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Technology Stocks : Osicom(FIBR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: craig crawford who wrote (4539)	1/23/1998 7:09:00 AM
From: Ploni	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10479

Craig, Good for you to finally be researching the company. The questions about sales per employee is a good one. I believe that Sankar Acharya was also asking this question before he left for greener pastures. One suggestion was that the company has absorbed many inexpensive, low margin product lines, and will also handle special-orders which aren't very profitable. One example was that they have made some ancient, slow-speed modems because a customer's computer could only support that model. This type of customer service is a two-edged sword: the goodwill may lead to future orders of high-margin products from those same customers, but can the company afford to show this goodwill when other companies don't? I have seen references to some layoffs of employees from absorbed companies, and they may be considering selling some of these less-profitable units, or shutting down some product lines for these low-margin operations. Sales of higher margin products such as the GigaMux should also significantly improve the sales/employee numbers. While you are researching the company, don't forget to look at the latest 14-A (proxy report), and report back to us on Par's "multimillion dollar salary." I'd like to hear how his salary compares with those of the other companies you mentioned: CSCO, ASND, COMS, etc., etc.

To: craig crawford who wrote (4539)	1/23/1998 7:16:00 AM
From: Mama Bear	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10479

>>>Don't you think it's strange that insiders did this "private" little transaction for themselves right before the positive news releases that propelled the stock forward? Right when the stock was near it's bottom?<<< Are you sure it's me that wants it both ways? Remember you said how the stock was purchased at a nice discount to the market (it did close 10/31 at 3 1/8) but now they did it near the bottom. Make up your mind. Which positive news releases were there that propelled the stock forward? Are you speaking of the 11/4/97 NASA release? No, the stock dropped after that one (closed 11/4 at 3 1/4). Perhaps you mean the 1/5/98 when they announced Net+Arm? That's about 2 months after this private placement. There was also a release from INTS that they had signed to supply FIBR on 1/8/98. Which of these caused the 18+ million shares 1998 volume? >>>Do you think that maybe management couldn't find anymore suckers to do more debt issuances or private placements so they had to do it themselves?<<< That's a nice negative spin. Why would it be less valid to say that they thought the company was a great investment and put themselves first in line to buy the shares? If the company finances by selling shares to others its negative because they don't have any confidence, but if they buy the shares themselves because there are good thing coming, that's negative as well. Pardon me, but that just doesn't make any sense to me. Do you think perhaps Osicom management paid the Forrester report to print that squib about CSCO? >>>Or do you think they funneled money into the company so they would have some dough to do the share buybacks?<<< If you care to go back on this thread you'll find I thought they'd never (nor should they ever) buyback share #1 of that announced buyback, that that release was a "vote of confidence" release. I'll bet you know that the majority of "authorized" share buybacks never occur. Barb