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Diebold's Dire Quarter by The Motley Fool........

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Joanne98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-05 08:30 PM
Original message
Diebold's Dire Quarter by The Motley Fool........
Edited on Tue Aug-09-05 08:32 PM by Joanne98
BWHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Diebold's Dire Quarter

The Motley Fool

By Rich Duprey (TMF Cop)
August 9, 2005

When my local credit union merged with another one a few months ago, it upgraded all of its automated teller machines to ones made by Diebold (NYSE: DBD). I was impressed with the solidity of the machine and the security features it offered, including mirrors (which allow the user to check for "shoulder surfers") and recessed keypads. The prior machines had seemed, well, flimsy, which is not a feature you want in an ATM.

With this impressive new machine in mind, I thought to research Diebold as a possible investment. What I found was disappointing. As fellow Fool Stephen Simpson reported last month, the company's second-quarter results were less than impressive, with ATM sales coming in almost 12% lower (apparently my credit union was an anomaly) and leading to lower profit forecasts.

This is not just a problem with Diebold: Competitor NCR (NYSE: NCR) also is contending with ATM revenues that dropped 20% year-over-year. But Diebold's product mix -- primarily voting machines -- leaned toward products with lower margins and toward sales to international customers.

Even though Diebold is expecting election-systems revenue to grow anywhere from 7% to 38%, that might just be wishful thinking. A test of the TSx electronic voting machines in California the other day revealed major problems: The touch screens froze, printers jammed, and systems crashed. Because the software running on the machines is based on Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows operating system, the so-called "blue screen of death" was not unfamiliar to those witnessing the problems. Competitors such as privately held Election Systems & Services and Sequoia Voting Systems now have an opportunity to move in where Diebold was previously thought to have a lock on contracts. California has since denied the company certification to supply voting machines.

Diebold has pointed to the 2002 Help America Vote Act that was passed in the wake of the 2000 Florida presidential election debacle as an impetus for future growth. But these latest testing results are a major stumbling block. Diebold already has two strikes against it after CEO Walden O'Dell openly promised to deliver votes to President Bush in 2003 and lawsuits alleged that software security was inadequate. It can't afford a third strike. Although Diebold plans to fix the problems with its TSx machines, the damage may already have been done: Rejection of the TSx in California could influence other states to do the same.

What Diebold does have going for it is a 51-year history of consecutive increases in the dividend -- which now stands at $0.82 per share -- that it pays to shareholders. There are few other companies with a similar track record. Yet with a steady decline in free cash flow, a price-to-earnings ratio equal to the market's, and declining earnings from its primary line of business, I'd be hard-pressed to invest in it at this time, regardless of how pretty its ATMs look at my bank.

http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2005/mft05080929.htm

I'd say Diebold has bigger problems than this....
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Joanne98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-05 08:34 PM
Response to Original message
1. Diebold to delay filing quarterly earnings report
Edited on Tue Aug-09-05 08:35 PM by Joanne98
Diebold to delay filing quarterly earnings report
Tue Aug 9, 2005 5:14 PM ET


NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Diebold Inc. (DBD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , maker of automated teller machines, said on Tuesday it would not file its quarterly earnings report on time with securities regulators "due to delays experienced in completing the company's financial statements."

"The delays could not be eliminated without unreasonable effort or expense," the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Diebold said it would file the 10-Q with the SEC by August 15.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-08-09T211441Z_01_WAT003629_RTRIDST_0_MANUFACTURING-DIEBOLD-URGENT.XML
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Joanne98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-05 08:39 PM
Response to Original message
2. Diebold Executive Resigns (He wants more time with his family)

Posted on Tue, Aug. 09, 2005

Diebold Inc. said Monday that Chief Financial Officer Gregory Geswein is leaving the Green-based company after five years on the job to join Reynolds & Reynolds Co. and return to southwest Ohio to be closer to his family.

Corporate controller Kevin Krakora will be Diebold's interim CFO until a replacement is named.

The search to replace Geswein will include candidates from within and outside Diebold, the company said in a statement. Diebold had been the No. 1 ATM maker when Geswein was hired in 2000. Today, it lags behind NCR Corp. and is planning to cut costs by $20 million a year. Second-quarter profit declined 24 percent.

