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

To: Richard Jurek who wrote (3500)	4/12/1998 11:28:00 AM
From: Richard Jurek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4148

A MUST read: ABN/AMRO's April 6th outlook for this quarter's results! Talk about Bullish; read the original at platinum.com Highlights are as follows: "Reiterating our BUY recommendation on PLATINUM. We view recent weakness in the stock as a buying opportunity. ÿ We would attribute this weakness to disappointing March quarters at Security Dynamics and Viasoft, which operate in some of the same spaces as PLATINUM. We think these problems are company-specific, and should not spill over into PLAT. ÿ While management could not comment on Q1, our recent discussions with the company was very positive, and enhanced our confidence in Q1. We think that Q1 results could beat our estimate, and come in at the high end of consensus. ÿ We are pleased with the quality of recent acquisitions, and do not believe that the company is on a buying binge. However, we also think that management is attuned to investor concerns, and may take a break from acquisitions. ÿ Reiterating our BUY recommendation on PLATINUM We are strongly reiterating our BUY recommendation on PLATINUM technology, and view recent weakness in the stock as a buying opportunity. We believe that PLATINUM's recent weakness can be attributed to high-profile earnings disappointments at two software vendors that operate in some of the same spaces as PLATINUM...Last week, Security Dynamics (OTC:SDTI), a computer security vendor, and Viasoft (OTC:VIAS), a Year 2000 vendor both provided downward guidance for their March quarters. We believe that these two earnings disappointments were primarily responsible for the weakness at PLATINUM. While PLATINUM is involved in both security software business and Year 2000 business, we do not think that PLATINUM is vulnerable to the same issues as VIAS and SDTI...We remain confident in Q1, and think that the company could beat our estimate. However, after discussions with management, our confidence in PLATINUM's March quarter results (to be announced on April 16) has been bolstered. In fact, we believe that March quarter results could come in above break-even, beating our estimate of a loss of $0.02. (Note that the First Call range is a $0.03 profit to a $0.02 loss, with consensus at a $0.01 profit). While management could not comment on the March quarter when we spoke with them early Monday, we would categorize our discussion as very positive. The company remains confident with regard to its order pipeline, and we got the distinct impression that large software license orders built throughout the quarter...We believe that PLAT's order pipeline is strong, and see no specific weaknesses...PLATINUM is now in its quiet period pending the announcement of March quarter results, but we believe that the company entered the final two weeks of the quarter with a strong business pipeline, and that the pipeline remains strong. By all indications, we believe that that business was generally strong, and saw no indication of specific weakness in the Year 2000 or security businesses. In early-to-mid March, the company appeared confident in meeting its target of $60 million in Year 2000 business in FY1998 (up from $40 million in FY1997), and we believe that much of that business had already been locked in (i.e. consulting contracts). However, we would also note that even if there was some weakness in either Y2K or security, PLATINUM's wide, balanced range of product lines could serve to minimize the impact of weakness in any one product line. " Let's see if they are right.... R/