Re: SBC Pronto and AFCI's DLCs
Ray and Thread,
Here's a press release concerning the discussion we had on SBC's Project Pronto plans. As you may recall, NGDLC (Next Generation DLC) was a topic of discussion by the SBC execs during their Pronto announcement.
It's been my experience, that although most investor relations people are kind to me, it always seems like an analyst with Robertson Stephens beats me to information. Hmm, wonder why?<G>
Anyhow, it appears Paul Silverstein may have some timely information regarding AFCI's relationship with SBC. I thought it(SBC-AFCI) has been generally strong, so when AFCI was downgraded after the Pronto announcement, it really threw me for a loop(pun intended).
Check out the October 20 downgrades. And now read this press release. Kind of puzzling? I don't know what's up, but if it turns out AFCI is going to get a chunk of SBC's Pronto spending, AFCI stock price should be.
AFCI doesn't have the NGDLC that SBC needs for densely populated DSL rollout areas, but their UMC1000 apparently makes a lot of sense for less populated areas.
MikeM(From Florida)
*************************
Robertson Stephens Reiterates Buy Rating on AFCI
SAN FRANCISCO Oct. 28, 1999 --Robertson Stephens Senior Networking and Communications Analyst Paul Silverstein today reiterated his Buy rating on Advanced Fibre Communications. The company, headquartered in Petaluma, Calif., develops and sells digital loop carriers (DLCs) and related local-loop-access-infrastructure equipment to telecommunication-service providers worldwide.
``We are reiterating our Buy rating on Advanced Fibre,' said Silverstein. ``We believe that the company has excellent visibility into fourth quarter revenues, as a result of strong orders received from WinStar Communications during the September quarter and the continuing ramp of deployment by SBC Communications of the company's UMC digital loop carrier.'
``In our view [Lunch with someone important?], recent events suggest that Advanced Fibre's relationship with SBC may extend well beyond what was contemplated by the original agreement,' said Silverstein. ``As a result, we believe that it is likely that the ultimate size of the revenue stream from this agreement will be toward the higher end of our initial $30 to 50 million per-year forecast.'
``We believe Advanced Fibre currently has a number of attractive opportunities in markets outside of North America, including a potential OEM agreement with a large-integrated-communications-equipment company,' said Silverstein. [Definitely lunch with someone important.] ``More concretely, we believe that Advanced Fibre has recently significantly expanded its relationship with France Telecom.'
biz.yahoo.com |
