Message-ID: <25767990.1075857281135.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 01:30:00 -0800 (PST) From: fool@motleyfool.com To: benjamin.rogers@enron.com Subject: Breakfast With The Fool: Comverse Networks a Good Quarter Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: The Motley Fool X-To: benjamin.rogers@enron.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Benjamin_Rogers_Dec2000_4\Notes Folders\Motley fool e-mails X-Origin: Rogers-B X-FileName: brogers.nsf _________________________________________________________________ B R E A K F A S T W I T H T H E F O O L Wednesday, December 6, 2000 benjamin.rogers@enron.com _________________________________________________________________ Sponsored By: BUYandHOLD Hey Fool! Want to know the SECRET to long-term investing? Compounding and dollar-cost averaging! Start investing with as little as $20! Just $2.99 per order: http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=230059 http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=230060 "There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people." --- Muhammad Ali COMVERSE NETWORKS A GOOD QUARTER Comverse Technology reported estimate-beating third-quarter results after the bell yesterday. By LouAnn Lofton Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT) reported third-quarter earnings yesterday after the bell. The company, which makes systems and software for telecommunications, had an increase in revenues of 37% and net income growth of 52% when compared to the third quarter last year. Comverse's sales improved to $317.97 million versus $232.89 million in the year-ago period. Comverse earned $68.41 million, excluding one-time charges for acquisitions, up from last year's $44.96 million. The company beat the consensus estimate according to First Call by two cents with earnings per share of $0.38. Comverse had earnings per share in last year's third quarter of $0.28. In the third quarter, Comverse acquired Exalink and Gaya Software. The company took an after-tax charge of $4 million for costs related to the purchases of those businesses. Comverse improved gross margins to 62.6% from 61.4% in last year's third quarter. The company also increased its net margins from 19.3% to 21.5%. Driving the results for Comverse was strong demand for the company's products from wireless providers. A majority of Comverse's sales are to wireless network operators. AFTER-HOURS COVERAGE WORMS IN APPLE'S HOLIDAY QUARTER By John Del Vecchio and Dave Marino-Nachison With Gateway warning of a poor start to the holiday season less than a week ago, there was definitely reason to figure that Apple wouldn't be far behind in warning about near-term profits. But in its most-recent quarter, Apple was the victim of its own poor execution. How low can this cash-rich company's shares go? FULL STORY>> http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230061 GREENSPAN SPEAKS, STOCKS ROCKET By Bill Mann In a New York speech, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he is convinced that the torrid pace of economic growth fueled by access to easy money has slowed. Greenspan remarked on the fact that technology advancements have given the country nearly unprecedented ability to gain efficiency -- but many players in the high-tech market got to the game too late. Should the economy slow too much, the Fed may just drop rates next year. For now, though, the tightening bias is a thing of the past. FULL STORY>> http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230062 _________________________________________________________________ NEWS TO GO Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and 3M (NYSE: MM) have new chiefs and they're both from General Electric (NYSE: GE). Home Depot named Robert L. Nardelli its new president and CEO effective immediately. 3M picked W. James McNerney Jr. as the company's new chairman and CEO. Nardelli had been president and CEO of GE Power Systems, and McNerney was head of GE Aircraft Engines. Both men were being considered as replacements for GE's chairman Jack Welsh, but were passed over in favor of fellow GE-er Jeffrey Immelt. Car parts retailer AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) reported a drop in first-quarter earnings yesterday. The company's net income was $53.8 million, down from last year's $56 million. Sales grew 6% to $1.06 billion. Buoyed by share repurchases, AutoZone increased earnings per share to $0.46 from the year-ago period's $0.40. The company blamed the net income shortfall on "a difficult sales environment." Data storage company EMC (NYSE: EMC) said this morning that it expects fourth-quarter earnings to increase by at least 55% over last year's Q4 results. The company also thinks revenues will grow to $12 billion in 2001. CEO Michael Ruettgers said in an interview with Reuters that his company is "very comfortable" with the current 2001 revenue projections, which are almost double the company's 1999 levels. Lante Group (Nasdaq: LNTE), an Internet consulting business, is cutting its staff by 19%. This translates to about 120 jobs, and the closure of the company's Singapore and Delhi offices. After the cut-backs, Lante will have around 500 employees. Lante hopes to save around $4 million with the reductions, starting in the first quarter of 2001. The company is trying to become "cash break-even" during the first half of 2001. Lante's president and CEO, Rudy Puryear, said, "We did not react as quickly as we should have to the speed and magnitude of this dramatically changing environment. As a result, we are disappointed with our recent financial results. Moreover, the decision to reduce our workforce was very difficult, but necessary. We are implementing several steps to reposition the business to grow revenue and achieve profitability in the coming year." _________________________________________________________________ EDITORS' PICK Despite the recent volatility, aspects of the storage industry are growing quickly. http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230063 _______________________________________________________________ -News & Commentary http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230064 -Fool Community http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230065 -Post of the Day http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230066 -Latest Fribble http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230067 -Latest Market Numbers http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230068 ____________________________________________________________ My Portfolio: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230069 My Discussion Boards: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230070 My Fool: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230071 Fool.com Home: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230072 My E-Mail Settings: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230073 Sponsored By: BUYandHOLD Hey Fool! 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Try our discussion board: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230078 ____________________________________________________ (c) Copyright 2000, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Motley Fool. MsgId: msg-10203-2000-12-06_9-20-16-3361665_2_Plain_MessageAddress.msg-09:26:12(12-06 -2000) X-Version: mailer-sender-master,v 1.84 X-Version: mailer-sender-daemon,v 1.84 Message-Recipient: benjamin.rogers@enron.com