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Technology Stocks : Scientific Atlanta -SFA- going up ??? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Allegoria who wrote (956)	10/29/2000 11:42:08 AM
From: Lee Lichterman III	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1045

>>If I told you SFA says it is shipping more than ...< Probably disappointed as that would tell me they are still shipping more older less profitable and analog STBs to 3rd world than new ones and digital here and in Europe. They did say in teh conference call how fast they could switch over or spin up new lines and it was pretty quick. They seem to be matching requirements right now and they are planning on catching up with the backlog of older models and melding over to the new ones constantly as the orders progress. As for your DSO question. I believe they addressed that in the call but I can't find my notes. I just switched computers and my office is a wreck. I heard the STB units shipped numbers but was curious to find the percentage of actual earnings or at least revenues. The revenues I guess would be easier since we know from the call that the average STB box costs $306 so multiply that by the 1.03 shipped and you get 315,180,000. Divide that into total operating revenues of 597.2 million and you have a percentage of around 53% of revenue from STBs. My main question is an attempt to see where the most profit comes from among thier various products. In other words, if thier infra-structure profit margin is 5% but their STB margin is 40%, then obviously we care about competition from other STBs. If the infrastructure margin is 40% and the STB margin is 5%, then who cares? I heard the Play station that just came out doesn't have the interactive TV options turned on yet and that they are having problems with production even in the scaled down models. I am still bullish on the company as I see the STB with all the added functionality being the poor man's computer. I have a generally low opinion of the average Joe 6-pack and they will give up just about anything before they give up their cable TV. The mindless masses that watch pro wrestling, tough man competitions etc or even the more common football, baseball games etc and would never think about getting a PC will tend to want STBs so they can replay gruesome events and monster truck rollovers etc. -gggg- They can pacify critics though by claiming that their kids have access to the internet via the STB for homework and can use the other features to "catch them up to the year 2000" gadgets as well since the 2100 and 3100 enable USB device interface for cameras, video recorders etc. So far, I am still holding but sold calls against my position around 70 to protect some backside. I wouldn't mind just hovering around this price range for a while and building a base. I am still bearish on the whole market though and am worried we could get dragged down in a major market wide event. Tricky times we are in. Good Luck, Lee