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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Moonray who wrote (16396)	6/24/1998 7:14:00 PM
From: E_K_S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

Hi Moonray - A good showing by 3Com. Now what we need is a contract announcement that AT&T plans to buy those cable modems and switches to begin their build out of the TCI/AT&T cable platform. Notice that ATHM moved up big time. 3COMS has all the necessary products ready now to ship (1) cable modems and (2) DSL & XDL modems. The next two years (with the right partner) will be boom years for the networking companies. Let's hope 3COMs can develop the right partnerships and business alliances. TCI, AT&T & ATHM are a good group to partner with. Do you think those 3COM stacker switches will work in their design? I was told that earlier design schemes by 3COM were too sophisticated for TCI. Perhaps it is just what the doctor ordered once those AT&T technicians review those specifications. EKS

To: Moonray who wrote (16396)	6/24/1998 7:51:00 PM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22053

More CC: 3Com <COMS.O> CEO sees Q4 as turning point Their comments came shortly after 3Com posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, excluding acquisition charges and gains, of $66 million, or 18 cents a share, slightly ahead of expectations. That compares with $42 million, or 12 cents, in the quarter ended in May 1997. The results pushed 3Com stock up in after-hours trading Wednesday to $29.50, a gain of $2.375 from the price at the close of the regular trading session. During the conference call, 3Com executives discussed the progress the company had made in resolving product distribution problems that led to a glut of inventory in recent quarters. "You can assume that this operational issue has been nailed," Benhamou said of 3Com's goals for managing product inventories in each of three broad categories -- including network adapter cards, modem and larger network systems. The number of days it took the company on average to book sales for products it shipped -- another key measure of inventory management -- dropped to 56 days from 64 days in the February quarter. Paisley said gross profit margins as a percentage of sales were 43.5 percent, "up sequentially, albeit slightly" from the third quarter. He said 3Com expected to show a larger increase in gross profit margin during the first quarter. He also spoke of the progress 3Com had made in cutting back expenses, especially in sales and marketing, saying the company has a way to go to achieve its long-term goals. Total expenses fell to $511 million from $552 million in the final quarter of the last fiscal year. As part of its effort to cut costs and complete the integration of last June's merger with U.S. Robotics, Paisley said the company had reduced its work force in the fourth quarter by 845 people, or 6 percent worldwide. Thanks to a successful hedging program, the company recorded a gain of $1 million for translating revenues denominated in foreign currencies back into U.S. dollars in the May quarter versus a loss of $8 million in the February quarter. ((-- Eric Auchard, New York newsdesk, 212-859-1840)) REUTERS Rtr 19:17 06-24-98 o~~~ O