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Technology Stocks : Applied Magnetics Corp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jonathan Bird who wrote (10903)	12/9/1997 5:51:00 PM
From: Brian Lempel	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 12298

Crisman conversation: Crisman just called back. I would hardly call it a conversation, but he did provide decent answers to most of my questions. His answers are based on my memory, standard disclaimers apply. Is the MR ramp still on track with the time frame mentioned in previous 10Q reports. "Yes" What % of sales will be lost due to terminated contracts from Micropolis and WDC. "We stopped producing for Micropolis in August." He then said (to my surprise) he wasn't aware of any WDC cancelations!!! Qualified for any new MR programs? "We are currently shipping on several MR contracts" Me: Can you give me a number? Crisman: No How much of an increase in capacity have you realized from the implementation of the pico form factor on your TFI program? Crisman: It has been implemented on our TFI productions (1.7 GB is their only TFI product). This raised capacity by ~70% (my own calculation based on his numbers). How much money do you estimate using to fund the MR transition? No answer. However, when I asked if they would need to go to the open market to gain funding, it was a definite no. Also no comment on gross margins. Have TFI and/or MR yields improved over last quarter's levels? "Well, yes." Then he sounded like he had slipped up, and then gave his usual spiel (sp?) about yields improving over time... Buit I found his initial response very interesting. That is everything I asked him. I encourage others to call at 1-805-683-5353. He called back within 20 minutes. The problem is that I really have no experience calling people like this. I don't really know how to ask good follow up questions. Typing to people on SI dulls my response time! If anyone calls, I would want a clarification on the WDC thing. Also, I asked whether their increased capacity had left them with any idle capacity. He said "some." It was ambiguous, but to me it sounded like it was not a big factor. Another big question I wish I could ask in light of his responses is how they can explain the revenue shortfall! If there were no cancelations by WDC and sales are strong, where is the pressure coming from? In the PR, they mentioned oversupply, but that was not directly associated with a decrease in revenue. Brian