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

To: chris john who wrote (1223)	4/13/1998 8:29:00 PM
From: CatLady	Respond to of 1521

Chris, IMHO, you are asking the wrong questions. Rather than ask why can't Panda turn around, ask for evidence that such a turnaround will occur. And before you invest, keep in mind the discount convertible financing , which will continue to depress the stock price. PNDA's financial status makes any recovery a long shot at best, regardless of quality of leadership.

To: chris john who wrote (1223)	4/13/1998 11:12:00 PM
From: Rubber Man	Respond to of 1521

Chris John: It seems to me that way back when they went public, their technology was viewed as sound and promising (hence the premium valuation they received) however their business model sucked. (hence why they've come off a high of around $50 to $4-5). Why didn't anybody buy them after they tanked for their technology? Because PNDA doesn't necessary own their technology- Mr Crane does. (Btw, a lot of story stocks have premium valuations and most come down as fast as they go up. As yourself how long has it been since PNDA made a new high or approached their 52 week high..) how did they ever get up to $50???? Very easily, but did it stay at $50 for a significantly enough time for investors to say that $50 is the norm rather than a spike? The market is efficient and unless investors were completely duped how did they justify that high a valuation? But is the market always efficient? No, though some may argue it is. There's some truths to the market being efficient in the long run. And in this case, the long run shows PNDA declining to more stable levels. If investors were duped, then how come no class action lawsuits were filed? Because the company can easily say they're not aware of anything that may affect the stock as such. As well, perhaps the stock only aversely affected small-time investors who cannot afford to initiate such actions (especially after being told by their lawyers ;). what have they been spending their R&D dollars on? They've been er.. perfecting their never-obsolete technology. There are millions of ways to hide wastes in a company, R&D being one of the top ones. Perhaps you should contact Investors Relations to see where they spend the investors' hard earned money. Has VSPA/Compass technology been improved at all in the past year or two? I'm sure the CNN broadcast pointed out that you need not worry about PNDA's technology being obsolete ever. What makes him a bad leader? It sure isn't the amount that he's getting paid. I realize that a lot of investors must of lost a lot of money when the price collapsed from $50, and thus they point the finger at the CEO That's who most fingerpoints at these days- the CEO being one of the first people to be fired because if he can't manage the company effectively, he depreciates shareholder value. Is it unreasonable to assume that this might be the case here with Panda?) 3 years has elapsed. VSPA et al has not otherwise changed significantly (if it has you can bet we wouldn't hear the end of it). How long is too long? High-tech companies measures performance by days and weeks, should we not expect PNDA to behave the same? As well, launching an infomercial isn't exactly what Dell, Gateway, etc has done to build their businesses. You should ask just how much resource is PNDA dedicating to build awareness and sales of their technology, compare that to other startups. Trivia: what was the highest performing processor way back when PNDA went public? I'll be the first person to admit that RockCity looks like a pile of "crap". It doesn't. It looks futuristic- just like the comic books I used to have. In fact, I think it'll go very well together with my XT clone. I'll reserve judgement until I see some benchmark score for the version of RockCity with VSPA and Compass. Be prepared to wait for a long time. As you probably have inferred from most of what I've written before, I think their new strategy is to focus on VSPA and Compass. They have, hence the gradual phasing out of Archistrat and the launch of the RockCity computer into the below-$1000 bandwagon, which of course will showcase VSPA and Compass technology at some point in time. sigh Perhaps I should just put up and buy a RockCity computer with my short profit just to say I know firsthand how bad a company can go off into another tangent.

To: chris john who wrote (1223)	4/14/1998 9:35:00 AM
From: Mitchell Ryan	Respond to of 1521

<<a) It seems to me that way back when they went public, their technology was viewed as sound and promising (hence the premium valuation they received) however their business model sucked. (hence why they've come off a high of around $50 to $4-5). Why didn't anybody buy them after they tanked for their technology? >> It wasn't just the business model that was flawed. The version of Compass connector used in the Archistrat computers was of very poor quality, and the overall reliability of the Archistrat systems was poor as a result. In effect, this proved that the Compass connector was not feasible for use in computer systems. To make matters worse, some of the Archistrat systems were sold to investors. I think several of them started shorting Panda thereafter. <<b) Since they tanked after approaching the market with a flawed strategy (ie Archistat instead of focusing on VSPA/Compass), what have they been spending their R&D dollars on? Has VSPA/Compass technology been improved at all in the past year or two?>> Whether Panda has made significant improvements to address the quality issues remains to be seen. Note that many of the quality problems were design defects and not process related problems. After the mass exodus of employees (from 160 to 50), it is doubtful that Panda was able to attract the talent necessary for a turnaround. I honestly can't say what Panda has been spending their R&D dollars on. It seems as though we keep seeing press releases about all of this capacity for Compass and VSPA, and perhaps, that has been the focus. <<c) There seems to be a lot of negative references to Stafford Crane and his ability to function as a CEO. Without getting personal and nasty, can anyone qualify these statements from personal experiences? What makes him a bad leader? >> I'll use one of the best summarizations I've heard to date. I'll borrow your words: "... a CEO who's moody, tempermental, with no leadership skills who's egotistical and driving his company into the ground..." Do these sound like the qualities of a good leader? Ryan