Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Microcap & Penny Stocks : TSIS: WHAT IS GOING ON? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. K who wrote (2749)	6/19/1998 2:49:00 AM
From: R. Gates	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6931

Mr. K, Welcome aboard TSIS! It sounds like you already have a good handle on this company. If you're in for the great ride I expect over the next few months and even years, you really owe it to yourself to call TSIS and ask to speak with Scott Cameron who heads up TSIS Investor Relations. He's very straight forward and can give you all the facts without the hype. I found that he usually undersells the company, and you usually find out later that he was sitting on some really good news. But that's just as it should be-- as TSIS is dealing with some very big companies and TSIS is learning to be careful about looking like a news machine trying to constantly pump the stock. Fortune 500 companies really frown on that sort of thing from smaller companies they're doing business with. TSIS has made it's big clients very happy so far, and now I hope the soon to be released positive earnings report (no matter how small, as long as they're over zero!) will start to make some shareholders happy! Best Regards, R. Gates

To: Mr. K who wrote (2749)	6/19/1998 6:26:00 AM
From: jmt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6931

Appreciate your comment's.. can you qualify your comment concerning the hardware for each contract providing a higher profit margin? This seems counter-intuitive. In addition, it is always difficult to separate hardware, software and other expenses from cost of sales on the income statement, so that visibility would be difficult. Is the R & D capitalized or expensed? Do they manufacture their own hardware or purchase it externally? There are many questions like these we can ask TSIS to drill down on their operating model once we have a base-line. Now where are those Financials so we can get busy????? jmt

To: Mr. K who wrote (2749)	6/19/1998 8:30:00 AM
From: Peter S. Maroulis	Respond to of 6931

Wellcome Aboard Mr. K, Look forward to your insight,and comments. I think you made a wise investment !

To: Mr. K who wrote (2749)	6/20/1998 12:50:00 PM
From: John S. Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6931

As was pointed out, you really should talk to the company to get the straight scoop, but here is some info to get you started. Each client contract is negotiated based upon what the client needs. Contracts are not boiler-plate, and this is a very service-oriented company. A typical contract involves a flat monthly fee ... could be viewed as modest enough for the large clients, but probably significant for TSIS ... plus a per-minute usage fee as the users (investors in the InvestorReach application) call in to use the system. The company has said many times that earnings from the InvestoReach product will be seasonal, tied to the end-of-fiscal-year reportings by TSIS's client corporations. I believe this seasonality function is why their expansion into other applications is a wise move. And it generally takes a while, after the announcement of a contract-signing, before a given corporate relationship begins to generate significant revenues. My personal estimate is that revenues will lag contract announcement by about a quarter. The product is "interactive voice response" with really no limit to the types of things which can be done. InvestorReach is but one of the products, albeit right now the highest in terms of revenues generated. Other imaginable applications are varied -- essentially anything in which a touch tone phone can be used as an input device to access a database (stored at TSIS) which produces an output which is delivered over a phone line (could be by FAX or voice or ???). I suspect that the GTE application is a new one and so there is no ready-made model for the earnings from that contract. The equipment is a slew of PC's and "modems" and T-1 lines. One of the features I like is that the equipment needs are scaleable. When they need a bit more space, they buy another computer ... or modem. Also, each application ... once written ... is customizable for any additional clients who wish a similar service. Thus the development costs (and risks, I might add) for each application are in the bank. Considerations such as these are probably what led the CEO, Don Cameron, to state at the February Annual Meeting that he could double revenues for 20% increase in expenses. While that sounds like a real nice margin, which should flow directly to the bottom line, a lot has happened since then and my sense is that he may have already doubled the revenues (and then some) so I wouldn't want to blindly assume that this necessarily applies to the next few doublings <grin>. Now, from a bookkeeping standpoint, I do not know whether they are amortizing development costs or expensing them. It's a good question. We'll have to look at the financials to see. I do believe that there is a significant accumulated tax loss carryforwards ... which should shelter future income ... but I don't recall how much. Hope this helps. JSb. <very long in TSIS>