I wonder if QNTM is being hurt by STK's pre-announcement?
<<LOUISVILLE, Colo., April 15, 1999--StorageTek' (Storage Technology Corp., NYSE:STK) today said that based on its preliminary assessment of its first-quarter 1999 performance it expects total revenue and net earnings will fall significantly below the range of analysts' published estimates. For the first quarter ended March 26, 1999, the company expects net earnings will be within a range of $.05 to $.10 per share. According to First Call, the range of expectations of security analysts is $.39 to $.46 per share. The company said it plans to report final results on April 29.
"Our preliminary evaluation indicates that first-quarter revenue growth will be slightly higher than our 5 percent 1998 revenue growth rate. That is well below our expectations and is primarily attributable to slower than expected acceptance of the Virtual Storage Manager' (VSM') system and manufacturing constraints on the 9840 tape drive," said David E. Weiss, StorageTek chairman, president and chief executive officer. "A shortfall in sales of these higher-margin products led to lower than anticipated gross margins. Compounding the revenue and margin weakness, operating expenses have increased significantly over last year, in anticipation of higher revenue growth.>>
Note he says that the 9840 tape drive has "manufacturing contraints", not that there is a demand problem. For whatever that is worth. They don't really compete head to head, the 9840 is higher end, but.... |
