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Non-Tech : Iomega Thread without Iomega -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FuzzFace who wrote (7825)	3/1/1999 10:09:00 AM
From: D.J.Smyth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10072

some interesting news on QNTM: 07:42 DJS Quantum To Issue Tracking Stock In Expansion Beyond Disk Drives 07:42 DJS Quantum To Issue Tracking Stock In Expansion Beyond Disk Drives NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Quantum Corp. announced plans Monday to replace its common stock with two classes of tracking stock, reflecting the company's determination to expand outside the volatile disk-drive industry. The announcement confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal. The Milpitas, Calif.-based company said the new shares would be linked to two businesses - the hard disks that have long been the company's mainstay, and a lucrative line of tape and disk systems that are higher up the data storage industry's value chain. Quantum's (QNTM) proposal, which must be approved by shareholders, is believed to be the first use of tracking stock by a Silicon Valley technology company. It reflects the desire of a growing number of corporations to mine the stock-market value of individual business segments. The company's automated tape system line is already popular. With the Internet boosting demand for storing multimedia data, Quantum executives said they plan to begin developing new appliance-like storage systems for low-end applications, and new hybrid products that combine both tape and disk technologies in a single box. But the stock-market appeal of those efforts could be overshadowed by disk drives, a cyclical commodity whipsawed by computer demand and price wars. A typical boom-and-bust cycle nearly tripled Quantum's share price between September and mid-January; since then, the stock has sunk by 45%, reducing its market capitalization from $4.9 billion to $2.9 billion. Assuming they approve the plan, Quantum's shareholders would receive one-half share of stock based on the hard disk business and one share of stock based on storage systems for each share of Quantum's existing stock. Issuing tracking stock isn't as drastic a step as spinning off businesses entirely. The company, for example, plans to keep both operations under a single board of directors. "It's the perfect tool," said Michael Brown, Quantum's chairman and chief executive officer. "It recognizes that financial markets value different businesses differently." One wild card is a Clinton administration proposal that would treat grants of tracking stock as taxable events to shareholders. "If that bill were to be enacted we would have to reconsider our plans," said Rick Clemmer, Quantum's chief financial officer. Quantum's new market focus will face plenty of competition, analysts said, including International Business Machines Corp. and EMC Corp. at the high end, plus some new startups and products sold by big PC makers at the low end. Jim Porter, an industry analyst with the market research firm Disk/Trend Inc. in Los Altos, Calif., said some companies that buy Quantum's disk drives could hold up purchases if Quantum begins competing too aggressively with them in data-storage systems. "It remains to be seen if they will be sufficiently annoyed to get nasty about it," he said. Copyright (c) 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 03/01 7:42a CST

To: FuzzFace who wrote (7825)	3/1/1999 1:06:00 PM
From: Ken Pomaranski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10072

<< Ken, who do you think you're fooling? You wouldn't buy 1000 shares of IOM if they were a buck apiece. >> Oh yes I would! I'm out to make a buck too, you know! Every stock has a price where it can be considered cheap. Money and emotions don't mix too well... kp PS: Actually, I would buy it for 4 or less given the current fundamentals. If they changed for the worse, who knows? Remember, Syquest was 'cheap' at 1, but I wouldn't have touched with a 1000 foot pole. There is no doubt in my mind that Iomega 'could' be the next Syquest if PC prices keep falling, but this is rather unlikely at the present time. But I would say it's as likely as ZIP replacing the floppy AND Iomega making money while doing it. (No doubt they would replace the floppy if they sold them to OEMs for $18 a piece...)