Clint,
<<<Could you or ANYBODY ELSE kindly explain what it is that BEA Systems does,who their customers & competitors are, what kind of pricing structure and distribution channel they use, if their success is tied to any other SW, product, or company, and if any of their competitors is scheduled to release new software in the upcoming months,...????>>>>
I've been checking BEAS just the last few weeks and recently took a position on it. The concept they have is not new. However, I think they've done an excellent job in 're-packaging' some old software, added new functions, integration technique(such as JAVA support) to fill a gap. One of the biggest problem for large/middle size companies is that they find themselves in need to tie some stategic computer systems together. These same computer systems were installed years ago in different computer platforms(such as IBM, SUN, HWP, PCs, etc) for various departments. There were no need to communicate between them in real time. May be, once a day, files can be converted from one platform to another just that the payroll department can verify some accounting data that happened yesterday. The need for real time online across different computer platforms is growing fast everyday. To make a long story short, BEAS bought the source code of some software which were developed years ago from Belllab and maintained by Novell. Convinced someone to give them $50 mil. Off they go. Their competitors are all the big boys you can find. But, here is the interesting point, some of these same competitors are also buying and selling BEAS products. Middleware software is growing fast and I think BEAS is well positioned to reap in big profits. It was evidenced from the last few quarters with last quarter's earning at 7c while the street was expecting 4c. The market is big. BEAS can grow IMHO at 70% to 100% yearly for a long time. Companies can use BEAS's software to bridge seamlessly across multiple computers in a short time without spending months or years to re-write programs and convert files. Sure, they have competitors. But, their customer list is very impressive. Go to their website and check them out.
KJ |
