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Technology Stocks : IDT *(idtc) following this new issue?* -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 613 who wrote (21878)	9/21/2000 4:17:15 PM
From: Arrow Hd.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 30916

613, I think one of the problems is there are not as many analysts around to cover a lot of these newer companies. It costs a firm a lot to have an analyst and they need to be revenue producing. I don't think there is enough coverage but I don't believe this will necessarily improve either. The other issue is the fact that most analysts have never run a business. They come out of B school and go right to the Street. They have never priced a product, developed an OEM adjunct business, deciphered the differences between a hardware, software or services P&L and so on. They rely on a company telling them that the SG&A is X amount but have no idea on how that breaks down and whether a company has a competitive model or not. I know this is a generalization and probably too harsh but I know analysts personally who have spent many years working for a technology company and are now competent analysts and some who have never been anything but an analyst and are clueless. I am not an analyst but do have 31 years in the technology business and have, among a number of different assignments, negotiated OEM deals, written OEM contracts and developed financial methodologies for machine hardware, parts and sub-assemblies, software, and services so what I see here with NTOP gets me excited. But being right is not as important as being on the right side at the right time.