MXTR should rock this week. Good story in Business Week.
For Maxtor, a Nice Niche in Servers?
Expect the stock of Maxtor (MXTR), a provider of hard disk drives for PCs, to catch fire soon--for two reasons: The
company is poised to unveil, say some pros, an array of Web-enabling and Linux storage server products. And a
major PC maker is said to be negotiating to buy Hyundai's 36% stake in Maxtor.
This month, says a big investor, the company will outline its entry into the storage server and network attached storage
(NAS) markets. It will provide Web storage servers to Internet service providers and e-commerce companies, and
Maxtor expects to sell them to the likes of Intel, Sun Microsystems, Dell, and Amazon.com.
Vince Carrino, president of Brookhaven Capital Management, who has a 5% stake in Maxtor, says this niche market
will be hot. He expects Maxtor's sales in that business to grow from $30 million in 2000 to nearly $500 million in 2003.
Other players in the business trade at 50 to 100 times 2000 revenues, vs. Maxtor's 23. The stock, now at 7 a share, is
dirt cheap, says Carrino.
The PC maker seeking to buy Hyundai's 40% stake could be a powerful, deep-pocket partner for Maxtor in its fight
with the bigger rivals and help fund its disk drive and Linux storage server business.
By GENE G. MARCIAL |
