Has anyone noticed that since the MDCD acquisition was completed, there have been numerous big blocks on DSS crossing? On the 17th, 260,000 at 18 3/8, and since yesterday (the 20th), 200,000 at 17 7/8, 286,300 at 17 3/4, 150,000 at 17 1/2, and 301,500 at 17 3/8. Decling prices suggests strongly that someone is selling. My guess is that Quantum itself is doing the buying (all trades were executed by Solomon Smith Barney). I hope they leave themselves some firepower for later on. I have a strong feeling that this stock is going to continue to get clipped over the next few weeks. However, if my speculation about the buying is correct, they may be trying to get all of the buying done by the end of the quarter. Once they stop, though, there may be a free fall; I don't know if anyone noticed, but on Yahoo, there was a post on a Prudential visit to DSS, where Pru (I think it was Kim Alexis?) said that DSS wouldn't be sure about meeting revenue projections for the quarter until the last couple of weeks. While media sales were strong, systems sales were a little weaker than expected. Apparently, they also said that volume shipments of SDLT wouldn't begin until mid '00, claiming that that was "on schedule". I always thought that volume shipments were supposed to begin in CYQ1 of '00.
In any case, I lightened up on my DSS holdings yesterday, selling some for 18. Still have a large long term position, though. I still believe that this stock will see better days ahead, though we may have to wait for '00 to see them. We'll have to see what kind of guidance they give in the CC, and see if IBM actually does release a viable LTO system. |
