Would you enlighten me a bit as to what it takes for this company to get respect by investors?
Peacelover,
I'm too tired tonite for much in the way of thought, but I would say the following:
1. Look at the chart since December. #chart-asnd That shows a good deal of respect by investors, in my opinion. If CSCC's ATM had not picked up the beat, ASND could well have dipped into the teens back in December (though it would have come up -- to a lesser extent than it has -- with the NWX in general in 1998).
So, I'd say that CSCC/ATM gave investors (institutional and retail) the first thing they needed to return to this stock.
2. In direct answer to your question "what does it take," I think it will take real earnings growth: ASND has promised double-digit sequential growth by 2H98. I can understand some upward momentum prior to then (particularly given all the positive press about ATM generally and some new ASND products in particular). However, I don't think it is unfair to expect somewhat of a holding pattern and even dips until/unless earnings truly start to ramp up (or until mgmt. says they will start to ramp up).
3. As best as I can tell, RAS remains flat. That is pushing a lot of eggs in to the core switching basket, which is somewhat worrisome, and doubtless imposes some lid on the stock price. I'm hoping the new TNT products, in combination with some additional cash on hand at ISPs and a settling of the Asian panic, will cause a pick-up in RAS sales, but not until 1999.
Gary Korn |
