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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andreas who wrote (79021)	3/2/2000 10:57:00 PM
From: Captain Jack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Andreas-- I am glad you started your post with <<"Don't take this personally,">> but there are a couple things that must be said. Whether Nilesh is close to MC or not he has to have a better read on his personality than we do. <<"If you know something the rest of us don't please share it">> IS entirely IMpossible. If he does and did,, his career would be ruined. Company loyalty is a requirement not to mention the possibility of what may be considered insider info by the SEC. Last-- I sum up all you have said by disagreeing with some of Nilesh's post,, but not all. IMO -- MC is in over his head. We may not find a COO as good ever again,, but as a CEO-- the question still needs answered and will be when his training is complete. In the mean time the stock languishes while he learns... Hopefully our new CFO can give him guidence that is not given to WS or investors in a timely manner,,

To: Andreas who wrote (79021)	3/2/2000 11:13:00 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Andreas - you must feel like I felt yesterday - but I think you're being a LITTLE harsh, maybe?? I think that the webcast from the wireless conference was more than just a good performance - it put substance on a lot of the somewhat airy messages (like the one from CE magazine) and Capellas seemed ready to go to the next level and the one after that if the interviewer could stay with it. Don't ask Michael DELL to do that - at least not these days. Dell flubbed most of the questions at his Win2K launch press event and then fell back to empty boasts and CPQ bashing... not too impressive. This kind of exposure reinforces the notion (which I am taking to more and more) that Capellas has technical savvy as well as business skills, and really might be the right guy for the job. If the street shifts to that viewpoint, we will be off to the races independent of any real events like say earnings or cost cutting... on paragraph 5, perhaps Nilesh Parikh was referring to the recent notice of sale of "ask jeeves" stock, or perhaps something else in the public domain recently - there certainly has been a bunch of activity which has not seemed to move the stock price. I'm sure that CPQ management will do everything in its power to meet or beat expectations... but that in itself is, as you say, part of the job. Saying that the stock price was 25 when Capellas took over is a little disingenuous - you surely know it was lower than that just before he was appointed, and he was handed the keys just in time to reap the rewards of the first losing quarter since 1991. The subsequent drop was painful but provided me with some fine opportunities... I didn't mind the drop to 18 at all, seeing as how it paid out in 7 figures for a very modest risk... now I just need to see a steady rise into the 40s over the next few months to be quite happy with CPQ all in all... I would rather see a solid turn-around plan than Earl Mason style - push the problem off for a while... Having said that I'm plenty sick and tired of the current mid-20's neighborhood and would like to see a change of scenery, say uptown to the mid-30s.

To: Andreas who wrote (79021)	3/3/2000 2:46:00 AM
From: Nilesh Parikh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Andreas: I don't take it personally. After reading our friend El's recent mail, I felt compelled to defend MC. Do I know him personally? No. Given that I work for CPQ, I follow CPQ religiously, I follow what CPQ/MC is doing internally/externally, I must say, I'm in better position to judge his character. Suffice to say he's not fony. On your second point, MC met w/ the analysts. Some upgraded the stock after that mtg. Others are waiting to see the Q1, Q2 results. Some analysts have lost their credibility because of CPQ. They want to see the real 'proof' before they upgrade the stock. I don't blame them. But I don't blame MC for that either. The details are 'unfolding'. I can't defend everything what MC has done. All I can say is that he seems to be getting the house in order. Need to realize, CPQ did not just hire a new CEO in last July. CPQ cleaned the house, top to bottom. How many VPs do we have left from the old CPQ? It takes more than 6 mos to get your strategy defined, communicated, executed. MC has met the expectations for each quarter he reported the earnings. That's a lot better than the previous quarters. I can't prove it, but I can tell you some of the visibility CPQ has seen in recent months: - MC has created 3 very focused business unit. ESSG brings more than 55% of total CPQ's revenue. - Decision making process. - C&W deal - Inacom deal - iPAQ - WIN2000 - wildfire - wireless data strategy - Storage Area products - cost restructure - At least meeting earnings expectations since he has taken over - communication internal/external w/ employees, customers, WS. communication w/ WS may be perceived weak. That perception will remain so until CPQ consistently exceeds expectations on earnings and stocks starts moving up... I'm sure there are other proof points to be credited to MC. I can fault MC for so many things that IMHO he would have done differently, quickly and decisively. CFO hiring was delayed beyond reasonable time. He still has one more req to fill on marketeer. I hope he moves at internet speed. Overall, MC is doing fine job. Better yet, I think Enrico Pesatori is doing a great job of energizing ESSG group. That's the group which will deliver the Telcos/wireless, e-business strategy, storate products, etc.. To your last point about CPQ's stock when MC got the job. I stand corrected about the price on 7/22. However, the stock moved in anticipation of hiring of CEO and tanked to 19. Since the CPQ's low, he has helped bring the stock back to mid-20s. I hope it will go higher, time will tell. BTW, if you read my couple of mails from last couple of days, you'll see that I have been out-spoken about what CPQ could differently and so on.. I'm not trying to be the cheer-leader for CPQ or MC, however, I really can't justify the comments about MC being greedy and selfish. -Nilesh.