Re: Let's face the truth - DG, good points but
in response to
by
posted on
Jan 14, 2009 10:59AM
Yes, a bit rah-rah but good points and well said for the most part.
But I cannot let these go:
-We have temporarily suspended share repurchases to preserve cash balances.
-We have borrowed $3M against the ARS to ensure we have the funds on hand, assuming that borrowing at some future time may be difficult or impossible due to a worsening financial market.
Those are not positives. They are reactions to negatives.
PPS is pushing a 3 year low and yet to preserve cash reserves, PTSC has suspended stock repurchases. This says more about expected future cash flow and PPS than it does about agile management.
Same with borrowing against the ARS. Being in the ARS at all is a huge negative. Having to borrow against it isn't a net positive. What is a supposed M&A company doing tying up capital like that?
I can let the distant past go but things like the ARS investment are recent history and not something to just shrug off. RG communicates well and paints a glorious picture of the future. But I'm sure Jack Welch would agree that talk is cheap compared to results. Everything is wait and see, with each new development failing to deliver but, since it's not the worst case scenario, justified as "it could be worse" or "at least PTSC is moving forward."
Finally, PTSC is a far cry from GE. Buy or bury competition? What exactly is PTSC's competition? Mobile video decoding software companies? Data conversion software companies? Cable hardening solutions providers? While one is a conglomerate, the other is bordering on schizophrenic. I'm not sure where one would begin implemeting this part of Welch's strategy with PTSC.
Sorry, I'm nitpiking again and want to state that I appreciate your optimism as well as your many valid points. But as a hopeless cynic, I'm inclined to highlight the negatives.