Amigos, Tricord Systems (TRCD) shows up on 3 of my weekly scans. Low price stock and only around 76,000 avg volume makes TA somewhat suspect, speculative for sure. In early 1997 company decided to pursue a new buisness strategy, there strategy may turn out to be successfull.
FA statements and balance sheets to much for me (to many footnotes) doesent look that good but improving and no debt. I have included 2 recent press releases. Any comments would be appreciated.
PLYMOUTH, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 1998--Tricord Systems,
Inc. (Nasdaq: TRCD - news), today announced financial results for the fourth
quarter and year ended December 31, 1997. Revenues for the fourth quarter were
$1,894,000 compared to revenues of $10,236,000 in the fourth quarter of 1996.
Revenues for the year ended December 31, 1997 were $12,660,000 compared to
revenues of $51,269,000 for the same period in 1996. Fourth quarter net loss was
$205,000 or 2 cents per share compared to a net loss of $1,607,000 or 12 cents
per share in the fourth quarter of 1996. Net loss for the year ended December 31,
1997 was $10,931,000 or 81 cents per share compared to net loss of
$15,204,000 or $1.14 per share for the same period in 1996.
Included in the fourth quarter 1997 net loss are credits to cost of goods sold of
$270,000 or 2 cents per share for a reduction in the Company's obsolete and
excess inventory reserves and $226,000 or 2 cents per share for a reduction to the
warranty accrual. Also included is a credit to general and administrative expense of
$288,000 or 2 cents per share for an adjustment to allowance for doubtful
accounts. These adjustments were made based on analyses the Company
performed in the fourth quarter.
Included in the year ended December 31, 1997 net loss is a second quarter 1997
charge to cost of goods sold of $1,332,000 or 10 cents per share for the
write-down of obsolete and excess inventory and a net charge to nonrecurring items
of $864,000 or 6 cents per share including: a charge of $975,000 or 7 cents per
share for the net write off of leasehold improvements at the Company's previous
headquarters facility; a charge of $764,000 or 6 cents per share for the write-off of
equipment; and a credit of $1,000,000 or 7 cents per share for a server related
software license fee granted to an OEM.
''In early 1997, Tricord made the decision to pursue a new business strategy,
focusing our energies on the development of file-intelligent and distributed file
system software technology for the emerging network-attached storage market for
the Windows NT(R) environment,'' says John Mitcham, Tricord president and
CEO. ''During this transition we faced many challenges - from dramatic downsizing
to changing our supplier, distributor, customer, and investor relationships. We have
managed through the most difficult part of the transition, kept our core team intact,
remained debt free and managed cash. We continue to sell to and support our
legacy server customers, while our new business benefits from the knowledge
gained in supporting several thousand storage systems attached to Tricord servers.''
''In the past year - especially the last 6 months - we have seen increased industry
understanding of the benefits of Tricord's easy-to-manage approach to scalable,
reliable and cost-effective storage solutions. Tricord software offers OEMs the
ability to meet customer needs -- to differentiate their products and bring new
products to market faster. We are making significant development progress and are
now demonstrating our software to potential OEM partners.''
Tricord Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRCD - news) develops and markets distributed
data access and management products for the Windows NT(R) market. Tricord
File-Intelligent I/O and Distributed File System software technology facilitates the
transparent sharing of data on network-attached storage devices, enabling IS
organizations to centralize data storage functions and reduce the costs associated
with data management and storage. Tricord is based in Plymouth, MN USA. For
more information, call 1-800-TRICORD or 612/557-9005, or visit us at
www.tricord.com.
''Safe-Harbor'' Statement Under Private Securities Act of 1995: The statements
contained herein that are not historical facts contain forward-looking information
with respect to plans, projections or future performance of the Company. There is
no guarantee or assurance that these plans, projections or future performance of the
Company as indicated will be achieved, and actual results could differ materially.
Factors, certain risks and uncertainties which could impact the Company's future
results include, without limitation, the ability of Tricord to complete development
and release commercially its distributed data access and management products, the
ability of Tricord to sign OEM partners, market acceptance of Tricord-enabled
products, the ability of the Company to maintain its cost structure in accordance
with its operating plan, and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Form
10K for fiscal 1996.
