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

To: jhild who wrote (14119)	3/23/1998 6:03:00 PM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

3Com Rises 5.8% on Optimism Over Inventory, Earnings Santa Clara, California, March 23 (Bloomberg) -- 3Com Corp. rose 5.8 percent amid optimism that it's improving its inventory control and will at least meet Wall Street estimates when it reports fiscal third-quarter earnings tomorrow. 3Com shares rose 1 15/16 to 35 1/8 in trading of 8.25 million, more than the three-month daily average. The maker of computer-networking equipment has been dogged by excess inventory of modems and similar products since it acquired US Robotics Corp. last June. Slower modem sales were caused in part by the lack of a technical standard for the fastest telephone-based modems, known as 56K modems. In December, 3Com reported a 91 percent drop in net income, surprising most analysts, as it struggled to reduce excess inventory of products sold to former US Robotics customers. At that time, the company said it was implementing procedures to get more timely, detailed sales information as products are shipped through distributors to customers. Today's trading suggests investors believe 3Com's effort is succeeding. ''They're getting better at forecasting inventory,'' said Paul Weinstein, an analyst at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Inc., who has rates 3Com ''buy.'' That means the company isn't likely to report a ''worst-case scenario'' tomorrow, he said. Weinstein and other analysts said 3Com's success in moving products through its distribution pipeline is more important than the actual earnings it reports tomorrow. Santa Clara, California-based 3Com is expected to earn 13 cents a diluted share in the third quarter, based on the average estimate of analysts surveyed by IBES International Inc. That's down from 47 cents a year ago. Estimates by individual analysts vary widely. Also today, 3Com said it began shipping a standards-based 56K modem product to corporate customers. Many businesses delayed buying 56K products last year because the lack of a standard meant modems equipped with 3Com's proprietary technology couldn't communicate at 56K speeds with modems using rival technology developed by Rockwell International Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. Sales of modems using Rockwell technology also slowed last year. SI slow down? For me it slowed beyond waaaaaaaait, then was unacessable. o~~~ O