Bill Keating,
Everything you say is pretty much correct, however, it's old news! Corel has pared down it's operations and focused. The market loves that, which probably explains a significant part of Corel's recent rise. After it's current rally it's still only trading at 1X sales, an extremely low valuation by any yardstick in the software industry. Also, 1999 will be a great year for Corel as it is rolling out new versions of WordPerfect and CorelDRAW. Don't be suprised to see Corel net US$.75 or more in 1999.
More conservative elements in Corel's management have gained more influence as Michael Cowpland has been frightened by his company's recent near-death experience. Oh, I think Linux is a good bet for Corel's future. *IF* Linux does take off, Corel will have a leading position in that market, even if it doesn't, it will have a dominant position in a small market. Also, Linux doesn't pose the same technical challenges to a software developer as Java does.
Corel will hit at least US$8 sometime in 1999. I expect a correction of some sort in the share price after it's quarterly results are released unless they net some truly amazing amount of money like US$20 million. Remember that my prediction of at least US$8 is not for January 1999, but for *all* of 1999. Good luck! |
