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Technology Stocks : Alphanet Telecom, WOW !

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To: RBMac who wrote (62)11/20/1997 9:45:00 PM
From: wynn quon  Read Replies (1) of 117
 
Thanks for the info, I got a copy of it today!

For those interested it is entitled: "Alphanet an unknown,
undervalued orphan". It's written by Randall Abramson, a portfolio
manager. As Dave mentioned, the article came out in May (this
was when FAX was at $10.95). There's a caveat at the end of the
article that said that Abramson may own some FAX shares.

I found it to be mostly a repeat of what's publically available
in the company literature. The one new piece of analysis is
his valuation of the InnFax business at $50 million or 13x earnings.

The weakest part of the article (IMO) was the assessment of Alphanet's competition. He cites as barriers to competition the
accounting rate settlement system to which the established long-
distance operators are committed to, Alphanet's proprietary
technology, and availability of experienced telecoms management.

However, technology has been changing quickly - there are now
well-established standards for voice over IP (H.323) to which
the industry is moving rapidly. This will make proprietary
technology a bit of a handicap. As well the new IP telephony gateway
servers that are coming out,will allow many companies to enter this market at fairly low cost (assuming that there will be money to be made).

At the same time, it would be premature to write off the large
carriers. In the US, rate settlements will be capped quite soon.
It would be naive to think they would just sit back while their
business got taken away. It would be quite easy for the carriers
to cut their prices to limit the gains that companies like FAX
would make.

So competitively, FAX is not in a strong position. It could get
caught between two groups: A rush of new entrants seeking to get
into the market and the existing giant carriers aggressively protecting their turf.

Usual disclaimers apply. By the way, I think there are profits
to be had on both the short and long sides because of the high
volatility of the stock. I just wouldn't want to be on the long
side for the long run.
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