Okay, I'm going to play beat the clock with the Millennium and say we lap the bastards (MSFT) again, before the end of the year. <g>
I was going to take *today*, but I would need to get some odds. As it is, I'll take March 3. Realistically speaking, it has to be after earnings.
And realistically speaking of earnings, I worry whether SUNW hasn't painted itself into a little bit of a corner for its January report. They've already had conf calls telling everybody their Q3 was made by early December. Quarters, in many business but especially in capital equipment businesses like SUNW, have hockey stick curves; half comes at or near the very end. If you tell the financial community that you've made your quarter 2/3 of the way through, IMHO you are setting expectations high. If SUNW follows their usual regimen of +1 or +2 cents, that may not be good enough this time. Tell me I worry for nothing.
Now, for the rest of the thread, WARNING OT OT OT: Speaking of Corel, JC, I told you I was happy I didn't sell. Here's a wire item from today with a really priceless punch line, which I've bolded but it's all the way at the end.
--QS
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Shares of Canadian software maker Corel Corp. soared Wednesday, responding to recent strong developments for makers of Linux software as well as investor hopes that Corel will report a solid fourth quarter.
Near midday Wednesday, shares of Corel (CORL) were up $5.94, or 26%, at $28.63 in active Nasdaq trading of about 24 million shares.
Corel is selling a Linux operating system for desktop computers and is developing Linux versions of its word processing and graphics software.
Linux-related stocks jumped Tuesday on news that Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) will install Red Hat Inc.'s (RHAT) Linux into Dell servers. Also helping Linux excitement, VA Linux Systems Inc. Tuesday announced that the price range on its initial public offering has been boosted to between $21 and $23 a share, up from between $11 and $13 a share.
Tuesday, Corel said that its executive vice-president of sales and marketing Jim Orban will leave the company at the end of the year. But the company added that despite a quiet period prior to the release of fourth-quarter results on Jan. 17, Orban's departure isn't "related to any performance or financial-related issues."
"People read into that," said Alex Baluta, analyst with Merrill Lynch. "People read that statement and think the fourth quarter will be fine." Although Corel has strung a couple of good quarters together, it had a history of several disappointing quarters before that.
"Any good news or any way people can translate news into good news, they take advantage of it," Baluta said. "It's a stock that has a lot of momentum behind it." Baluta has a long-term "accumulate" rating on Corel shares, but no target. "The stock is not trading on fundamentals," he said.
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