Canadian
Stock Profiles| Canadian
Stock Profiles |
| An innovator and
pioneer in computer graphics, Corel has come a long way
since its founding in 1985. Its premier product was CorelDraw®, the award winning program that was refined and improved steadily over the years. It is widely regarded as the world's number one PC graphics suite. Then in 1996 the company acquired WordPerfect and its related programs. Over the years Corel progressively improved on the product, culminating in the release of WordPerfect Office 2000 in 1999. Both CorelDraw and WordPerfect Office Suite have been modified to make them useful tools for website development. Corel acquired GraphicCorp in 1999, making it the leading supplier of graphic images - clipart, photos and web images - worldwide. There are over a million images in its collection. Recent initiatives include software leasing. You can rent Corel software at selected Blockbuster Video stores. But perhaps Corel's biggest move has been to embrace the Linux operating system. While its programs are all available in Windows and Mac versions, it has developed its own version of the Linux operating system and compatible versions of WordPerfect Office and CorelDraw. Many have touted Linux as a possible succesor to Windows as the operating system of choice for PC users. Should this come to fruition, Corel is sitting on a gold mine. While the company was profitable in 1994 and 1995, it started slowly declining through 1997 when it produced a $231 million loss on $260 million of revenues (in US $). In 1998 it started fighting its way back and cut the loss to $30 million, even though revenues shrank to $247 million. In 1999 the company announced a turnaround into profitability in the 2nd Quarter and a solid 3rd Quarter with earnings of $0.26 a share against a loss of $0.13 a share the year before. The stock reached new highs in December 1999, topping $60, but the company's fortunes have gone south since. Falling sales and a cash crunch sent the stock sliding down to a 52 week low of $3.72 in May 2000. It recovered some ground after securing additional financing. The company's software continues to win awards with Corel Linux and CorelDraw 9 winning PC World's 2000 World Class Award for the Most Promising Software Newcomer and Best Drawing Software in June 2000. The company has inked a few deals with OEMs to bundle Corel products with their hardware. The biggest deal was with Hewlett Packard which will include Corel's Print House 2000 with its scanners. Aggressive cost-cutting and the resignation of flamboyant CEO Michael Cowpland helped revived the company's fortunes in September 2000. But the company got a real boost when it formed a strategic alliance with arch-rival Microsoft in early October 2000 to "work together to support the development, testing and marketing of new products related to the .NET platform. " The deal saw Microsoft take a 24.6% interest in Corel, injecting $135 million in much needed financing into the company. Shares Outstanding: 67,710,479
Address: Phone:
613-728-8200 This
page first posted: Dec. 5, 1999 |
Stock Symbol: COR (TSE) CORL (NASDAQ) Profile News: Forums: |