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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roads End who wrote (28780)	11/2/1999 1:08:00 PM
From: Brian Malloy	Respond to of 42771

FWIW, Novell?s Shares Start to Rebound individualinvestor.com 11/1/99 Novell's stock has been under so much pressure lately, you?d think shareholders would be ready to cry ?Uncle.? In late July, the stock was trading above $30, but in the past two weeks, the stock slumped as low as $16.69. Many investors were of the opinion that Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL - Quotes, News, Boards) chief executive Eric Schmidt was merely failing to keep investors informed about the company?s strategy and pending product releases. In reality that was only part of the problem. Like this Article? Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT - Quotes, News, Boards) (Remember them?) was due to release Windows 2000, an improved version of its Windows NT corporate network software and a direct competitor to Novell?s flagship product, NetWare. Year 2000 concerns didn?t help Novell either. But, with the recent announcement from Microsoft that Windows 2000 won?t be out until February, Novell?s stock suddenly looks better. Preferred Capital Markets analyst Joel Achramowicz said, 'The Microsoft delay was one reason for the jump in the share price. The second reason was that, frankly, at the $17 level the stock is way too cheap.' Novell's stock was also helped by the broad market rebound last week, but Achramowicz also pointed to Friday?s initial public offering of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM - Quotes, News, Boards), which provides Internet services that protect Web sites from crashing due to demand overloads, and speeds up web page delivery. The offering price was $26, but by Friday?s close the stock soared to $145.19. The thought is that Akamai, while not a direct competitor to Novell, provides a similar type of software in that both companies attempt to control the amount and time that information will flow over a network. This excitement has spilled over, in our opinion, into the trading of Novell shares, sending the stock up Friday $0.25 to $20.06. In short, we are still bullish on Novell, but the company has suffered due to a lack of new information about new investments, products and services. As management begins to talk about the story in greater detail and turns in earnings that are consistent with Street estimates, this stock should trade higher. Achramowicz is calling for the company to earn $0.17 per share on $340 million in revenue for the fourth quarter ending October. One small vote of confidence came from chief financial officer Dennis Raney, who bought 2,000 shares in the open market during September at $22.63 per share. News of the purchase comes at a time when investors are looking for some reassurance that the momentum at Novell is not gone. To that end the purchase served its purpose. Stay tuned for more. Analyst: Glenn S. Curtis Updated on 10/29/99 with NOVL trading at $20.06 Recommended 11/16/98 at $14.38