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Technology Stocks : FORE Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AlienTech who wrote (10648)	3/1/1999 8:37:00 PM
From: Elmer Flugum	Respond to of 12559

You and me both...but I was thinking today that 3 Com is the only company in networking that could really use FORE Systems equipment to round out there stable of offerings.

To: AlienTech who wrote (10648)	3/1/1999 9:14:00 PM
From: John Ritter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12559

I just bought today and wonder what to expect if I hold for two years? So far I have lost money..

To: AlienTech who wrote (10648)	3/2/1999 8:29:00 AM
From: Edwarda	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12559

It is not strange at all. Keep in mind that on the conference call on Thursday, analysts were reminded that the quarter is really back-end loaded.

To: AlienTech who wrote (10648)	3/2/1999 1:15:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12559

Hi Alien, A friend of mine asked me to do a bit of digging into Fore's numbers, so I did a bit of the back of the envelope trick using my new 1GHz abacus to see what this company looks like. Here's a summary of what I found, and it doesn'tlook too good. I'm not in this one and after looking at the numbers I don't see any particular reason to get in: FORE's performance is much worse than the industry: FORE INDUSTRY REC. XOVER 5.18 7.19 INV. XOVER 3.57 10.34 ASSET XOVER 0.89 1.20 Proj. Growth 32% 29.4% (5 year) Gross margin is worse than the industry, and operating margin is about 50% of industry numbers. Return on Assets (ROA) is much worse than the industry, and revenues per employee are about 60% of industry standard. These numbers add up to a pretty gloomy picture concerning asset management -- particularly inventory ands receivables. It should be no mystery why FORE has such poor ROA numbers. Here is an analysis of cash flow with certain modifications to eliminate the effects of tax benefits due to issuance of options, and deferred revenues. CASH FLOW 9 Months 3 Months '98 '97 '98 '97 As reported $45,645 $31,567 $23,451 $19,087 Tax Benefit for <5,112> <1,376> <456> stock options Deferred Revenues <17,463> <6,862> <9,280> <3,860> -------- ------- ------- ------- Adj. Op Cash Flow $23,070 $23,329 $13,715 $15,227 These numbers paint a pretty dismal picture. I see little here to entice me as an investor.