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Technology Stocks : COM21 (CMTO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: OverSold who wrote (385)	5/19/1999 4:54:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Respond to of 2347

May 18, 1999 Dow Jones Newswires DJ Com21 Dn 18%; Said Adopting Aggressive Price Strategy Dow Jones Newswires By Scott Eden NEW YORK -- Com21 Inc. (CMTO) shares tumbled 18% Tuesday after Credit Suisse First Boston said in a research note that price cuts adopted by the company to outflank competition could erode its profit margins in the second quarter. Credit Suisse analyst James Parmelee now forecasts second-quarter profit margins of 38% to 39%, narrower than his previous 39% view. He maintained his buy rating on the stock and left his estimate at a loss of 13 cents a share for the second quarter. A First Call Corp. survey of two analysts has a mean second-quarter target of an 11 cent loss. Adding to the drop in Com21 stock Tuesday, the company said its chief technical officer, Mark Laubach, resigned. Com21 said in a press release that John Pickens will replace Laubach, a "highly regarded" engineer, according to Joel Achramowicz, an analyst with Preferred Capital Markets. Achramowicz, however, played down the importance of the executive shakeup in Tuesday's decline, attributing the sell-off chiefly to Credit Suisse's profit-margin observations. The firm's report follows a Silicon Valley bus tour conducted by Credit Suisse for 75 of its institutional investor clients. They met with the management of high-tech companies throughout Northern California, including a Monday stop at Com21 headquarters in Milipitas, Calif. That meeting may not have gone as well as the company would have liked. In his Tuesday research missive, Parmelee wrote that the "investor audience interpreted (the) meeting as very negative; Could trigger an overreaction; We would be buyers on weakness." His prediction proved accurate. Com21 stock was off 18%, or 5 7/16, to 24 13/16, on Nasdaq volume of 2.4 million shares. Average daily volume is 510,000. Parmelee wasn't immediately available to comment beyond his research note. Company officials couldn't immediately be reached. Com21 sells modems and other broadband access equipment to cable communications providers. - Scott Eden; 201-938