TRICORD SYSTEMS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, Three Months Twelve Months
except Ended December 31, Ended December 31,
per share data) 1997 (a) 1996 (c) 1997 (a)(b) 1996 (c)(d)
(unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited)
Revenues $ 1,894 10,236 12,660 51,269
Cost of goods sold 1,198 6,013 12,525 35,416
Gross margin 696 4,223 135 15,853
Operating expenses:
Research and development 673 1,615 3,981 7,264
Sales and marketing 290 3,608 4,312 18,395
General and administrative (14) 601 1,697 5,578
Nonrecurring items, net -- -- 864 --
949 5,824 10,854 31,237
Operating loss (253) (1,601) (10,719) (15,384)
Other income (expense):
Interest, net 63 67 204 385
Other, net (15) (73) (192) (205)
48 (6) 12 180
Loss before income taxes (205) (1,607) (10,707) (15,204)
Provision for
income taxes -- -- 224 --
Net loss $ (205) (1,607) (10,931) (15,204)
Net loss per share ($ 0.02) ($ 0.12) ($ 0.81) ($ 1.14)
Average common shares
outstanding 13,460 13,402 13,447 13,357
(a) Includes fourth quarter 1997 credits to cost of goods sold of $270, or
$.02 per share, for an adjustment to inventory reserves and $226, or $.02
per share, for an adjustment to the warranty accrual. Also includes a credit to
general and administrative of $288, or $.02 per share, for an adjustment to
allowance for doubtful accounts. These adjustments were made based on
analyses the Company performed in the fourth quarter of 1997.
(b) Includes a third quarter 1997 charge to general and administrative of
$350, or $.03 per share, for the settlement of the Memorex Telex
bankruptcy preferential claim; a charge to provision for income taxes of
$224, or $.02 per share, for the reserve of a deferred tax asset related to the
Company's alternative minimum tax credit carryforwards; and a credit to
general and administrative of $367, or $.03 per share, for the decrease in the
allowance for doubtful accounts related to the Memorex Telex bankruptcy
filing. Includes a second quarter 1997 charge to cost of goods sold of
$1,332, or $.10 per share, for the write-down of obsolete and excess
inventory; a charge to nonrecurring items of $975, or $.07 per share, for the
net value of leasehold improvements written off due to the termination of the
Company's lease at its headquarters facility; a charge to nonrecurring items of
$764, or $.06 per share, for the write-off of equipment; and a credit to
nonrecurring items of $1,000, or $.07 per share, for a server-related
software license fee granted to an OEM. Includes a first quarter 1997 charge
to other expense of $247, or $.02 per share, for the disposal of certain
assets no longer required due to the Company's new business model.
(c) Includes a fourth quarter 1996 credit of $1,848, or $.14 per share, for
the reduction of a reserve taken in the second quarter of 1995 relating to the
disposal and write-down of obsolete and excess inventory, an increase in the
allowance for doubtful accounts and severance. A breakdown of the credit in
the Consolidated Statement of Operations is as follows: cost of goods sold -
$(1,360), research and development - $10, sales and marketing - $(130)
and general and administrative - $(368).
(d) Includes a third quarter 1996 charge to general and administrative of
$1,700, or $.13 per share, for an increase in the allowance for doubtful
accounts relating to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Memorex Telex and
a charge to research and development of $310, or $.02 per share, related to
the acquisition of the assets of RDI Corporation. Includes a second quarter
1996 charge to general and administrative of $400, or $.03 per share, for the
expected resolution of an outstanding securities class action matter.
TRICORD SYSTEMS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
ASSETS
(In thousands) December 31, December 31,
1997 1996
(unaudited)
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,713 5,711
Accounts receivable, net 681 4,636
Inventories, net 1,497 4,984
Other current assets 174 572
Total current assets 6,065 15,903
Equipment and improvements, net 565 5,717
Other assets 125 318
Total Assets $ 6,755 21,938
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Total current liabilities $ 3,088 7,763
Stockholders' equity
Common stock 135 134
Additional paid-in capital 77,606 77,522
Cumulative translation adjustments 82 (256)
Accumulated deficit (74,156) (63,225)
Total stockholders' equity 3,667 14,175
Total Liabilities and
Stockholders' Equity $ 6,755 21,938
Tricord First to Show Multi-Array RAID 5
Storage
Technology Demonstration Raises the Bar in Reliable, Shared
Storage Race
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 1998-- Tricord Systems,
Inc. (NASDAQ: TRCD - news) announces a key milestone in the advancement of
network-attached storage - file-level RAID 5 spanning multiple disk arrays, a key
feature of the company's unique file-intelligent I/O and distributed file system
software. Tricord is the first company to introduce this new level of reliable shared
storage to the Windows NT(R) market.
