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Technology Stocks : 3Com Corporation (COMS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Harold S. Kirby who wrote (31913)	6/22/1999 5:42:00 PM
From: miklosh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

PalmPilot sales lift 3Com profits 35% By Jeffry Bartash, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 5:34 PM ET Jun 22, 1999 NewsWatch Earnings Surprises SANTA CLARA, Calif. (CBS.MW) -- 3Com Corp. said Tuesday that fourth-quarter profits from operations climbed 35 percent as the company boosted sales of its popular handheld PalmPilot electronic organizer. Separately, the company (COMS: news, msgs) said it would buy back up to 15 million shares. 3Com announced a 10 million-share buyback when it released third-quarter results in March. The world's second-largest maker of computer networking products said profits excluding special items rose to $88 million, or 24 cents a share, in the fourth quarter ended May 28, up from $65.9 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier. 3Com was expected to earn 23 cents a share, according to the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. Sales, however, climbed a meager 3.6 percent to $1.42 billion from $1.37 billion a year earlier. Although sales of the PalmPilot are surging, revenue from phone modems, PC-connector cards and related items have been declining amid intensified competition. That's prompted the company to focus more on the Internet and products for lucrative high-speed web access. That push helped lift sales of network systems, which includes switches, routers and other products used by corporations, Internet service providers and phone carriers, 17 percent to $784.7 million. It also accounted for a record 55 percent of total sales, 3Com said. Those gains were mostly offset by a 10 percent decrease in client-access sales to $630.9 million, which includes the modem business. Shares of 3Com edged up 9/16 to 31 1/2 ahead of the earnings report. Results were released after the markets closed.

To: Harold S. Kirby who wrote (31913)	6/22/1999 5:44:00 PM
From: bgg	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 45548

Amazing change of mood Harold. 3Com's problems can be traced to a few key events: 1. failure to capitalize on router boom several, several years ago. 2. failure to build a solid direct sales force 3. USRX acquisition -- Palm not withstanding Save the USR acquisition, these factors took place years ago. If you want Eric to resign, you should understand that the reason why can't be traced to this year's performance. Goes way beyond that. I'm not sure how much better COMS could perform with some superstar CEO at the helm ... unless they split up the company.