To: orkrious who wrote (8827 ) 6/4/1999 3:34:00 AM From: John Romeo Respond to of 30916
I always hate to get in bed with a stock,the story often is too intoxicating.I have traded in and out for 5 years now. Been on all the CC's got every Press Release basically became an inlaw.In the early years it seemed very exciting,it was the world vs.IDT. I remember the first profitable EBITDA qtrs when HJ basically told outright all the shorts to "go to hell".The story was fresh and so was the price movement. I know we are all excited about the NTOP IPO and that has been the impetus on these threads and on many investors and traders minds.I just feel if you take away the IPO what is really happening at IDT. Lately, operationally it has been a disappointment for me.190%yr/yr growth is excitng,9.6% sequential is not.Telling us Q3 EBITDA margins were 6.5% doesn't excite me. Finding out the finance people screwed the number up and it was actually 6.1% from 6.5% the opposite of the cc and original PR makes me wonder if the Generals are running the ship or are the Lieutenants running it.The Number Was Lower This QTR.Then to be told telecom margins improved 10 basis points, so what,thats .1%,no big deal.Then having a dozen mgt people on the call to answer questions, and a guy overseas who decided to hang up when Q@A started was disjointed to say the least. What I saw after taking away all the online jubilation,was an unremarkable quarter, with LOWER EBITDA, not HIGHER.Strong yr/yr revenue growth but questionable sequential growth of 9.6% does not make a growth stock. Finally, there has been the new feature used by MGT for what are the recent unremarkable troubled qtrs., called the EXCUSE.I should have checked off all the reasons mgt.gave for missing the qtr. Fortunately all I had to do was read this wonderful thread where we all have an opportunity to discuss the company and our opinions. What will it take for this company to run on ALL CYLINDERS and bring in a qtr without excuses? I think todays close at 19 spoke for itself very well. I continue to remain disappointed and long, and plan on writing calls indefinitely.