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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Moonray who wrote (13983)	3/18/1998 11:52:00 PM
From: Jonathan C. Williams	Respond to of 22053

Found on CS thread: Upcoming Networking Earnings Calendar: Monday, March 30, Before the open Company Symbol Zacks Yr-ago CABLETRON SYS CS $0.06 $0.47 Tuesday, March 24, After the close Company Symbol Zacks Yr-ago 3COM CORP COMS $0.14 $0.47 Also, to follow up on my earlier post regarding 3Com's potential earnings issues, this was posted on Briefing on 3/4/98. I agree with your CSCO earnings concerns, but they have yet to disappoint. If COMS misses on the heels of BAY, it won't be pretty either.... 14:55 ET ****** 3COM CORP (COMS) 37 « +2 ¬. This networking company's shares started the day to the upside and have steadily moved higher, fueled by a DLJ upgrade from "market perform" to "buy" issued before the market's open. This afternoon, the stock also received a Cowen & Co upgrade, from "neutral" to "buy." However, let's focus on the DLJ move, because it is pretty peculiar. While many investors read about the upgrade this morning, or will see it in the paper tonight and tomorrow, the vast majority of them will not be aware that DLJ also thinks that COMS will miss its quarter. According to DLJ analyst Stephen Koffler, COMS is likely to miss the current First Call mean estimate of $0.14 a share for the 3rd qtr not by just one or two cents, but by eight to nine cents. That's right, the guy expects an earnings shortfall of 57%-64% and he's upgrading the stock. What is the rationale behind such a move. Well, according to Mr. Koffler, the weak numbers wouldn't really be a disappointment, as the shortfall is already priced into the stock. In his opinion the only thing that could trip up 3Com, other than earnings that are even more abysmal than his $0.05-$0.06 a share prediction, would be a disappointment in channel inventory. Other than that, the DLJ analyst thinks the fundamentals have bottomed and the stock looks fairly attractive from here, as investors start to value 3Com based on its strong new products and begin to forget about the problems that have plagued the company's modem business.