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Technology Stocks : Jabil Circuit (JBL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: OldAIMGuy who wrote (4404)	7/31/1998 3:09:00 PM
From: Jeff Haas	Respond to of 6317

To all, something from the DOW Jones News Service. Don't know if everyone saw this from the other day. Circuit Board Maker Jabil Forecasts Strong Growth, Product Demand Dow Jones Online News, Wednesday, July 29, 1998 at 15:54 NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Jabil Circuit Inc., which makes circuit-board assemblies for computer makers and other such customers, Wednesday said it expects strong demand for the company's products in the coming fiscal year and predicted 30% sales growth for fiscal 1999. President Thomas Sansone told Federal Filings Newswires that telecommunications deregulation and the convergence of voice and data transmission will open telecom equipment manufacturing to more competition. Jabil hopes to add telecom customers in fiscal 1999, he said. Sansone said Jabil (JBL) doesn't plan any major acquisitions in the next several quarters, and that the recent purchase of some of the board assembly operations of Hewlett-Packard Corp. should close next week.Things have been looking up for Jabil of late. Indeed, some analysts expect that the current soft demand in Asia won't hurt the company's earnings much beyond the current fiscal year. Jabil has been among the fastest-growing and most consistently profitable contract manufacturers of circuit boards in the U.S., more than doubling per-share earnings for fiscal 1997. And now, regardless of Asia's short-term impact, some analysts project per-share earnings-growth rates of at least 30% annually over the next three to five years. Indeed, increasing numbers of electronics makers are doing what once was unthinkable -- they are paying the likes of Jabil to make the brains of their products rather than doing it in-house. For personal-computer makers, for example, it is often less expensive to turn over portions of their manufacturing to a Jabil than to continue performing those functions in-house. Furthermore, contractors can adjust their production volumes faster than large manufacturers when consumer demand is rising or falling. Jabil's revenue growth reflects this outsourcing trend. In the fiscal years 1993 to 1997, the ompany's sales tripled to $978.1 million. Of course, such flexibility can also work against Jabil when its customers cut orders. In January 1996, for instance, Jabil announced that a major customer was reducing its business, causing the company's shares to plunge 44% over the next few days in intraday trading. Though the stock later recovered, that incident, and the slump in Asia, underscore the risks inherent in technology investing, and Jabil's exposure to the health of its customers. Still, analysts reason that based on Jabil's financial strength and increasing visibility throughout the industry -- the company has established a reputation as a very cost efficient and reliable manufacturer -- it can achieve 30% earnings growth regardless of Asia's short-term impact. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

To: OldAIMGuy who wrote (4404)	8/1/1998 11:36:00 PM
From: gs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6317

>>There's always "start-up" delays for new plants that can be used as worry points as well. << HP plans are not new ones. This business will not stop even for one day.

To: OldAIMGuy who wrote (4404)	8/3/1998 1:52:00 AM
From: Asymmetric	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6317

Hi Tom, Jabil indeed announced construction of a plant in the Silicon Valley/San Jose area, their first in California, awhile back. If you haven't seen it already, Paul Klemeric posted some insightful comments on Jabil over on the ECM thread. It will be interesting to see how well Jabil stands it's ground over the next few months heading into October. Having already been "dressed down" since last Aug/Sept, Jabil should not tank as much as the overall market if that indeed is what is coming. So therefore most the risk in the stock is no longer company specific, but rather market related IMHO. Good luck. Peter.