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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (6009)	11/17/1999 10:04:00 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

re: doldrums by the contracting outfits Mike, many folks believe that this has to do with the lack of residuals, or what remains after the job is done. Labor and engineering firms who do contract work, or work for hire, are usually deemed only as good as the length of time that they are on those contracts, and those periods do not normally involve intellectual property or residual asset leases, or recurring rental fees. Masintenance fees maybe, but they are risky and assume that best conditions will prevail. At least a carrier leaves their wares in the ground, or in free space, and they continue to derive revenues from them on the basis of usage or some other subscription metric. The same for application folks who receive recurring licensing fees for software products and upgrades. But firms who only provide skilled labor and engineering? Those outfits can shine to high heaven for the work that they do and the awards they receive, but their shelf life is always suspect, at best. The notion that puts the nail in the coffin is what investors have a tendency to ask, that that is that at some point the buildout, or whatever, will be completed. And then what? Of course, the answer is that another faster cheaper better network will go in using the next generation of whatever, but that's not the common perception. In brief, cable pullers get very little respect for what they do. Having said the above, then I suppose I should also ask: What are the longer term value propositions that these companies bring to the table, besides their maintenance contracts for mending broken wires and malfunctioning boxes, once their initial chores are completed? I don't ask this to denigrate them, for sure. Rather, I ask only to explore what the rationale would be to justify higher expectations from them in terms of their valuations, from an investment perspective. I once got into this with AHhaha, and I was taking the side of the contractors. I believe IFCI was the subject at the time. Perhaps he'll grace us here with those views, again. Regards, Frank