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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Avatara who wrote (10947)	3/2/1999 3:12:00 PM
From: Michael G. Potter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Buycomp is a very unreliable supplier. However, they sell at or near cost. They basically are a front-emd to Ingram Micro which is a high volume wholesaler. Buycomp makes their money (supposably, I'm not sure if they are profitable at all) on advertising on their website (low cost draws clicks) and their shipping is a little higher than average (although this may just be a pass through from Ingram). Since they do not hold any inventory themselves, their cash coversion is good (credit card companies pay them before they have to pay their suppliers). If you check their ratings at reselleratings.com , you will see that they have very low ratings. They charge you as soon as they accept your order, not just when they ship. In back-order situations, that means they'll have your money for a long time until they ship. I strongly recommend that you do not do business with them. Their prices are a good indication of the wholesale price that Best Buy, CompUSA, and others have to pay. That gives us a better idea of how much 3dfx will be paid for the cards. Michael ps - I've noted some speculation on Yahoo about margins. Remember, V2 was three chips at .35. V3 is one chip at .25. They may get less per chipset, but their costs will be lower as well. The V3 3000 should have decent margins and even the V3 2000 retail margins should be good. The OEM margins will be lower, but they may be providing the chip to MB makers as well (no card expense) and they also do not have to provide anywhere near the same level of packaging (lower costs). pps - H&Q is holding a technology conference. Was 3dfx there? They seemed to rise after the conference last Thursday, maybe they are marketing themselves better to institutions.