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Technology Stocks : The Panda Project (PNDA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: par shooter who wrote (1032)	3/27/1998 11:58:00 AM
From: Mike Farmwald	Respond to of 1521

par shooter, I hope the initial response of the group hasn't scared you off. If you've read past postings, the group has constantly been "invaded" by new people who try to hype Panda, usually very lamely. We tend to be hard on new posters for that reason. Up to a limit, I like to hear what the hypsters have to say, since it gives insight into what Panda and IIRG are telling other (non-net) investors, but it usually gets old very quickly. The hypters usually have no real information in their profile (click on a name, it will take you to the profile), and come and go quickly. Many times they only sign up to post Panda related material. Take a look at JAGUAR, he signed on Mar 10, 1998, and every post has been on Panda. You initially fit the profile (new and all of your posts were on Panda) so you got jumped on. (By the way, it's fairly easy to add information to your profile.) I hope I've been clear on what I think the future of Compass and VSPA are (and this is based on a lot of research). Compass is never going to make it, it's not really better than alternatives (this according to many people, but in particular people at AMP - a nominal licensee - feel they have much better connectors.) After 2+ years of "shipping" there still is no volume. Notice the clever wording of the recent press release - LG Cable has a production capacity of 250K units/months, which is completely different than that they are shipping 250K units. VSPA is somewhat interesting as a low-cost alternative to BGA. Unfortunately, BGA has a long head-start, and is already fairly far down the cost/learning curve. This makes it hard for VSPA to gain customers, both because the advantages are not that significant, and the risks are large in being the first customer - especially given Panda's history. Finally, the VSPA has to be low cost to make any sense, and thus the profits will never be that great even if VSPA did take off. If Panda was concentrating on VSPA it might have a chance, but Rock City, Archistrat and Compass eat so much cash that VSPA will never have a chance. Of course the problem is VSPA can't justify a big stock valuation, so Stanford continues to pursue the "big ideas". Mike

To: par shooter who wrote (1032)	3/27/1998 12:44:00 PM
From: Mitchell Ryan	Respond to of 1521

<<If this were a normal deal, PNDA would have gone under long ago.. but for some reason... they keep getting money and finding a way to hang on. This is the puzzle. Why is PNDA still kicking? >> They keep getting money from new investors who aren't willing to assume much risk. The discounted convertibles have virtually no risk, but potential for great reward. It has nothing to do with the products. The dilution is damaging to the shareholders, including Helix, but at this time, there may be no other option. Besides, Helix has a long standing member on the board (James Wooder). As such, he hasn't done such a good job at protecting his company's interests, and Crane is not solely on the hook to save Helix's investment. Unfortunately, since you left Panda in Nov. 1995, you weren't exposed firsthand to the series of disasters that followed the initial launch of the Archistrat. Most were the result of gross mismanagement by Crane. If you had, you would never consider a long position on this stock regardless of how seductive the pitch. Ryan