In late June, the company announced it would cut 300 jobs because of disappointing performance.


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Joanne98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-05 08:45 PM
Response to Original message
3. Diebold Adds Software To Keep Cash Machines Safe LOL
Edited on Tue Aug-09-05 08:48 PM by Joanne98
Diebold Adds Software To Keep Cash Machines Safe Aug. 8, 2005

A new version of Sygate Enterprise Protection software will help Diebold secure internal systems as well as bank ATM networks and systems.
By Martin J. Garvey
InformationWeek

There are few targets more appealling to a hacker or criminal than an automatic teller machine loaded with cash at the local bank. That's one reason why banks deploy so many layers of security, ranging from guards to cameras to firewalls to access-control software. Diebold Inc., one of the leading makers of self-service ATMs and voting machines, is deploying new security software to protect internal systems as well bank ATM networks.
Many banks are moving their ATM machines to Windows software from other operating systems, including IBM’s discontinued OS/2, which Diebold supports, according to B. Scott Harroff, chief security architect at Diebold. He says the banking industry wants a computing platform that's more open and flexible, but also one that offers "lockdown and protection."

Diebold uses Sygate Enterprise Protection from Sygate Technologies Inc. to secure its internal systems as well as ATM networks and systems. Sygate is introducing a new version today of its software, which includes host-intrusion protection and network-access control in a single agent that can be managed from a single console.

"With any new threat we want our security product to keep it out," says Harroff, who is looking forward to two new features. While he doesn't expect attacks to break through his intrusion protection, he plans to use the Sygate software to add another layer of security for applications running in memory. All company-authorized applications will be assigned a digital signiture. Without a signature, no app will be loaded into memory.

He also wants to reduce the threat posed by small memory sticks that can be used to easily download and copy files and other data and remove them from a location. "I also look forward to a PC and laptop feature that lets my users identify approved memory sticks and the like," says Harroff, "and ensure that nobody else could connect any unapproved device."

http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600509

This is so funny it needs it's own thread!

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dweller Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-05 09:01 PM
Response to Original message
4. this couldn't happen to a nicer
corporate fascist...

the last of your posts here is one that makes one go hmmmm...

dp
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wli Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-05 10:31 PM
Response to Original message
5. resignation is not enough! prosecute!
Its assets should be seized and the company should be dissolved immediately.
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-05 10:32 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Agreed
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skids Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-10-05 08:50 AM
Response to Original message
7. Recommended.

This is "Greatest threads" material.
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meganmonkey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-10-05 01:19 PM
Response to Original message
8. I want to see Diebold GO DOWN!
These articles made me smile. :)

Thanks for posting them!

:kick:
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Fly by night Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-10-05 01:54 PM
Response to Original message
9. More Diebold troubles (with links)
Edited on Wed Aug-10-05 01:59 PM by Fly by night
This is from a letter we are sending this week to all 570 county election officials in Tennessee:
---------
"While in Memphis, we shared with you the recent decision of Miami-Dade County to discard over $24 million in Diebold DREs because of their persistent malfunctions in Miami’s last six elections. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-delections28may28,0,5413475.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

"Since that time, the state of California has now decertified the Diebold DREs for the second time because a recent test of new machines by the California Secretary of State resulted in fully one-third of them malfunctioning , not 10% as was originally reported. (Oakland Tribune: “Diebold's problems worse than reported, tests find”) http://www.insidebayarea.com/searchresults/ci_2909777 As a result of this second decertification, three CA counties may discard $40 million in Diebold DREs without ever using them (even one time).

"As a result of the California decertification of Diebold, The Deseret News, Utah’s leading newspaper, has now editorialized against that state’s recent decision to mandate the use of Diebold equipment statewide. (Deseret News: “Reconsider voting machines”) http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600153705,00.html

"And county election officials in several other states, including Mississippi, are balking at having to discard their existing voting systems for expensive and poorly functioning Diebold equipment. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “State NAACP, Dems want to see plans for new touch-screen voting machines”) http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050809/NEWS01/508090366/1002
--------

Couldn't happen to a more appropriate group of fellow-traveling fascists, IMHO.


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progressoid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-10-05 03:22 PM
Response to Original message
10. Hope this doesn't make them do something "really" desperate.
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