifty times as much bandwidth to us as consumers is going to place an enormous back log on the backbones, which will have to be gone through again. It is a continual cycle as we provide more capacity to the end consumer, we're again there to have to back up and provide capacity to the trunk lines.
Bill: No profits yet, when do you expect that to happen?
The company is highly profitable. What we have done though, in the acquisition we have a large amount of goodwill, which is purely paper notional amount. In terms of actually operating profits, we make a very significant amount of profits. I think we are running somewhere around 28, 29%.
Bill: What does it show up on the bottom line?
I think if you look at analyst numbers, they are already disregarding the goodwill and just looking at operating profits and to maintain 60% plus growth rates and 25 to 30% pretax profits. In reality, and the consequential cash that goes with it is a good performance.
Bill: It certainly is. Thank you for joining us.
Thank you.
Bill: Kevin Kalkhoven, Chairman and CEO of JDS Uniphase. Look at a one-year stock chart of the company, up another 5 13/16 today at 112 7/8. |
