Dueling Fools
October 14, 1998
The Great American Novell Duel
Novell price (10/13/98): $11 3/4
The Motels had a 1980s hit record which went something like: "Take the L out of Novell <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: NOVL)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: NOVL)") end if %> and it's Novel." As the story goes, the great leader in computer networking went from being in touch to being disconnected.
Is this a turnaround logging on? We don't all agree. This week we have Louis Corrigan (TMF Seymor) thinking better days are ahead for Novell while David Forrest (TMF Bogey) would rather pass up on dem bones. If Novell is tomorrow calling, are you brave enough to answer? Let's find out! Dueling Fools is about to begin.
And don't miss this week's Duel Flashback, where we take a look back at who took the juiciest bite out of 3Com <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: COMS)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: COMS)") end if %>.
You Get to Vote!
Once you've read the arguments and the rebuttals, it's your time to cast your vote. We'll tabulate results each week and revisit them from time to time to see whether you were right! As always, we invite you to join us in the Dueling Fools Message board to continue the duel.
[Any suggestions, comments, praise, or flames, please send them along to the Dueling Fools Team.]
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The Bull... Investing in companies that compete against Microsoft <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MSFT)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MSFT)") end if %> may seem like the dumbest thing in the world -- until you look at Apple Computer <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AAPL)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AAPL)") end if %>. Its stock has tripled this year and held up just fine as financial markets have gone to heck. Novell is not Apple, but it is the world's leading provider of network software and there are provocative similarities between the firms, especially since Novell shares have soared 55% during this generally disappointing year for tech stocks. Continue... |
The Bear... Taking a look at Novell's website, you'll notice that the company offers more than 22 different networking solutions. It's safe to say, however, that there are none more important to the economic viability of the company than their flagship product NetWare. Novell breaks their business out into three categories, all software. They include server operating environments, network services, and "other." Continue... |
Results for last week's Campbell Soup Duel
| Answer | Percentage |
| I can't make up my mind | 3% |
| TMF Jeff's Bull argument |
67% |
| TMF Seymor's Bear argument |
14% |
| They were both excellent |
14% |
| They were both lame |
1% |