I don't find anything except some mention in this Dow Jones artcile:
Dow Jones Online News, Friday, March 27, 1998 at 09:43
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Although Parametric Technology Corp., the
leading developer of computer-assisted-design software, has posted a
string of strong earnings reports, some folks on Wall Street have
expressed concern about the company's long-term fundamentals, the
on-line edition of Barron's reported.
Like many of its peers in the red-hot technology sector, Parametric's
(PMTC) stock has had a stellar run so far this year. After treading
water between $19 and $27 since last April, the Waltham, Mass.-based
company's shares have taken off, soaring nearly 62% since December. The
stock settled Thursday at $32.625.
The company has certainly been in the right market -
computer-automated design, manufacturing and engineering. Parametric
makes mechanical CAD/CAM software used by designers in industries like
aerospace, telecommunications and electronics. Its core product,
Pro/Engineer, caters primarily to high-end computers and is the market
leader, with about a 25% share of the mechanical design automation
market.
Piper Jaffray analyst Hany Nada says that though the high-end
computer design business looks good now, things may not be so rosy in
the future. Many industries, like the automobile industry, are moving
toward more integrated system packages, which can take a product all the
way from the drawing board to the showroom.
Formidable players like Oracle Corp. and SAP AG are getting into that
game, and Nada says that Parametric will have to jump in, too, to remain
competitive. Parametric has made some progress there with its recent
purchase of Computervision Corp., which makes product data management
software. But it still has a long way to go, Nada says.
This is especially important since players on the lower end of the
computer-design market are starting to nip at Parametric's heels. Nada
notes that companies like Autodesk Inc. and Solidworks (recently
acquired by Parametric's second-largest competitor, Dassault Systemes SA
of France) have been increasing the functionality of their Windows
NT-based software packages, which cost only around $5,000. That is way
below Parametric's high-end design product, which goes for more than
$20,000.
Analyst Dion Cornett at First Analysis Securities expects the
lower-end companies to continue grabbing traditionally higher-end
customers by adding more features at lower prices, and believes that
will eventually cause pricing pressure for companies like Parametric. It
wouldn't be the first time that has happened: Silicon Graphics Inc.'s
former Chief Executive Officer Edward McCracken thought the world would
always clamor for SGI's higher-priced workstations just because they had
made dinosaurs walk the earth in Jurassic Park.
Moreover, Parametric's business in Japan - while showing some signs
of improvement - remains a big question mark. Nada notes that other
software companies like Macromedia Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. have seen
their Japanese revenue halved because of the Asian crisis. And since
Parametric's products are much more expensive, they could see some
further weakness there as well, he contends. "If engineers don't get the
budget dollars, they can't upgrade their systems," he says. Asia as a
whole accounts for about 20% of Parametric's sales.......... |
