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Technology Stocks : ObjectShare (OBJS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Jatin Kadakia who wrote (145)2/3/1998 1:21:00 PM
From: Raging Bull  Respond to of 185
 
Object share announces improved earnings and licence revenues
biz.yahoo.com

What were the investors expecting this quarter to bring for OBJS. The reported earnings deficit of only $.03 per share represents a major improvement over recent quarters. It was always my thought the the company stock price dropped from its average range of $8-13 2.5 years ago down into the penny stock range because survival of the company was at risk as developers shifted from Smalltalk to Java. Recent reports show that Smalltalk is not dead. Object Share's licence revenue although still very low has turned around with a 18% increase over the previous quarter. New Smalltalk and Java products will be announced soon and have been in beta for several months (Smalltalk 3.0.

With only a $.03 cent deficit, $.60 per share in cash/securities and no debt, plus a significant a/r balance, the company is fairly secure finanacially and appears to be almost certain to ride out the transition of Smalltalk to Java. Sales and marketing expenses are a fraction of the prior year's same quarter expense figures and services units provided much improved results.

Why is the price so low? Do investors believe this is now basically a services company and will never achieve significant license revenues? Have investors not reviewed the financials yet? Did investors expect these earnings results? The price did creep up from $.5 to $1 in recent weeks. Zacks did not post any estimated earnings for OBJS during the last few quarters and I could not find any sources that did.

Let me know what your thoughts are. I personally was extremely pleased with the results during this transitional period for Object Share. I would like some insight from other investors on why the stock price did not move substantially.



To: Jatin Kadakia who wrote (145)2/3/1998 6:08:00 PM
From: Raging Bull  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 185
 
Correction: Revenue and expenses have been have not changed
much from last quarter. Most of the operating
earnings improvements have come from cost reductions
primarily in the sales and marketing area (about 700K), General
and admin ($337K),
and R&D (224k). The ratio of R&D to G&A has historically
been about the same but the reduction in total R&D is certainly
a concern. Still close to $4 million annual is enough to make
some significant improvements. With development of OO tools,
more bodies often produces less output and they are probably
still within an acceptable range for their product line.

In spite of the 18% increase in license revenues they are still at
an historic low and represent a small percentage of the market.
If Object Share could sell even 1/4 of the VisualWorks licenses
that IBM VisualAge product sold, they would be doing great.
Most companies express concerns about Object Shares
financial stability rather than the product line when deciding to
use VisualAge. Java represents a large potential market although
it will be split many ways.

Again, I thought the risk of going under was the primary driver
for stock prices at less 10% of the average three years ago.
the potential upside appears to be fairly large. Large reduction
of costs primarily from staff reductions, while producing
stable or slightly higher revenue figures and near breakeven
operating income bodes well for the survival of a company with
$.60
per share in cash/securities and no significant liabilities that will
affect cash (other than about $.10 to pay for the accrued
restructuring costs).

Did other people see this stock as a high risk security with high
potential upside? Given the reduction in costs and stable
services operating income along with what appears to be an end
to the license revenue slide, I believe the financial risk has
improved significantly. The number of employees has been
reduced from a high of 460 to around 110. This reduces the risk
of high cash burn during a bad quarter or two.

Remember the company is still in transition to the Java line. Parts
for Java has received some good reviews but is not considered
a serious development environment that ObjectShare will
market to fortune 500 companies. They are in in the process of
developing a Java tool or enhancing the parts tool so that it can
be marketed to fortune 500 companies.

If risk of going under has been reduced, shouldn't the price
reflect a more significant increase?