Great post, Baird. Management did a terrific job here. Announcing the R&D charges with the Asia problem now, at a time when the stock is already down deep but on good support (with support being augmented now by the buy-back), is very savvy. No one already sick objects much to taking medicine, as they say. With the damage in 1QF99, if the fundamentals hold, the comparisons from 2QF99 forward should be screamers. And I was very impressed by the commitment to lengthening the technological lead that the company has. So many companies get so lazy so fast.
It's hard to believe that this is the same crew that did that convertible deal back in August with the strike price at the market. They seem to have come a long way real, real fast. I'm impressed.
The only advice I'd presume to give mgt. now (if mgt. is following this thread, as has been reported) is that before the company goes to the capital markets again, pppllleeeeaaassseee hire a big, super-expensive, top-drawyer, silk-stocking NYC Wall Street law firm to run the offering. Those guys, with whom I have worked, light years smarter than me, a mere country lawyer, would have caught that strike price problem, and we'd be having this conversation at $25 p/s instead of $15.
Regards,
John |
