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

To: Qualopec who wrote (2293)	3/8/1998 10:07:00 PM
From: David	Respond to of 3506

Orbi questions, etc. I'm not a Trimble guru compared to others on this board, but I'll take a crack at these questions, and hope others will join in. (1) Orbi is not going up because of anything to do with its Magellan/Ashtech subsidiary. There has been no news there, and the merger is probably still being digested. I think it's up because of other Orbi areas, especially successfully satellite launches. Eventually, Orbi may see some GPS vertical integration advantages down the road from owning a messaging channel, but they presently don't seem to have a state of the art car navigation product out there. Charles Trimble indicated in the last conference call that he'd like a part of the Orbcomm system, if it were possible for TRMB to provide a reference design (as they are doing with MSFT's product). I'm sure Orbi is not making any money in the car navigation market right now, and they are behind Trimble, Motorola, several Japanese companies, some aftermarketers, even Rockwell -- they're about last in that market, as far as I can tell. (2) I'm not aware that Orbi's military contract is in TRMB's area. I don't think that it is. Trimble can't be considered shut out of the military area, anyway, as long as it has the CUGR contract and potential add-ons, and the smart bomb deal. (3) Earnings. If anyone could know best on earnings, he'd be rich and not posting on the Internet. Trimble has indicated it had to put some surveying sales of the new 4800 series into this quarter; on the other hand, it has chosen to take a few annual expenses this quarter as well, like its national meeting, so the margins may be down a bit. I look a little more at the underlying situation -- great alliance on car navigation, good surveying demand, promising orders in telecommunications, new "Cross-Check" product, new markets opening well in mining and agriculture, etc., and figure over the next year or two the earnings have to follow.