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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spartex who wrote (24507)	11/24/1998 5:58:00 PM
From: go_bucks	Respond to of 42771

I apologize if this has been posted previously. Looking good tomorrow :-) NOVELL (NOVL) 17 3/8 -5/8. After the close Tuesday, networking software company Novell (NOVL) reported fiscal fourth quarter profits of $0.12 per share. That is a solid 3 cents better than the consensus forecasts, and up sharply from the year-ago $0.02 for this quarter. Revenue rose 10.5%. The numbers look pretty good. Novell has been in a steep slide for a few years, but may have turned the corner. Profits for the full fiscal year just ended were $0.29 per share, and the company was profitable every quarter, with higher profits each quarter sequentially. Revenue is growing again, and that was despite a 39% drop in the Asia region (although that is not a big part of the business). Revenue in the U.S. was up 23%. Revenue from "directory-enabled servers, consisting of NetWare 4 and NetWare 5, totaled $150 million, a 16 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 1997." The revenue outlook is also good. The press release notes that "The backlog of deferred revenue for future recognition reached $142 million at the end of the fourth quarter, up $67 million from the year-earlier quarter and up $39 million from the third quarter of 1998." The balance sheet also looks pretty good, as cash and short-term investments totalled over $1 billion and were nearly equal to the year earlier level. A major source of cash was from operations (profits), and the primary use was for share repurchases. The company has bought back 21 million shares under a board authorization to buy up to 35 million shares. NOVL is not the company it used to be, but then, neither is the price you have to pay for the stock. The shares went over 34 in 1993, and fell to 6 13/16 within the past 12 months. NOVL stock has now firmed steadily the past two month, and has formed a nice base. NOVL stock is not cheap, and even annualizing the current 12 cent profit this quarter still gives a price/earnings multiple of 36, but there is solid growth in the business right now, and momentum in the stock price.