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Technology Stocks : LEGATO SYSTEMS LGTO -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Edwarda who wrote (1052)	5/20/2000 3:08:00 AM
From: Analog Kid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1138

Does anybody here think that maybe the reason for Legato's sales force problems is that they have been getting whipped by VRTS and had to resort to playing games? Or was it mismanagement and salesman trying to juice up their commissions? In a similar situation, I have held shares in CheckPoint for 3 years - they are the Veritas of security and Network Associates is the Legato. In that area I was much more knowledgable about the companies and their management, and was able to see in advance that CHKP was the class act. It came as no surprise to me last year when NETA was found cooking the books regarding acquisitions and their weakness in security software became apparent to less-informed investors. In this case, it was clearly CHKP eating NETA's lunch, which become completely obvious to everyone over the next few quarters as NETA kept blaming Y2K and CHKP revenues/earnings kept soaring.) I'm trying to figure out if this whole LGTO fiasco reflects a fundamental weakness in the company's competitve position, or mismanagement. Both are serious problems, but the latter gives reason for hope for shareholders, while the former casts grave doubts on the company turning around. If it is mismanagement, this is still not very comforting, since practically all of the management has remained the same, but perhaps some talented managers could come in and turn LGTO around. BTW, I am long in the high 20s (bought after the first drop) - every company can experience temporary hiccups, especially young fast-growing companies, but I am concerned that there are deep-rooted problems here, so I haven't bought any more shares (learned my lesson from past experiences). This brings up the crucial question for tech investors, since hiccups inevitable occur: how do you distinguish between temporary problems where a turnaround is likely, and deep-rooted problems where a company forever remains a second- or third-class player? No matter how good the technology, poor management will always drive a company into the ground. Because I care about valuation (imagine that!), I am not interested in VRTS at current prices, even though they appear to be the emerging gorilla. But if LGTO is not doomed, then we have a great buying opportunity here. Thanks in advance for any insights. It would be great if there were anyone on the thread who knew technical people that use the software, or who knew LGTO employees. I have done some research on the net (newsgroups, websites) and on the surface it seems from a technology perspective that VRTS vs LGTO is similar to Coke vs. Pepsi, and not Mercedes vs. Yugo. There was a pattern, however, of people complaining about LGTO's technical support. AK