James, unlike others who post on this board, I am an investing novice. Half of what you all talk about I understand....but I'm learning. I do have a good understanding of where SSA is positioned at this point. I am not an SSA cheerleader. They have many issues to address to get them back to where they once were ($45 share). These include: Repairing a poor image including:
1.)industry perception is that they are IBM mainframe-based still! 2.)financially troubled
3.) V6 doesn't work
4.) When you think of the big boys in ERP, you don't think SSA.
SSA has poor mindshare with consultants (BIG 6 and regional). SSA should be in more evaluations. Unfortunately, over 75% of companies looking for EMS systems hire consultants to evaluate. Consultants aren't calling SSA! A major missed opportunity for SSA!
There are other issues I can go into later if you are interested.
I believe the key for a turnaround is Bill Stuek. If you heard the investor conference call last week Bill addressed where SSA is weak: marketing, daily execution, and pipeline. Bingo! He hit the nail on the head! Stuek is the right person to lead this company. If he does his job and addresses the above issues quickly there will be a turnaround.
BPCS V6 is as robust as anything else out there. The SSA-Acclaim acquisition is a positive. SSA consultants are first rate, they just need more of them. Momentum will continue to build as more of SSA's customers go "live" with V6 and existing clients upgrade to Y2K compliance.
In summary, over 8,000 customers, worldwide presence, $430M in sales, becoming profitable again (major R&D expenditures are over), a more stable product......yet their market cap is only $350 million?
In the last year I made two investments in SSA: 1.) in April bought at 5, later sold at 16 1/2, 2.) November? bought at 9 1/2 sold at 16. I think its time for this to happen again. Will see. If I knew more about option calls I'd probably really go crazy. Sorry for rambling. |
