WDC/Sandisk Corporation Message Board

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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation

WDC 163.12

+7.2%

10:57 AM EST

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To: Bruno Cipolla who wrote (4038)	12/10/1998 8:01:00 AM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (3) of 60323

Thread, I don't want to be known as the "SNDK cheerleader" and therefore respond to Limtex's concerns as follows. INABILITY TO EXECUTE The street may perceive SNDK as a good company with a good concept who has failed to execute. The reasons for are multi-faceted. Perhaps, but the SNDK business plan may also be at fault. 1) The CEO is conservative in his presentation of the company. The annual and quarterly reports have a certain doomsday overtone and alot of worst case scenarios are described quite graphically. It almost makes you want to sell your position when you read it. Having said that, I have found Eli Harari to be quite realistic and upbeat in conference calls. He won't hype the stock and maybe that is a good thing. 2) This company is essentially a laboratory for new flash memory designs that happened to create a product with appeal to the average consumer. This creates the image of a small company selling a single end-consumer product. Despite this there has been not advertising or attempts to increase brand name recognition. Efforts to date have been anemic and lackluster. It also goes against the grain of retail salesmanship. It would be nice to see an effort to push the product along and the only advertising I have seen so far is the soccer shirts (http://www.digitalfilm.com/company/comp-fun.html). Having said that, SNDK management has decided to pursue exclusivity agreements with major electronics retailers. You don't really need to advertise when your product is the only one on the shelf. They have also created an international sales network which will hopefully pay off. 3) The company has spent tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man hours creating a patent portfolio. But when it comes down to brass tacks they can't even enforce these patents on their premier consumer product. That has to be concerning to the investment community. Having said that, they are the plaintiff in the Lexar media suit and the jury is still not out on potential royalties. Also, some smaller companies such as SSTI have recognized the intellectual properties of SNDK w/r/t CompactFlash. 4) The Board demonstrated a grievous lack of foresight with respect to share price this summer and fall. One insider is buying at over $16 a share (non-option related) and no contingency plan is developed for a stock repurchase as the share price gradually erodes and then plummets to $5 (below cash value and substantially below book value) despite a stockpile of cash in excess of $120 million. Was that a no-brainer? This is viewed by some as a lack of concern for the interest of the average shareholder. Having said that, the company is small and vulnerable and has taken a conservative approach to managing its finances by keeping cash on hand for needed expansion or crisis management. 5) The company may be threatened by newer technologies such as those proposed by IBM, Sony, Iomega and Toshiba/Samsung (Already discussed ad nauseum). Ausdauer

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