Gregg;
This was a well reasoned and thought out piece on the potential future of IOM. I think you made a good point in that a lot of people don't want to hear negative things about this stock (understandable, I don't want to hear bad things about something I buy). However, if management is listening then they will get more proactive in building shareholder value.
I am not sure Clik! will be the knock out/blockbuster product needed. I feel that there is a lot of potential consolidation in the Disk Drive/Removable Storage market. The component supplies RDRT, APM, KMAG are really hurting right now. SEG and IBM who make a lot of their own parts may be in a position to have superior market position based upon their own internal productions. QNTM, WDC, Maxtor, Fujitsu will put further pressure on the component suppliers margins, inventories, etc.
I could see lots of potential synergies, cost reduction possibilities, cross marketing opportunities with a potential merger/buyout of IOM. I am not sure that Dunn would view or encourage such a change in policy though. Kim Edwards would certainly not have. Philips Electronics, Allied Signal could also find IOm interesting.
Of course, this has also been a long week and my eyes are blurring as I type this. It may be possible I am not really typing this just dreaming.
Kevin Linder |
