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Technology Stocks : Creative Labs (CREAF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: taxikid who wrote (4622)	10/22/1997 12:57:00 PM
From: Will Cunningham	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13925

Very informative. The computer I have came with a sound system stuck in the PC by Compaq computer. It was just OK, and I believe that the company making the chip was ESS and there was some sort of audio function built into the modem card. The Soundblaster 64AWE is what I ended up buying because I didn't like the standard that came with the machine--it is top notch. I think there are many who will purchase for the same reason and this is not the only CREAF product--speakers are also quite good. Another possible driver for Soundblaster (Aside from playing games) will be Internet Telephony. Regardless, the numbers were very strong and this should be an excellent quarter. I expect many people to see this same pattern to drive the price higher--especially with a perceived low PE and increasing estimates and upgrades.

To: taxikid who wrote (4622)	10/22/1997 1:10:00 PM
From: Dennis G.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13925

I agree that being a Singapore stock has hurt their valuation and have mentioned that before. But I believe this is a good example of stupidity. This company is as well run as any US company and, in fact, is closer to their manufacturers than many US tech companies who also build their products in the same region. Yet they are punished for not having a US headquarters. As for this unknown Intel or other "vaporware" product that's supposed to do CREAF in, where is it? How soon will it get to the market? What is it going to sell for? How much of their market are they supposed to get? If you can't answer these questions, I'd say it's kind of stupid to worry about them enough not to invest in CREAF right now, which is quite plainly making bushels of money as we speak. You can always sell the stock later if this ambiguous threat materializes. But these kind of things don't magically appear overnight. They take time to get developed and get to market. And no one's ever explained to me why Intel would bother going after puny CREAF anyway when they have much bigger problems in their microprocessor area with DEC and AMD. You can always imagine a threat to anybody's business. But it's stupid to let that worry cause you to discount a good, money-making company like CREAF, as we saw the last four days. Dennis

To: taxikid who wrote (4622)	10/22/1997 1:14:00 PM
From: Jon Tara	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13925

The mother board threat is real. It's possible that CREAF will wind-up supplying the mother-board solution, though - but that is yet to be seen. (They do have a chip designed specifically for this.) I do not think we have to worry about the sound function going into the CPU chip in the near future - it is still going to be a separate chip. The Soundblaster is actually quite antiquated - I would only rate it "adaquate". The DMA structure imposes a fairly high CPU overhead vs newer designs. Creative's new PCI chip (currently only offered as a motherboard solution) is fairly state-of-the-art, though. But the current Soundblaster cards are dinosaurs. They HAVE improved the sound quality to the point where it is very close to that of good home stereos, though, and thus they are actually able to take advantage of the Cambridge speakers they are now marketing. But Turtle Beach (Pinnacle card) still beats Soundblaster hands-down on both sound quality and efficiency (CPU overhead), as they always have. But this comes at considerable expense, and the board is less-widely supported. Creative is responding to the threat, though, through diversification. The best news out of the earnings report was that they have broadened their revenue sources considerably. I would expect to DVD, speakers, and new unannounced developments (acquisitions?) to play a bigger and bigger role. If you are looking to sound card revenues to propel CREAF into the future, you are missing the point. Fortunately, Creative hasn't.