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Technology Stocks : Broadband Wireless Access [WCII, NXLK, WCOM, satellite..] -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: SteveG who wrote (254)5/27/1999 10:14:00 AM
From: SteveG  Respond to of 1860
 
WCII: More Data Revenue + More On-Net Traffic = New Price Objective
Bankers Trust Research/BT Alex. Brown Research
Bo Fifer, Jeffrey Hines
May 26, 1999

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WINSTAR COMMUNICATIONS INC. [WCII] "STRONG BUY"
More Data Revenue + More On-Net Traffic = New Price Objective
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Date: 05/26/1999 EPS 1998A 1999E 2000E
Price: 47.0 1Q (2.51) (3.72)A (3.48)
52-Wk Range: 56 - 10 2Q (2.77) (3.89) (3.33)
Ann Dividend: 0.0 3Q (2.83) (3.64) (2.96)
Ann Div Yld: 0.00% 4Q (3.80) (3.46) (2.66)
Mkt Cap (mm): 3,558 FY(Dec.) (11.89) (14.70) (12.42)
3-Yr Growth: FY P/EPS NM NM NM
CY EPS (11.89) (14.70) (12.42)
Est. Changed Yes CY P/EPS NM NM NM
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HIGHLIGHTS:
--WinStar announced a $40 million, 3-year extension to an existing
contract for backbone services with AboveNet Communications this morning
(27-May). We are raising our 12-month price objective to $67 from $64
based on the following incremental news:

--BACKBONE/DATA FORCE: While this morning's announcement adds relatively
little value in and of itself to the WinStar story (approximately $34
million of incremental EBITDA over a three year period beginning 2001),
we took two very important strategic points away from the announcement:

1) It's good to own your own long-haul network. Recall that WinStar
"bought" a long distance network from Williams in December 1998, which
decoupled WinStar's networks costs from network volume since the company no
longer had to lease lines. As a result, the margin on this AboveNet
contract (and all others that follow) is estimated to be approximately 85%.

2) The future is data. Or it could very well be, and our models are
admittedly conservative in our data forecasts. WinStar, in addition to its
high-margin, broadband local loop services, has now demonstrated its
capacity to provide fully integrated communications services. We have NOT
yet made systemic changes to our data revenue forecast for WinStar, rather
simply added incremental revenue for this contract.

--MORE ON-NET TRAFFIC: WinStar recently raised its internal long-term
projections for on-net traffic to 90% from 65-70%. We have always been
a bit more aggressive on this front, although we are raising our
estimates regarding the percent of lines on-net to 80% from about 75%.
The resulting improvement in margins leads us to our new price
objective.

--NET-NET: This morning's announcement casts a whole new light on the deal
WinStar struck with Williams for long-haul capacity, without which we
don't believe WinStar would ever have gone after this contract. Such
deals are "fair game" for WinStar now, and we would expect to see an
increasing number of similar deals moving forward. Our new 12-month
price objective, based on our 10-year DCF, is $67/share. Maintain
"Strong Buy" investment rating on the shares.