Patrick, I've always had the impression (from a couple years ago) that Ancor's sales team (as well as management) was about as bad as it could be (and most everyone disagreed with me). Now, it appears that they filled in the gaps. They supposedly have a real sales team now and they beefed up management. I can't help but be sympathetic to the fact that there is no current demand for switches yet. Even Brocade is having problems in this area. Unfortunately we have to wait (something we've been told for the past two years). But why hire more engineers when you're not sure of future sales? (I understand that it's not due to attrition).
It just seems to make the most sense to me at the present time (IMHO) that Ancor KNOWS they will be selling their switch soon. It also answers a lot of other questions people have:
1) If there was an offer to buy-out Ancor at $6/share, why didn't they sell? - because they KNOW that they will be shipping switches soon.
2) Why isn't Ancor management buying shares? - duh, they can't buy any shares if they KNOW they'll be shipping switches (this is insider info. that opens them up to criminal and civil liability).
3) If any company is as screwed up as half the people on this board think Ancor is, then 100 times out of a 100 you will see not only a drastic change in upper management, but you'll also see a lot of employees going elsewhere (I'm sure that the climate and location is not keeping them there). A good way to double-check is to call up some employees, tell them you're a head-hunter and see if they're interested in a new job (I understand they're all saying "no thank you").
Understand that I'm about as peaved as everyone else is concerning the stock price, however all of the negative comments concerning Ancor do not support the facts. Now if we start seeing changes in upper management, a freeze in hiring (or even lay-offs), and/or poor revenues when the switch demand increases, I'll be singing an entirely different tune.
Rob
P.S. At these prices, I would think that we might see some attempts for a hostile take-over, however, I understand that Ancor has a few good poison pills already in place to discourage this. |
