To: sheila rothstein who wrote (53665 ) 4/25/1998 3:45:00 PM From: D.J.Smyth Respond to
will ask Sheila; was originally told iom would potentially drop to its "old support level" (which being interpreted was $12/$13 pre-split ($6 to $7 post split) as reported earlier) and was given no guidance from there. well, it's been there. their probable designed "cover price" was at this support level. it's obviously moved up from that support level. i went long with a few shares at $7 1/8; but have limited holdings now; concerned about temporary market weakness; the market being bi-polar in nature during a correction. i will ask for their input though. if they give any guidance re iom, i'll let you know. it's obvious that edwards was capable of running a company from $0 to $30 in a few seconds flat, but once at $30 (what a genius!), further guidance was needed. the new team for IOM is to be designed to build on a strong market position and make it stronger. IOM's weakness was their insistance on making earnings increase quarter over quarter. the better path, the path they're taking late now, is the path IOM should have taken last year. IOM should have tried to grow "really big really fast" in a short amount of time, i.e., even if it meant losing money to ship the maxiimum number of zips possible - as the money is not in the zips, but the disks. IOM was focusing on making money on both the zips and the disks at internal political insistance. now they are faced with what they should have done last year, and the year before - ship the maximum number of zips possible at a potential break-even or loss in order to make money in the long run on the disk sales. i understand there were production constraints early on; but where there's a will. i still look for IOM to consider acquistions of other companies to compliment their line, rather than be acquired.
