More Conference Call Info...
Sorry to be so late in posting....got involved late in the day and am just getting back online. In a word, the call was quite motivating for good reason - we have a major hit on our hands here and it was all RP could do to restrain his enthusiasm and stay away from shouting some numbers. This is going to be BIG.
Now, my complete notes are still back at my office (sorry again) so I will do this from memory...I'll post again tomorrow if I have left anything material out.
Nicholas, you did a great job reporting the basic info. Although you made some statements I did not hear (i.e. 450 non-insider share holders). The outstanding share count of 14.7 million is right, and about 10 million are in the hands of insiders.
Product should ship as N reported, so look for most momentum to occur at the first of the year. Regarding numbers, the retail of $29.95 and wholesale of $22.5 is outstanding for MXMX. They will see 30-40% net profit on this $22.5/box, which could be incredible for MXMX and in turn us. I posted previously some conservative, minimum guesstimates which after this call I think should be doubled.
This product is being positioned as THE tool for learning about getting the most from your PC for home and office. It will be promoted based on Peter Norton's name, which is a great strategy. There will be over 2,000 netlinks in the program, along with a special PC-GURU website to keep product updated with new things that come along. The product will actually ship with 2 CD's - one with PC GURU and one with a load of 3rd party full-working demos from Microsoft, Symantec, etc. The value to the customer is there in spades.
They have hired a PR firm (Imagio) to conduct a massive PR barrage with a comprehensive campaign planned thru April initially (magazines - both computer-oriented and non-tradiitional ones), end caps in stores, heavy press campaign (as N said, 8 mags are being demo'ed product now). I got the impression this product will launch with a major bang that will really sustain itself. They preduct a solid shelf life of this first version of 12 months minimum! Additional installments of this series (5 planned) will happen pending success of this first one.
Big Brother sounds great as well. Estate of George Orwell signed over exclusive rights to MXMX for this one, so no competition in the theme at least. Should be a terrific game, and perhaps they can leverage on some of those customers of PC GURU (as well as the legions of PC Gamers) to pick up that one.
RP mentinoed that deals with Babbages and Best Buy have also been done, along with the ones announced previously. I suspect everyone that is anyone will be carrying this product and that it will jump to the best seller list fast. I think the Christmas push idea is really not such a big deal here - they are really focusing on 1998 sales, which is actually good since this fiscal year was a major wash with no real revenues and Jan 1 begins F-Yr 98. Should be a winner,
Also, MXMX has hired a marketing director to help with these efforts. So, with Nancy P (Pres), RP, Marketing Director, and outside firms they have contracted with, there is a good team here to get these products moving.
Another area they will focus on is the school/educatiohn market. They are talking with a number of sources (including the Dept of Ed) about getting PC GURU in schools. I can tell you, that is one market I am working in everyday and have a lot of experience with. If MXMX does a good job there, they can do some major numbers in that market segment alone!
So, those are the major highlights. Not a long call, so my notes and Nicholas's pretty well cover the content. This stock is VERY undervalued based on where it is heading with its impending earnings. My opinion, of course, but I think this is a simple math stock - the numbers will be there, we know what they will make per box, and we know how many shares to divvy up among. A Merry Christmas indeed!
Again, I'll post more tomorrow if I have left anything important out. Regards, eveyrone. Sorry this is so late (but hey, I beat the opening bell at least!).
Tim |
