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Biotech / Medical : Summit Technology (BEAM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Liu who wrote (1004)	7/20/1998 5:23:00 PM
From: ajs	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1386

Beam Investor Relations - I spoke w/ I/R today also. I felt somewhat reassured, but took it all with a grain of salt. I think we may still get a bounce once earnings are released. The following is my summary from memory. - Summit admits to losing 9 machines to visx's aggressive trade in policies in the second quarter, but Summit is in the process of closing deals with 20 of visx's existing accounts, to mothball 20 of their older machines and replace them with the Apex Plus Systems, if true, this will be very encouraging and this will be probably be discussed during the conference call. I guess it's all a matter of perspective, and which IR department you talk to. - Summit has submitted a package last week to the FDA for approval for farsightedness & it can take 3-6 months for them to review. This will put it back on par w/ visx (from an approval/versatility standpoint). - They will be scheduling a conference call with analysts sometime after earnings are announced 7/29 after the market and it will be available for playback. - They are comfortable with meeting earnings of .03 per share. (Given the fact that Summit still has unresolved shareholder lawsuit, a statement from their CEO stating that they are "comfortable" with analyst's projections of .03 per share, seems especially bullish to me. Some on this board are even expecting a much higher number) - Summit still has a base of roughly 200 installed lasers in the U.S. and 200 overseas. That keeps it on par if not exceeding the number of machine visx currently has in the field. ( Admittedly, Visx is doing the bulk of the procedures at this time) - They are committed to "meaning more to their customers" and claim to be working very hard to polish their tarnished reputation. (Basically all of the crap that went on 2 years ago is long gone, they appear to be customer focused and have gotten high marks from their customers. Several detractors on this board constantly bring these issues up, but they will be less and less of a factor), if Beam can maintain it's 30% for now it will be just fine until this procedure takes off. - By the way, that is the main point, LVC really does work very well and a lot a satisfied customers are turning into real live walking, talking endorsements for the procedure. - Summit will let the market determine what they will charge per eye, (Ie: They may be able to undercut visx, given their smaller market cap and current position in the industry) - All lawsuits have been settled that I am aware of, except for the shareholder lawsuit.