@Snafu Two
While his other points can elicit interesting debate, Snafu Two suggestively asked:
"... But, seriously, would you buy NetApp shares today? You could - but I'd recommend you buy them "short". :) Thats the only way you'll make money on NTAP (already down from ~32 to ~20 in the last 6 months)."
Anyone who follows (or even worse owns) Sun stock will see thru this ruse. The facts are that Sun stock has performed just as miserably as NetApp stock during this period.
To make his point, Snafu Two carefully cherry-picked the 6 month high and low for NTAP. On October 23rd, NTAP hit a 6 month closing high of $32.06 USD. On March 31, 2008 NTAP closed at $20.05 USD. That represents a decline of 37.5%. To exaggerate his claim even more, he might have referenced March 19 when NTAP closed at $19.49 USD. That would represent a decline of 39.2% from the October 23rd high. However, if you take the "true" 6 month period of October 1 thru March 31, the decline in NTAP was "only" 24.9%.
So how does the performance of stock in that technically superior, open source, open hardware, sales-friendly, technological powerhouse known as Sun Microsystems (JAVA) compare to NTAP over these same periods?
______________________________JAVA_____NTAP
October 23, 2007 to March 31, 2008 -34.7% -37.5%
October 23, 2007 to March 19, 2008 -34.2% -39.2%
October 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008 -31.8% -24.9%
Someone without an agenda might correctly ask "would you buy NetApp OR SUN shares today?" Neither company has rewarded investors (longs) during the past six months. They have both disappointed their shareholders.
Of course, we might discuss each company's 5-year performance up thru MArch 31st during which JAVA gained 15.5% and the lowly NTAP gained "only" 79.9%.
Enough already on the financial comparisons. The technical discussion is much more interesting and subjective.
MarketWatcher