Hi Warren, this is academic, but for argument's sake, I don't know if I could agree with you --- that NT did the Q2 on purpose to affect LU and ATON acquisitions. At least I see it from a different angle. While having a high stk currency will help to for acquisition purposes, or even a suggestion to potential customers of her financial strength, LU and NT customers are not born yesterday type. They couldn't care less if these two stock prices. They care about the best price/performance products [well, there could be exceptions, customers who have financial gain! Hin ;)!] So I cannot see the logic in moving some of the Q3 #s into Q2. Quite the contrary, the ATT deal was held back [unfortunately, it wasn't big enough to cover the *shortfall*]
In terms of M&A, at the risk of offending the ATON survivors here, it was fairly much an captive. A good one, but captive nonetheless. Case in point, even to this day, no one is buying FFIV.
That said, the NY debacle 2 or 3 yrs ago has demonstrated Mr Roth is a quickstudy. I mean, he has made mistakes. Not counting customer's inventories is one of them. But if the NY debacle is the guide, he will move quickly to rectify that. If he has to give better guidance, more conservative estimate, or even holding back revenue recognition, I think he is up to the task. So, in the end, you and I agree how NT may respond to the current crisis!
best, Bosco |
