To: DavidG who wrote (31319 ) 3/26/1998 10:05:00 PM From: Thomas G. Busillo Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 53903
David, as far as the "everyone knows that already" argument goes, couldn't you turn it on its head and say that the fact that MU is trading at anywhere from roughly 29 times est. FY'99 earnings of .99 (from Zack's on Yahoo, dated 3/25/98) to 39 times est. FY'99 earnings of .73 (from First Call on a Baseline report dated 3/20/98) AND the fact that management was content to hit shareholders over the head with 3 consecutive negative earnings surprises (which also begs the question of a) the quality of some of the analysts covering the company and b) the duties a management team has to its shareholders when it's painfully obvious that the Q is going to fall short) plus the general industry environment, maybe means that the good stuff is priced in there too much, or at the very least, far too early given some of the uncertainties? Looking at that Baseline report, they're not expected to show any year over year growth or profit until the Feb. 1999 Q. That's, what, 50 weeks from now? That's a generous multiple to begin with, but also throw in the fact that you have 6 guys w/ strong buys and 3 w/ moderate buys contributing to that multiple. So, I'd argue that far from everyone knowing the bad stuff and failing to discount the good stuff, those 9 individuals, who make up about 1/2 the forward estimates have already made everyone fully aware of the fact that they know the good stuff. I mean, it's not like these firms would change their numbers without having their media relations people notify the press, right? <g> Clearly, A) the fact that the FY'98 estimate has dropped noticeably from last Q while... B) simultaneously we've been privileged to hear of upgrades or "initiations" from 1. Goldman, 2. Paine Webber, 3. CS First Boston, 4. Montgomery, 5. Robbie Stephens, 6. D.A. Davidson, and 7. Jensen Securities can't allow any hard conclusions to be drawn; however, wasn't the First Call estimate in late January at one point -.02/sh for FY'98? And yet, now the First Call consensus is -.62/.sh on that 3/20/98 Baseline report (and FWIW, Zacks has -.57/sh as of 3/25/98)? That might lead one to ask in curious bemusement: Are we to assume that Goldman, Monty, CS First Boston, Paine Webber, Robbie Stephens, et. al. all have exactly the same FY'98 and FY'99 numbers today as they did at the time of each of their respective calls (i.e. "the future" is no less positive today)? I'd ask each of them myself, but something tells me I'd have trouble <g> Good trading, Tom