I am very familiar with the industry and particularly this organization. I'm not an insider but not too far removed either. Nothing I am sharing regarding network buildout, sales, product information, etc., is not public info however.
I am basing my estimates on some technical information but more upon sales projections, expense reductions, continued local phone market penetration, frame relay product launch, Quest/Frontier SONET network buildout, and recent stock price history. Not to mention the fact that this company is still a very attractive takeover candidate for a Baby Bell or independent.
As I said previously, Bittner's death is sad and I feel for his family and friends. However, in my opinion he was not the person to take this organization into the worldwide maze of telecommunication battle. Wall Street seemed to agree. Not that it means much, but certainly Forbes magazine did as well (at least this year anyway). I really thought that at the June shareholders meeting Mr. Bittner was going to get booted and he was fortunate to have dodged that from happening. Part of what helped him stay on was the appointment of Joe Clayton as President and COO a couple days prior to the meeting.
Frontier seems to like Mr. Clayton. He is highly respected and comes from outside the industry. This is a huge positive. He is not tainted with the so-called "Bellhead" mentality that I'm afraid Mr. Bittner and the power structure at AT&T are possessed with. AT&T is the most poignant example in the world. They hired a very well thought of and highly respected individual from the "outside"; Mr. Walters. He was handpicked by CEO Bob "Bellhead" Allen to succeed himself as CEO and to bring AT&T into the 1984 world of deregulation. AT&T really didn't want someone who would actually do the things necessary to do this--just someone to make Wall Street think this was happening. They hired the wrong guy for window dressing because this guy was ready to kick some ass and do what it took to make AT&T succeed. Scared the hell out the AT&T power and board so they got rid of him and then tried to smear his name in the process. The AT&T worker bees thought he might possibly be AT&T's saving grace but the power still believes they are living in a pre-deregulation USA and continues to operate as such. Their long distance market share is now down to about 40% and continues to fall. Many great kingdoms have fallen and it usually isn't mainly due to outside forces but internal morons asleep at the wheel.
Frontier is not going down the same road. I think you will see continued inprovement in sales, cost structure, and service, particularly with Joe Clayton leading the way.
This post is wayyyy to long but I just got going and kept on. Sjp |
