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Technology Stocks : 3Com Corporation (COMS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Vincent S. who wrote (17920)	6/22/1998 6:53:00 PM
From: joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

Vincent S. Thanks. If indeed you are right, and Baseline was given the correct report date by COMS on June 17th then Briefing.com has screwed up big time. If so, we should expect a major detraction on their part! I thought it was odd that COMS reported on a Monday. In the past, it's always been on a tues, wed., or thurs. To Review, Here's what Briefing.Com said (italics are mine) ------------------------------------------------------------ COM CORP (COMS) 25 5/8 -1 1/16. Is it just us, or should analysts also be concerned that 3Com has been reluctant to issue an official date for its Q4 earnings release? Although our Tech Earnings Calendar indicates that the networking products company is scheduled to report quarterly results after the close of trading today, we are by no means certain that we will hear anything out of COMS this afternoon. The process of updating the Tech Earnings Calendar entails calling each of the companies listed to verify the date and time of day of their earnings release. However, COMS is refusing to divulge that information to us this quarter. What's more, the one analyst whom we could find that claimed to know the day of the earnings report is now backing away from that date. Looks to me like they never knew anything and we're relying on what one non-company official said, who it turns out didn't have correct info either. They should have just said, "they didn't have a date" period. Then they go on to imply that 3Com is repeating their mistakes from last quarter. And that some of the analysts have gone made (they may be right<gg>, but out of context) This is the second consecutive quarter that the company has been less-than-forthcoming about its quarter. Going into 3Com's Q3 report, analysts suddenly began to sharply reduce estimates, although the company hadn't officially released an earnings warning. Apparently, 3Com guided estimates lower behind closed doors, in the process failing to disseminate the information to individual investors. So, while on March 4 one may have seen a DLJ upgrade of COMS from "market perform" to "buy," that person may not have been aware that at the same time DLJ was slashing estimates. That's right, only three weeks before the company was due to report Q3 results, DLJ was upgrading the stock, yet lowering estimates for the quarter by more than 50%. (By the way, the company's Q3 earnings were actually much worse than anyone expected, yet one firm had the temerity to upgrade the stock that day, while also cutting estimates, citing better-than-expected revenues. Since then, the stock has tumbled 30%). When it comes to COMS, it would seem that the analyst community has simply gone mad and is taking the individuals who follow their investment advice right down the drain with them.