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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tech97 who wrote (26774)	12/7/1997 12:59:00 AM
From: hpeace	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

tech97, can you answer this question. Dell is buying back stk. they are doing it with put warrants and buy buying calls. their 10q show the put warrant liability but it also shows they own 27,000,000 shares in options at a avg price of $74. How is this shown on the 10q???? right now it would be 1/2 billion to the good. Is this part of their 1.4 billion of securities in their assets???

To: Tech97 who wrote (26774)	12/7/1997 1:24:00 AM
From: Gary Korn	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 61433

I believe ASND has not announced a stock buy back program yet because they are prohibited from doing so until six months after the consummation of the Cascade merger. The SEC recently came out with Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 96 (March 97) that prohibits large acquisition of treasury shares following a pooling transaction until six months later. I wouldn't be surprised of an annoucement by ASND in Q1 98 if the price stays at this level as it would reduce the dilutive effect of the Cascade merger. Tech97, Thank you very much for the above. It is exceedingly useful information: 1. It explains why ASND didn't do anything in the fall and winter as the stock price dwindled. I had inferred from the lack of a buy-back that ASND did not want to prop up the stock price against a willing suitor (and did not want to narrow the margin between stock price and offer). But the far more logical reason is the one you posted. 2. Impending expiration of the 6 month period (would that be at the end of December?) suddently creates a new sword of damocles to hang over the shorts: along with the fear of good earnings, new contracts and the prospect of an ASND that is "in play" may be the new fear of a buy-back announcement. This, then, just becomes another force behind momentum on the upside. Gary Korn

To: Tech97 who wrote (26774)	12/7/1997 8:14:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

I'm currently a Certified Public Accountant and a short-term and long-term investor in ASND and other tech stocks. Like you, I've been frustated at the analysts and the street's short sighted view of ASND. IMO, long-term, ASND is a no brainer; investors in companies like ASND that provide the equipment for the buildout of the internet will be handsomely rewarded. I could not agree more. I have an MBA but am not a CPA. I could tell by your knowledge you almost had to be. Thank you for the share buyback rule too. It is nice to know what is prohibited and what is not. I knew the LU situation and the reason but not the buyback. I will bookmark you for question regarding rules in the future<G> Glenn

To: Tech97 who wrote (26774)	12/7/1997 5:14:00 PM
From: Sector Investor	Respond to of 61433

<< I wouldn't be surprised of an upside surprise in Q4 earnings of between .26-.28 per share>> Yes, I also think a modest upside surprise is likely - even though I feel that Q4 COULD be better that that IF they acted as they did in the past. I suspect we have a street "training program" in progress. The training message is "YOU CAN COUNT ON WHAT WE SAY FROM NOW ON". This training will take 2+ quarters to complete, because a lot of confidence has been lost. I think ASND is now in the enviable position of enough already contracted business for 1998, that they can move from a "get order, ship product, low backlog' mode of operation to one of managed growth, which requires higher backlogs going forward. The evidence for this is there in their conservative Q4 estimates, their downplay of worldcom, their move of $10M from Q1 to Q3, and their "conservative" 1998 estimate of $1.15-$1.20. Yes, conservative, as I firmly believe they couldn't quarantee 1998 at ANY LEVEL without orders and contracts in hand that projected to even higher revenues. Higher backlogs will give them the ability to "make" every quarter by either adding to or drawing down the backlogs as needed.