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Gold/Mining/Energy : Infowave Wireless Messaging IW:TSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AlphaCat who wrote (675)	5/22/1999 12:56:00 PM
From: Ellen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1690

Did you guys see this? From Raging Bull - By: ProfitQuest Reply To: None Tuesday, 18 May 1999 at 8:31 AM EDT Post # of 235 Here is the text of the article, for those of you who don't have access to the post: High-powered alliances boost Infowave Drew Hasselback Financial Post VANCOUVER - Infowave Wireless Messaging Inc. of Burnaby, B.C., is surfing the iMac wave. The company makes software that allows Mac users to connect their computers to non-Apple printers. Apple Computer Inc.'s iMac is now one of the most popular personal home computers on the market. According to Apple, 13% of the 800,000 units sold between August, 1998, and January, 1999, were bought by converts from Windows machines. All these new Apple customers need Infowave's software to connect their funky new iMacs to their clunky old IBM-compatible printers. Infowave stock (iwm/vse) has a 52-week trading range of $5.20 to 82¢. The shares shot to $4.80 from less than $2 on April 29 on news of strong financial results. After losing a little altitude, the shares have begun climbing again, closing yesterday up 30¢ at $4.65. The company's first-quarter revenue rose 53% to $2.6-million, from $1.7-million in the same period last year. Its first-quarter loss narrowed to $620,063 (4¢ a share) from $950,046 (8¢). So Infowave has doubled its share price on the back of the iMac, but can it sustain its new market valuation? That depends on how much value investors are willing to assign to its latest foray. The printing software makes up what the company calls its imaging division. Infowave also has a wireless division which is trying to develop business in the experimental new world of wireless data communications. The idea is this: Business people who spend a lot of their time working from their laptop computers on the road need to be able to exchange data with their employers' computers back at the office. This usually means tracking down a land-based telephone line and swapping data by way of modem. Wireless communications would make laptop and palmtop computers connect with mainframe computers without the hassle of tracking down a land-based phone lines. "Simply put, we take the pain away and make it easy to deploy a wireless computing network," says Todd Carter, Infowave chief financial officer. This idea isn't new. Police officers use wireless computing in their cruisers to run checks on licence plates. Taxi drivers and couriers use it to swap simple text messages. But the technology hasn't really taken off for business users. Infowave would like to see that change and has teamed up with some high-powered partners to help push wireless computing into the mainstream. Infowave recently announced a marketing deal with Wireless Knowledge LLC, a joint venture put together by Microsoft Corp. and Qualicomm Inc. Wireless Knowledge offers a wireless data access service called Revolv. This is the service that would connect mobile computer users with the main computer back at the office. Infowave fits neatly into the picture because it has developed software that allows computer users to tap into the wireless network using the popular computer programs Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook. The new deal is in its early stages. Infowave still has some work to do on its software to make it fit with Revolv. The software probably would not be available to clients for another year, the company says. Meanwhile, Infowave hopes to raise $9.1-million through the sale of special warrants. The money would be used to finance the wireless business. It would be some time before the deal with Wireless Knowledge results in big revenue for the company. Until then, the firm is relying on the imaging division and its spin-off success from the iMac phenomenon to pull in revenue. Until the company realizes something from Revolv, the question arises whether Infowave's stock price is justified by its current financial position. Julian Marlowe, an analyst at Golden Capital Securities Ltd. in Vancouver, has published a brief report downgrading the company's stock to "hold" as the shares have exceeded his target price. His financial projections for the company remain unchanged. Mr. Marlowe expects the company to either break even or report a small loss in the second quarter. Mark Pavan, an analyst at Yorkton Securities Inc., also recently downgraded the stock from "speculative buy" to "hold," although he says he still likes the company. He has raised his 12- to 18-month target price to $5 from $2.50. "They work their tails off," Mr. Pavan told StockHouse.com. "It's just that the stock has tripled, so we went to a 'hold.' " Paul Bradley, an analyst at Canaccord Capital Corp. in Toronto, has only recently begun coverage of Infowave and has not yet developed financial models. He says the wireless computer market has great potential, although the technology has already been around for a few years and has never really caught on. Whatever the potential, Mr. Bradley says the wireless business is still a very small part of the company's overall sales picture. "It may be on a much higher trajectory than the rest of it, but you'll only see that over the next couple of quarters," he says. INFOWAVE WIRELESS MESSAGING INC.: CEO: Jim McIntosh Ticker: IWM Listed: Vancouver Stock Exchange Head office: 188, 4664 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby, British Columbia V5C 6B7 Telephone: (604) 473-3600 INCOME STATEMENT: 12.31.98 12.31.97 12.31.96 Operating revenue $000s 14,689 5,391 8,646 Net income $000s (1,846) (2,567) (287) Earnings per share $ (0.14) (0.29) (0.05) Cash flow operations $000s (4,918) (1,143) (979) Cash flow operations per share $ (0.323) (0.098) (0.176) P/E ratio: n.m. Dividend yield: n.a. (at 5/14/99) RATIOS: 12.98 12.97 12.96 Net profit margin (12.57) (47.62) (3.32) Return on equity (43.98) (196.18) n.a. Return on assets (29.02) (89.98) n.a. Current ratio 2.49 2.13 1.22