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Technology Stocks : Western Digital (WDC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pierre-X who wrote (8015)	12/4/1997 2:49:00 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11057

"On the flip side, if you agree that QNTM's DD margins are lower than WDC then, given WDC's aggressive push into the high end, is there any reason to expect WDC not to make big market share gains there?" QNTM's DD margins have been lower than WDC's, but a good part of that is the fact that QNTM has been blending DEC's drive business in their own over the past 2 years, as well as transitioning to MR technology; therefore, the comparison isn't exactly apt. WDC's margins have been better too because they have milked TFI technology, and are just now transitioning into MR and into enterprise drives. We could turn your question around and ask, Is there any reason to expect WDC to not have any problems in this transition? Also, WDC has been a more focussed company than QNTM, with fewer product offerings. Now that they are about to expand their product offerings (although in the plan they announced yesterday, they are chopping some out, which, IMO, is a good thing for them not a bad one), they may not get the same margins as they enjoyed in the past. At the very least, it is a question and a challenge for them to meet.

To: Pierre-X who wrote (8015)	12/4/1997 3:10:00 PM
From: William T. Katz	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 11057

Perhaps we should move this conversation to QNTM thread. WDC is likely not to make big market share gains into high-end because WDC has been slow to MR and that's where they pay off. WDC has been traditionally more efficient, but part of that has been their sticking with tried and true technology (TFI) and limiting MR problems. QNTM is actually trying to become more efficient by adopting a common architecture across their disk drive product lines (similar I believe to WDC's tactics). This is one reason why they are taking that one-time charge. I fully expect WDC to do better once they get the MR transition behind them, but that's 3 quarters away and by that time, QNTM will have some other funky supplements like NFR. IMHO of course and I welcome any facts to the contrary. -Bill