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Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Fred Fahmy who wrote (45315)1/24/1998 10:23:00 AM
From: isdsms  Respond to of 58324
 
Fred, I certainly agree with your comments. It is far too soon to draw any conclussions about what has just occurred. Edwards concern has always been on building a business and not short term price of the stock. If he continues to execute, all will be fine. If he stumbles and fails, well..... I will be looking for confirmation in the weeks and months ahead of either scenario. There has been a tremendous amount of manipulation that began with after hours trading on Thursday. If the stock did not have the rug pulled out from under it by a few institutions, 1+ million shares, we would in all likelihood be looking at a stock price of 11-12 today. The ad. budget makes sense and was always in the cards. It is just part of the cycle. It is certainly not a desperation move. Buttom line is if the plan continues to be executed well, stock value will recover in time. Fundamentals always rule.

Ira



To: Fred Fahmy who wrote (45315)1/24/1998 10:35:00 AM
From: Rocky Reid  Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 58324
 
> In my estimation earnings in 1998 earnings will be up approxmiately 50% to around .60.<<

It is exactly this same sort of obscenely optimisitic projections that get Iomega investors in trouble in the first place. The American market grew 25% last Q year to year. If you were to chart this out, you would see an alarming trend in growth that would make you to hope that Iomega can at least equal this past year.

The Asian market is up in the air at this point, but they only account for about 1/11 of the business anyway. Europe is currently undergoing rapid sales growth, but they can start at anytime to mirror the level of saturation that now exist here in America.

Plus, if fully implemented, the $100MM ad blitz could take a dime or so out of the yearly EPS.



To: Fred Fahmy who wrote (45315)1/24/1998 10:59:00 AM
From: Jim Munroe  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 58324
 
That sales of Zip should slow at retail as a result of increased
presence as built-ins from the box makers should not be a surprise.
Why would anybody choose not to buy their Zip built in to their
new PC? The early adopters have done their thing so retail sales
will become a much smaller portion of Zip sales. Meanwhile, the
box makers should increase inclusion of Zip particularly if the new
Norton rescue scheme based on Zip is shown to reduce service calls,
many of which are Windows related. This translates into more drives
at a lower margin but eventually more disk sales.
I even accept to some extent the effect of the Asian chaos, more
in the sense that sales would be more comparable to those in Europe
if the economies were in better shape. KE long ago talked of aiming
at equal revenues from Asia, Europe and North America
What is wrong and does disturb me is the lack of revenue deriving
from new products. There have been announcements of many new products, the n.hand/clik!, the 10GB Ditto, the Buz, the Jaz2, the notebook Zip-some of these announcements go back a year or more-yet nothing has been shipped (except for a limited number of the thicker laptop Zips). I was looking for some positive news on these during the conference call but it seems that nothing was said. This to me implies no shipments in the near future. There is something fundamentally wrong with this situation and the lack of comment
leaves me quite worried about the future.



To: Fred Fahmy who wrote (45315)1/24/1998 11:27:00 AM
From: Vaughn  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 58324
 
>WS's irrational reaction to a spectacular year to year and sequential performance<

Fred, I don't think the reactions are irrational and KE and company could have done a better job protecting shareholder equity. Going into this announcement there were and still are many uncertainties about IOM's current and future products. No big deal, when you're blazing new trails, there are always a lot of uncertainties. Two key things that I, and I suspect a lot of IOM investors, was OK with were that there probably would not be a negative earnings surprise and that ZIP demand was not in serious jeoprody.

The announcement ripped this foundation of confidence out from under the stock price. Now what do we have, uncertainties about every product, a huge unexpected expenditure in 1998, and less confidence about getting timely information from the companies management. WS reaction is very understandable.

As I stated in an earlier message, I still like IOM's future, but I'm not real happy that management didn't do a better job of communicating with the investment community. Like it or not, this is an important part of their job.



To: Fred Fahmy who wrote (45315)1/24/1998 2:58:00 PM
From: Naggrachi  Respond to of 58324
 
Re:Gary and other KE critics

Fred, I totally agree with your statment. KE is IOM. I was extremely disappointed, not from the numbers, but some of the obsene language that was posted and directed to KE.

The only thing that I'm disappointed at is the way new prodcuts are being handled. Maybe that new guy from Northwestern will improve things.

The street punished IOM for beinng strightforward with investor and the public at large. KE laid all the card on the table and instead of focusing on the positive, he reminded everyone that he can't guarantee results. This is no different than the caution paragraphs that are put on the bottom or press releases. Given the guy's conservative nature, I don't understand why everyone is hosile towards the guy.

Granted they could have handled the Q better, however, I think those new products being delayed totally got things out of wack. For some reason, managment never factored that in when planing was done. This is evidenced by the press release regarding the delay of JAZ2 and Suzan S., comments.

Furthermore, my take on the CC was as follow. Zip is carrying this company. KE would love to lower the price to $99, however, untill the new products come out, he can't take this step. Revenue will decline, so will margins. This is where the new products balance the scale.

My take on things.

Zead



To: Fred Fahmy who wrote (45315)1/25/1998 11:31:00 PM
From: ziggy  Respond to of 58324
 
The comment from Money daily:

IOMEGA.... The cult Motley Fool stock turned in punk
numbers, and the stock tanked late in the week from
$13, to $9. Stock was as high as $16 this year.
Company posted earnings of 13 cents, numbers looked
okay, sales grew 48 percent, but it saw a slowdown in
Asia. And Iomega has an inventory backlog in Jazz and
Zip. Imagine what they're saying in those squirrely
little chat groups!