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.

Technology Stocks : THREE FIVE SYSTEM (TFS) - up from here? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: raefon who wrote (2294)	8/24/1998 2:44:00 AM
From: Maurice S. Green	Respond to of 3247

Raefon---agree with your conclusions---what I can't understand is that EVERY LCD display I see advertised would be 1000% improved if it were LCiD so where are the ORDERS ???. With all the advantages including price that were touted it seems unbelievable that we are not inundated with new orders. Is it possible that we can not promise timely delivery because our production schedule is booked by MOTOROLA. There MUST be an answer--or is my question just as stupid as I feel these days. Can anyone help ?

To: raefon who wrote (2294)	8/24/1998 12:40:00 PM
From: Noblesse Oblige	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3247

Raefon notes: 2) Noblesse There is upside to your numbers. If Q4 is at a $30MM plus run rate, (okay or even close..) any new business the company is able to land would be incremental to your numbers. If the MOT phones do better than expected, there is upside. If we get another major cell phone order, there is upside. If any major Cell companies elect to integrate the Optiscape product early, there is upside(plus LCiD,LCaD, you get the point). Your comments with respect to dissemination of news and the stock buyback are right on. The company blew this one badly. I almost think maybe they don't really mind if some of the larger shareholders blow up here....call me a cynic. I sold only a very small amount of stock for three accounts who could take no more. I bought stock for myself and my wife. I plan to be here a long time. I will get paid. I will continue to pressure management as best as I know how. I have only just begun to fight... _________________________________________________________________ Raefon, when I look the word "tenacious" up in my dictionary, I see your smiling photograph. As for me, tenacious enough to have lived with this company for the last couple of years despite myriad disappointments and uncooperative management, I have added to my investing "education." What I have again learned (having made this mistake on a couple of previous occasions) is that the most important issue in an investment is management. Good management, active in the tending to shareholder interests, can overcome all but the most intransigent problems. In this case, I have regrettably concluded that management isn't particularly acute intellectually, and moreover, that it has repeatedly made errors that a novice MBA student wouldn't commit. In the last year, just note two very important issues: not selling additional equity or converts when the market was receptive and the money clearly needed (with the ancillary benefit of adding coverage...who wants to guess how long it will take to get another broker dealer to cover them analytically NOW??), and too heavy reliance on MOT, TFS's largest customer still, at a time when that company was in the process of its own re-organization. In the end, prices had to be cut anyway, and as for me, I would have preferred to do that on my own schedule, doing business with some of the other phone manufacturers (at least the additional customer list would have allowed MOT to draw the conclusion that its relative bargaining power was being steadily diminished), thus creating some additional insurance in the form of wider revenue flow. Management was asleep at the switch.....AGAIN! Just look at the current inventory figures. It is all you have to know. Frankly, I have made the decision to leave this party, so it isn't particularly necessary for me to be politically correct with my comments. I don't think these guys are very bright. I think another group of executives can handle the business better. At this point, I don't believe anything they say. After all, wasn't it just a month ago I asked them if they would hit their 25% revenue increase target? Did they disavow that number? Nope. Did they offer any reasons why it might be a stretch? Nope. Is there any real reason why I should assume that any forward looking statements are likely to be reflective of where the company will be in six months? Nope. Do they have any credibility? Nope. I have come to the conclusion that even if they begin to exhibit a better degree of meeting expectations, that it will still take the market a couple of years to get even moderately comfortable with them. So, my guess is that the company has created a sub-par evaluation model for a long time. Unfortunately, they don't really understand that they are the problem. Too much inbreeding, as I said in a former post. They need more qualified people on the Board. The last two additions were also insiders, and there is no one there to question senior management performance, which frankly has been dismal. (The LCD business and related activities has been growing 15% per year for the last five years. In that time, the company's sales haven't risen! In 1998, revenues will still be below those achieved several years ago. Where are the new customers? Where are the significant new applications?) I wish all the "thread" regulars good fortune, and I will be here from time to time to make observations, if only because some of my own clients read this "thread." But the bottom line is that management is very important. And, all of you know how I feel about that. Have a good day.