I am considering buying EXDS, but can someone please make some comments with fact to the following Barron (aka BearOn) negative statements?
- Hancock, 56, spent 29 years at IBM, where she headed the hardware and software networking divisions, before being swept out in 1994, when Chief Executive Louis Gerstner cleaned house. Stints followed at National Semiconductor and Apple Computer, where she served as chief technology officer. But when co-founder Steve Jobs returned to Apple, a new broom again swept clean. In March 1998, she was recruited to head Exodus.
- Indeed, Hancock says her company is "the premier pricer" in the industry. On average, she says, Exodus' customers pay $157,000 for a one-year contract that includes Web hosting, Internet connectivity and some management services. "Those services could be gotten for between $5,000 and $10,000 a year from someone else," she says. "Because we're so high-priced, our salespeople must really show we differentiate."
- As of June 30, Exodus operated 15 warehouses. Given the company's $5.6 billion market cap, that means the warehouses, which cost about $12 million to build, are being valued at $370 million apiece by shareholders. Obviously, there's a premium built into that price for growth in the number of warehouses. But any time you can get that kind of market leverage, you can be sure that competitors will be building, too
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