|
Netscape seeks respect
|
 |
January 29, 1997: 11:22 p.m. ET
Barksdale says skepticism about company's future is unfounded
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Although Netscape Communications Corp. surprised Wall Street with its fourth quarter earnings earlier this week, many analysts remain concerned with the fierce competition the company faces in its battle for supremacy in on the Internet.
In fact, despite a 10-fold rise in earnings, the company's stock Wednesday lost 1 1/8 to 36-7/8. But Netscape Chairman James Barksdale doesn't know why investors aren't more confident in the company.
With Netscape about to launch several new products that it believes will strengthen its share of the Internet software market, Barksdale says the company is positioned to not only challenge, but defeat, its formidable opponents.
"People are wondering: 'How can you fools in Mountain View (Calif.) think you can wage war against Microsoft?' My answer is that their products are expensive, cumbersome and not open," Barksdale told CNNfn's "Moneyline with Lou Dobbs". "Certainly, analysts are going to say we're in a very competitive market. I don't consider that news. We think we're the technology leader and provide the lowest price and the best return on investment."
Analysts, though, are split on the company's ability to compete with established industry giants like Microsoft and IBM.
Jonathan Cohen of Smith Barney said Netscape's operating prospects don't support its stock price.
"The browser market won't be a good one long term because its really too narrow a function," he said. "It's not a broad enough piece of software to support a premium price over the long term."
But analyst Michael Wallace of UBS Securities believes the company's aggressive pursuit of the server and e-mail markets will feed its growth.
"The company is a lot bigger than it was," Wallace said. "Plus, they have a multibillion dollar opportunity in front of them."
Netscape is banking on new integrated client-server software suites, Netscape Communicator and Netscape SuiteSpot 3.0, to secure its future.
Barksdale also said a component of Netscape Communicator, code-named Constellation, will improve its intranet attack.
"We see ourselves as having seeded the world with 51 million copies of Netscape Navigator, 12 million of which are already being used for e-mail, and we think they will be upgraded to Constellation and Communicator."
Even if these new products succeed, Barksdale said he knows the company has to continue to evolve in order to survive.
"It's a matter of moving around," he said. "I'm quiet impressed with the market share we kept during this period of time when we're in transition."
He added: "We have the most dominant application on the planet. We have a leg up and we have to build on that." 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Netscape
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
