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Strategies & Market Trends : The Round Table: A work by the squares of the SNDK thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Bill Zeman who wrote (49)3/21/1999 7:43:00 AM
From: Ausdauer  Respond to of 194
 
Bill and other IDTC followers,

The competitors listed in the recent Netscape announcement include VOCLS (VocalTec), RSLC (RSL Communications), INTL (Inter-TEK) and NSPK (NetSpeak).

Of these, VOCLS and NSPK are bleeding red ink. RSLC is presumably very small and only recently listed on NASDAQ, so no research data was available. Inter-TEL seems to be doing reasonably well, although earnings are on a plateau and the stock was recently downgraded. It trades at just over 50% of its 52 week high.

I would agree that IDTC seems to be the most attractive of the bunch. I still do not own, but my interest has certainly been heightened by the posts here. I don't know whether or not I believe in routine voice transmission over the Internet, so I would like to download Net2Phone and see what it is all about.

I think that the Netscape announcement is huge and if the service is included in AOL it would seem that you have a winner here.

Ausdauer



To: Bill Zeman who wrote (49)3/22/1999 5:35:00 AM
From: Ausdauer  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 194
 
Bill,

I downloaded Net2Phone yesterday. It was a 5 or 6 minute download.
I had already upgraded my sound card two years ago, so I have full
duplex capability. The web site wouldn't take my credit card
information, so I called the 90 number and spoke with a very friendly
and knowledgeable young man who started my account.

The sound quality is fair to good. There is an annoying brief
silence every few seconds which tends to break up the conversation. I
suspect the person receiving the call has the same problem. I will
try an international call today, if possible.

I was still hoping you could comment on depreciation and amortization
as it relates to infrastructure expansion. You notice how the company
lists EBITDA after the calculation of net income. When will D and A
adjustments go away, or will they continue at the same pace. Do you
have a feel for this?

IDT CORPORATION
SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA
SIX MONTHS ENDED
01-31-99 01-31-98
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS DATA
REVENUES 294,018,907 125,703,766
COST OF SALES 227,665,779 92,309,811
SG&A 40,806,086 23,706,415
MINORITY INTEREST 2,185,159 0
DEPRECIATION & AMORTIZATION 11,735,189 3,787,573
----------- -----------
TOTAL EXPENSES 282,392,213 119,803,799
INCOME (LOSS) FROM
OPERATIONS 11,626,694 5,899,967
OTHER (NET) 143,501 (783,393)
----------- -----------
NET INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE
INCOME TAXES 11,770,195 5,116,574
INCOME TAXES 4,825,780 0
=========== ===========
NET INCOME 6,944,415 5,116,574
EBITDA 25,547,042 9,687,540

Ausdauer



To: Bill Zeman who wrote (49)4/26/1999 8:45:00 AM
From: Ausdauer  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 194
 
Bill,

I posted about 3 weeks ago on the IDTC thread about concerns surrounding voice quality, echos, transmission delay,... on Net-2-Phone. The stock more than doubled in the two days that followed. Take any of my posts with a grain of salt.

The brief NY Times article I read called Net-2-Phone and similar services "novelty" items, if I recall correctly. I understand they have an extensive international calling network/infrastructure and a viable VoIP software application, but bandwith issues prevail. Also, I get 5 cents per minute on domestic long distance on weekends, so the cost savings is not as important to me as transmission quality.

IDTC has other core businesses that make it a more attractive play than a pure Internet telephony company. You have done well with you investment and diversified the risk of playing an internut stock by being understanding the business plan and market potential of the Net-2-Phone IPO.

I took a small position on your recommendation (a while ago) after some d.d. I guess if I had a more favorable Net-2-Phone experience I may have bet the farm.

How do you see it from here forward.

Ausdauer