Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!haven!uvaarpa!murdoch!astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU!gl8f From: gl8f@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Atari Financial condition Message-ID: <1990Mar22.203850.18436@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Date: 22 Mar 90 20:38:50 GMT References: <1990Mar21.215753.8966@chinet.chi.il.us> <1990Mar22.071155.5496@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Sender: news@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Reply-To: gl8f@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia Lines: 88 In article <1990Mar22.071155.5496@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) writes: [ A long time ago, Chris posted that Atari was "highly leveraged". I asked him to look this up to see if it was true. He never posted whether it was or not. Could someone please check this? ] >[Steve Jacobs' posting about Atari's health deleted] > >Whoa! I didn't say that Atari was going to close up shop tomorrow. What >I mean is that they are going to be losing money for a while in the computer >area of their business. Their R&D is just too far behind the competition. Atari made money in the computer area of their business in the 4th quarter of 1989. Giving that revenues and profits lagged for 3 quarters and now new products are shipping in a quarter in which revenues and profit rose, it seems clear that Atari is entering a new product cycle. The figures don't support your assertions. >re: Portfolio [ criticism of Portfolio deleted ] If you think the Portfolio is so ill-positioned, you must think people are really stupid to pay $2000 for a Poquet portable. After all, it has no more features than one of those Toshiba things, but it lacks a floppy drive. The market, not the pundits, will determine the Portfolio's success. Thus far Atari has sold a bunch of them. Of course, they have to get their defect rate down, and they will have to discount the price from its current level. >re: ATW > >What ever happened to this machine? It has been in developer hands for >ages now and nobody seems to have written anything of consequense for >it and you still can't buy one. There have been several postings from people in England who have bought production models. It seems that it is being marketed as a niche product in England, which is much more interested in the Transputer than the US. >re: Megas > >IMHO, this machine is going to die a slow painful death. It is impossible >to develop anything for the critter as there are more board revisions >out there than there are people named Jones. Joe Average User doesn't buy hardware upgrades for his motherboard, other than memory. Personally, I'd rather buy an STe if I could choose any ST model just because it's so cheap to plug in SIMMs. >re: 520 ST taking over the "cheap computer" market > >I don't think so. The Amiga 500 is about the same in price and is better >suited to play games (which most people will do with a $300 computer anyway). Compare the STe to the Amiga 500. Given that all STes have SIMM slots, it's easier and cheaper to upgrade STe memory than Amiga 500 memory. Each entry-level system has its strengths and weaknesses, and I doubt either one is going to eliminate the other. >Wow, this letter seems a bit harsh, but I don't think I've said anything >that is grossly inacurate. Well, your claim that Atari is "highly leveraged" was never confirmed, and you seem to think that Atari is losing money when they're making money. You also might consider that they are at the beginning of a new product cycle. If revenues remain at about 450 million $, and profit rise to a mere 10% (they've done better in the past) , then the stock at its current price will end up around 10:1 P/E. It's probable that revenues will actually rise 20% or more in the next year. I'm very surprised that they earned anything in 4Q89 despite making big investments in new product production. Obviously Atari is not a safe investment. But, IMHO, it is not a bad investment at the current stock price. > Atari's > computers are going to be in the bottoms of America's closets if > the company doesn't shape up. Revenues are rising also. Have a nice day, and please post some *facts* about Atari's long-term debt. Greg Lindahl gl8f@virginia.edu I gave my lunch for space-sickness research.