Mark, Marc, Fred, Theo, and All,
Mark, I thought your review of the earnings, and conference call, was excellent. Thanks! There is little I can add, other than we found out today that although Total Assets were down significantly, we have $10 million more in cash than we were told a month ago. I attribute the reduction in total assets to the unexpected high cost of the acquisitions. I share Jack's obvious annoyance with that fact that the U.S. Government cost us a lot of money. However, as Jack pointed out, in a world where cash is king, PTEC is now well positioned for additional acquisitions.
Was I disappointed? Well yes. After so many disappointing quarters, I had hoped for more. As Fred mused, for PTEC to come in at the lower end of the range, between the $.08 to $.11, was a let down. However, much of that disappointment, I believe, is because so many of us here, including myself, are in PTEC at much higher prices. However, if I look at PTEC objectively, I find a company with a 70+ % market share, well positioned to play a major role in new and potentially enormous markets (IP and Pico businesses), armed with $80 million in cash and no debt, and poised to resume a stock buyback program in the near future. At $7 1/2 a share, I still come to the conclusion that PTEC is a buy today, not a sale. I just wish I had discovered PTEC today, and not 3 years ago when the stock was in the teens.
I was also disappointed because I had hoped, as I wrote here last night, that Jack would give us more definitive earnings milestones. Instead, I saw Jack his ultra conservative self, unwilling to commit to exactly when we would see significantly improved earnings. In retrospect, I can understand Jack's reluctance. With so much global economic uncertainty going forward into 1999, he couldn't afford to commit to being more exact. After all, his customers, HWP, INTC, and IBM, had already cautioned us on the uncertainty that they face in 1999.
Regards,
Jules
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