Demonstrating its software to potential OEM partners and industry representatives
in conjunction with the Server I/O '98 conference this week in Sunnyvale, CA,
Tricord showed how to achieve domain fault tolerance (data protection and
continuous availability in spite of disk and/or controller failures) through the use of
file-level RAID spanning multiple disk arrays. The demonstration highlighted
simplified storage management techniques available through the creation of a single
Two key technological innovations make this possible -- moving file intelligence to
the storage system controller and then distributing this intelligence across multiple
controllers. With this architecture, Tricord has taken a major step toward the
overall industry vision of data sharing among multiple servers and multiple storage
units.
''High availability is the driving force behind the massive IS investment in
reengineering the business network,'' says industry analyst Michael Peterson,
president of Strategic Research Corporation and the Storage Networking Industry
Association. ''Tricord's file system raises the bar on defining data availability. By
spanning RAID across multiple disk arrays, Tricord introduces the next level in
availability.''
Creating Smart, Shared Storage
While conventional disk controllers receive block requests from the host and store
block data on disk, Tricord's file-intelligent I/O takes an innovative approach to
data access -- ''intelligent file co-processing'' -- creating file-intelligent controllers
that receive file requests from the host, process file requests in the controller and
store file data on disk. File-intelligent I/O enhances performance by reducing the
processing burden on the host and traffic between the host and storage subsystem.
In turn, Tricord's distributed file system software -- embedded within controllers --
spreads data files and metadata across multiple disks and controllers, creating a
single, shared data pool. This centralized approach simplifies data management,
providing automatic RAID configuration, automatic data balancing across disks and
on-line expansion with a high level of scalability.
Creating Domain Fault Tolerance
Tricord's distributed file system software - embedded in disk controllers - provides
the building block for achieving domain fault tolerance. This file system software
implements RAID on file data (rather than block data) across the entire shared data
pool. This results in RAID across both disks and controllers, providing data
availability in spite of disk and/or controller failure.
By incorporating and extending I20 standards, Tricord provides an architecture that
is highly portable and hardware independent, capable of supporting host-based,
local area network (LAN), or storage area network (SAN) storage solutions. This
flexibility offers wide latitude for OEM productization and flexibility for IS
organizations' design of storage environments.
''Last year, Tricord saw an opportunity and set out on a path to create powerful
new solutions for the Windows NT storage market,'' says Tricord president John
Mitcham. ''The industry has evolved rapidly, fueled by increasing demand for
enterprise-capable storage solutions. The recent formation of the Storage
Networking Industry Association is evidence of the speed at which this market is
developing. The functionality Tricord is demonstrating will lead to scalable, fault
tolerant, easy to manage storage solutions with lower cost of ownership.''
Tricord Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRCD - news) develops and markets
file-intelligent I/O and distributed file system software for the Windows NT(R)
network-attached storage market that facilitates the transparent sharing of data and
enables IS organizations to centralize data storage functions and reduce the
associated costs. Tricord Systems is based in Plymouth, MN USA. For more
information, please call 1-800-TRICORD or 612/557- 9005, or visit us at
www.tricord.com.
''Safe-Harbor'' Statement Under Private Securities Act of 1995: The statements
contained herein that are not historical facts contain forward-looking information
with respect to plans, projections or future performance of the Company. There is
no guarantee or assurance that these plans, projections or future performance of the
Company as indicated will be achieved, and actual results could differ materially.
Factors, certain risks and uncertainties which could impact the Company's future
results include, without limitation, the ability of Tricord to complete development
and release commercially its distributed data access and management products, the
ability of Tricord to sign OEM partners, market acceptance of Tricord-enabled
products, the ability of the Company to maintain its cost structure in accordance
with its operating plan, and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Form
10K for fiscal 1996.
Joe |
