Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (30613)	3/4/2000 8:56:00 PM
From: waldemar cyranski	Respond to of 42771

IN PRISON? sic.

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (30613)	3/4/2000 10:26:00 PM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

From Barron's Q: You mentioned the software sector as a current hunting ground. What names are you focused on? A: My favorite in that area is Novell. The man that runs Novell is Eric Schmidt. He was one of the top three or four people at Sun Microsystems five, 10 years ago when they realized that there was no way they could break the Intel/Microsoft stranglehold on the personal computer. I have been terribly impressed with people like that, who -- when they are just stuck in a losing position -- have the flexibility, the creativity to just say, "Well, we can't beat them at this game. We have to anticipate what the next technology is." That led to Sun developing the Java Software. Schmidt also happens to be a great manager with great people skills. I first bought Novell as a turnaround when it was $7-$8 a share. He turned it around financially, stabilized the customer base, so on and so forth, and the stock went to 15, so I sold it. Then a year or so later the stock started to move, and I noticed it. It turns out their slower products were sliding off the books and their faster-growing business was becoming a greater percentage in total sales, so that meant they were going to have a faster growth rate. During our analysis and talking to people that were more knowledgeable of the direction of the company, I found out that he was in the process of turning it around, away from being a software company toward an e-commerce and directory company. As I understand this, one of the difficulties in getting through the Internet and navigating through all of these Internet addresses is that there is a limit to the capacity of servers. If you wanted to contact some financial institution and wanted to go from the sales area versus the research area, versus the trading area, you would have to keep moving from one server to another to another. In any case, you would disconnect on a regular basis and you then have to go back and start the whole thing all over again. It turns out that there are only two companies working on easing this process, Novell and Microsoft. Novell has already beta-tested its new technology. There should be 80%-90% margins on this software. Now you get to the point that at $30 a share Novell has a market cap of $10 billion. The company is financially well and growing. Then on top of that it has a shot at owning a market with 80%-90% margins for God knows how many years. Then last quarter's earnings came out perfectly fine right to the penny, but their sales were $10 million light. The stock drops 35%. Now, five or 10 years ago a 35% drop in any stock would've scared the hell out of me. In the current market I consider it the regular course of doing business. Now you are getting the stock at a 35% discount, and they have already reaffirmed their forecast for the year.

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (30613)	3/5/2000 11:01:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42771

Lead Story at Novell.com - new directory-based app for end-users..... Peter J Strifas --------------------------- Novell eGuide . . .Your One-Click Connection Search easily and quickly for directory-based information. Novell eGuide is a software applications service that gives users in organizations a powerful but simple way to quickly find and make one-click connections with people, places and things across networks, all from a single location on the Net. Organizations, including services providers, can use eGuide to facilitate access to select directory information within companies and between companies, their customers and suppliers. Novell eGuide enables users to access data stored in NDS eDirectory and any data source that supports the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) standard, including, when authorized, the Internet and enterprise directories customers and suppliers. Users can find names, phone and fax numbers, locations, e-mail addresses, network IDs, and can customize eGuide for access to any type of information stored in the data source. Once users locate a person, they can launch communications such as e-mail and instant messaging from within an easy-to-use interface that runs on any Web browser. "Success in the Net economy means learning how to establish and interact in digital communities," said Dave Shirk, Novell senior vice president for product management. "Novell eGuide helps those customers build and fully participate in those communities by fostering quick and efficient communication." Powerful Searching People that try using eGuide will see how it makes finding info easier. To look someone up, type in a portion of the person's last name and click the search button. By default anyone whose last name starts with the text you entered will be found. If photos exist in the directory they are displayed in the eGuide detail frame. Why Customers are Already Asking for eGuide Novell eGuide is 100-percent web based. It's compatible with any JDK 1.1 compliant browser, such as recent versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. There is no client install whatsoever. It's also cross platform; both the client and server pieces run on all platforms that have a JDK 1.1 compliant virtual machine, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Linux, Mac OS,and Solaris. eGuide can be integrated with popular messaging platforms. Users can send an email to a user by clicking on their email address. If an AOL screen name exists for an eGuide entry, they can immediately send an "Instant Message" by simply clicking on the name. Novell's Net Services Soulutions: Serving One Net eGuide is just one key piece of Novell's overall Net services strategy. This strategy includes a range of directory-enabled solutions that together let customers take full advantage of all aspects of the e-business network (both inside and outside the company firewall): intranets, extranets, and the Internet, all centrally controlled and organized through NDS eDirectory. (For example, another important piece of this strategy is ZENworks for Networks.)