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Technology Stocks : SYQUEST -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike McCauley who wrote (5160)	12/31/1997 1:50:00 PM
From: Michael Coley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7685

RE: Profit and Volume on SparQ? >> Questions: Does anyone know if SYQT is making a profit on the SparQ drive ($199) and disks ($99.95/3 pack)? The stores around Baltimore are selling them as fast as they get them. I know many people who recommend them over Iomega. Could this be a turning point for the company? << I have a hard time seeing how they can make money on them at this price (especially the disks). They don't tell, though, so nobody knows for sure. From historical data, SyQuest's gross margins have been negative for the last two years, so on the average everything they sell is below cost. As far as sales volumes, they certainly _appear_ to be good, but there's plenty of evidence that they're nowhere near Iomega's sales levels. SyQuest announced that they expect to ship 50,000 drives and 90,000 disks this month. Iomega sells around 1,000,000 Zip drives monthly. My local (Arlington, TX) Fry's sold out of the SparQ's pretty quick the first week, but have had 10-20 in stock since then. (They may be moving and being replaced, but it's hard to tell.) When investing, keep in mind that products, companies, and stocks don't necessarily correlate. A good product can be produced by a bad company. A good company can have a bad stock. The key to me is marketing and profitability. SyQuest's marketing looks good, but is nowhere near as effective as Iomega's. SyQuest hasn't made a profit for something like three years. In fact, they've lost a tremendous amount of money over that period. Be careful, and do your own analysis. Don't trust what you read here (from the bulls, or from me). Check for yourself, determine the value and risks, and if you think it's a good investment go for it. But don't buy it based only on a product. There's a whole company to consider. - Michael Coley - i1.net

To: Mike McCauley who wrote (5160)	12/31/1997 9:27:00 PM
From: Saul H Rosenthal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7685

Mike McCauley, In considering whether to buy the stock you might consider that this is one of the few tech stock where the insiders are all buying stock (and none selling as far as I know). Saul

To: Mike McCauley who wrote (5160)	1/2/1998 12:03:00 PM
From: Dale Stempson	Respond to of 7685

Mike, It appears that the SparQ is selling well from the various reports I've read, however, with so few having been produced and given the holiday season and this being a new product introduction, I think it's very difficult to derive any future forecast at this point. Every day that goes by without confirmation from Syquest of continuing increases in production and demand would worry me if I was long this puppy. Syquest has been extremely clever with their press releases in the past and you can be certain that if things are going great for SparQ as they enter the new year they will tell you, and tell you, and tell you... Regards - Dale