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

To: Pruguy who wrote (25916)	3/9/1999 12:24:00 AM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Novell Sees Steady Growth After Turnaround: Bloomberg Forum Bloomberg News March 8, 1999, 12:29 p.m. PT New York, March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Novell Inc., which lost leadership in network software to Microsoft Corp., ''has done the turnaround'' and now expects revenue growth from new products, said Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt. ''The products are shipping, the customers are happy and the model is working,'' he told the Bloomberg Forum. ''We anticipate growth, although we don't know just how much growth.'' For Provo, Utah-based Novell, revenue gains would be welcome after years of decline, then two years of standing still that coincide with the chairman's tenure. Schmidt, 43, an electrical engineer with degrees from Princeton University and the University of California at Berkeley, came to Novell in April 1997 after serving as chief technology officer of Sun Microsystems Inc., the No. 1 maker of workstations and a major seller of network computers. ''I'm very happy at Novell,'' he said. ''I've just begun. We're just beginning to focus on the Novell opportunity.'' Schmidt's predecessors -- Ray Noorda and Robert Frankenburg -- took Novell far afield from its original mission. ''We took Novell back to what it was five and 10 years before,'' Schmidt said, by restoring its focus to NetWare, one of the first products for network management, as well as software directories, ''which let you find all the tools on networks.'' The strategy has worked, said Schmidt, ''because most of the other categories were fleshed out, but one area was absolutely wide-open: networking and all the things that you can do on the net.'' Earnings Novell reported fiscal first-quarter net income more than doubled to $28.9 million, or 8 cents a share, from $14.1 million, or 4 cents, a year earlier. Revenue for the period ended Jan. 31 rose 13 percent to $286 million from $252 million. It's now forecast to earn 10 cents a share in the fiscal second quarter, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. -- double the year-earlier amount. The company will complete a 35 million-share buyback announced in June, Schmidt said, ''and may make a decision about what to do next.'' Novell has spent about $322 million to acquire 26 million shares. To expand revenue growth, Schmidt said Novell will keep working closely with the top makers of network equipment such as Cisco Systems Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc. and Northern Telecom Ltd.; computer makers like International Business Machines Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun, Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. Novell also has a strong tie to Oracle Corp., the biggest database company, which uses Novell directory services in its current software. Schmidt said Novell also works with Microsoft, which has sold its Windows NT for networks since 1993 and plans to introduce an upgrade called Windows 2000 later this year, to insure compatibility. While it's ''a very able competitor,'' Microsoft doesn't have Novell's experience in networking and directories, he said. ''We're focusing on the differentiation,'' Schmidt added.