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Technology Stocks : Nortel Networks (NT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John M. Gelnieau who wrote (1193)	10/5/1998 7:14:00 PM
From: Paul Fine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14638

Just finished watching Roth on CNBC. Zero enthusiasm, zero help. He said they "underestimated the sensitivity of analysts to the rev warning for 3rd qtr". When asked what he could do to reassure current shareholders and "reticent" potential new shareholders about NT being a good investment now, he said it would take"demonstrated performance", and since they would not be reporting results for this qtr until "much later" in Oct, he couldn't really provide any more info on this qtr. So, he is basically going to let the stock twist in the wind until earnings are reported in about 3 wks. Said nothing about 4th qtr or 1999, although he did respond that he didn't think the current economic crisis would slow down infrastructure upgrades around the world. Also, at the start he was asked about the Fed suit against Cisco re collusion with LU and NT. He said that Cisco was a competitor and they go head to head. What he did NOT say, was what was in a previous post, and that is the FTC specifically said NT was NOT a "target" of the investigation. That little bit of positive news is important and should have been mentioned. In net, don't look for this little speech to do anything to help the stock tomorrow, or any other time for that matter. He didn't even reaffirm that the problem is limited to revs this qtr; nothing about earnings or revs next qtr. And re the "quiet period" point, I have been told that historically, NT has used a "two weeks before report" guideline for that; not the end of qtr point that Bay and some others use. So, it was a copout. The interviewers gave him every opportunity to expand his answers and make his case. He did nothing. I saw it as a lost opportunity; other opinions? Paul

To: John M. Gelnieau who wrote (1193)	10/6/1998 4:15:00 PM
From: larry pollock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14638

I viewed Roth's interview as well. His position that NT is in a quiet period and, therefore, he could not say too much represents a conflict with the blundered analyst meeting. During last week's analyst meeting a great deal was said, as evidenced by all of the news articles. Now, several days later, he claims its a quiet period and can't say anything. He should have thought about that last week. If an ordinary peon level person had blundered to the magnitude of the CFO, the person would have been fired. A $9 billion market cap blunder, there should be some type of visible accountability. Roth's statements during the interview represented meaningless gestures. House's predecessor Ludwick at Bay Networks also talked about growth potential and positioning the company for the future. Those statements were followed by about two years of poor operating performance and a dismal stock price. If you screw up the short-term, the promises for the future are that much more difficult to realize.