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

To: zwolff who wrote (37814)	3/1/2002 8:39:25 PM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

<<I think there is still value in this company if it is sold >> Yes - there's always value in selling an under-performing company to someone who KNOWS what they are doing. So, who do you believe would be the best suitor for Novell? Here's my short list - MSFT, CSCO, IBM. You can always make a case for others....Any other company would not have the resources or the vision to make Novell better than it is today IMO. In fact, I'll state it this way, no one other than Novell could have the passion necessary to keep the technology Novell has so carefully developed matter. This is the crux of it all - does anyone at Novell really have it in them to do this? And I don't mean single people or a handful of people...I mean upper management right on down to the newest employee. That's what it will take to "save" Novell. If someone who works at Novell doesn't believe this, they should do themselves and us a favor and resign.... Another thought - the Directory will one day (soon) become a commodity. By this I mean there will be a moment where many devices will leverage some Directory in some way - at that point, its not about the data store but the applications accessing it. All this needs is a few telcos and media companies (cable/satelite) to happen. At that point, Novell becomes an attractive buy for the technology boost it would give someone like Verizon or AOL/Time Warner. The acquirer's cost of obtaining Novell's technology right here and now would balance out the time and effort it would take to develop it. So in closing, no company will buy Novell at this time IMO. Perhaps CSCO may have a change of heart but I'm not betting on it. I believe Novell will be sold when the Directory becomes a commodity - at that time, the only value Novell will have is "technology short cut" and the patents it holds - oh yeah, and the development teams(?).... Regards, Peter J Strifas