3D CAD NEWS

More at CCNtv.

I got a call a few minutes ago from a kindly PTC employee. She was concerned by our recent coverage of PTC's most recent financial report. (See "PTC: Execution Begins at Home.") While she could not fault our facts, our conclusions were troublesome. And she thought that perhaps we were blaming the rank-and-file employees at PTC for the company's current weak performance.

So, for the record, let's be clear about our haughty contempt. The Editorial We blame senior management and only senior mangement for neglecting to see what went wrong until it was too late to do anything about it. It's a chain of command thing, as my nephew the deputy sheriff likes to say. If you think we are cranky here, just wait until you read CADCAMNet's coverage of PTC's quarterly report ("PTC Responds to Lackluster Quarter with 200 Layoffs and a Tax Maneuver.")

And since those few individuals are too important to read drivel like this, we close with today's news photo.

PTC CEO Dick Harrison finally notices things aren't going so well.

 

PTC announced its third quarter (fiscal 2007) results today with commentary that majored on missteps yet glossed over much. As 3D CAD News reported earlier this month, PTC reported an oopsie on its earnings forecast which sent its stock tumbling. Today, we are told, sales shortfalls in North America and Japan were mostly to blame. Well, yes, they should blame somebody outside the organization. Heaven forbid there might have been mistakes made internally that led to the shortfall. We recall the overly aggressive PTC of old and shudder to think those days may be back.

Buried deep in the announcement was the news that 200 people are no longer PTC employees as of today. Not one of them, we must infer from the comments of PTC executives, were responsible for the revenue shortfall. We suggest they picket the US Department of Commerce or the Japanese consulate in Boston if they seek redress, since there certainly must be no one to blame at PTC HQ in Needham, Mass.

Look for a full analysis of PTC’s third-quarter results tomorrow in CADCAMNet, including an explanation of how not to pay one’s corporate taxes.

It was a busy day at PTC Headquarters, as 200 brave souls gave the ultimate sacrifice for their shareholders.

There are no grand conspiracies in today’s news that Jeff Ray will replace John McEleney as CEO of the SolidWorks division of Dassault Systemes. McEleney is stepping down for personal reasons that are true to the rhythms of life, reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with his work. We know those reasons, we will not share those reasons in public, and we wish John the very best.

Having said that, the timing is interesting. Just as Dassault is looking to the SolidWorks dealer channel to do some heavy lifting for the rest of the company, along comes the guy who has done much of the work of building it to lead all of SolidWorks. As Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Ray has been responsible for the development of sales, marketing, and distribution. The fierce loyalty of the SolidWorks VAR channel is the stuff of legend. These guys would walk through fire carrying buckets of dung if Jeff Ray suggested it.

More tomorrow at CADCAMNet.

Jeff Ray, incoming SolidWorks CEO.
It seems some Texas Aggies wash up real good.

 

John McEleney, outgoing SolidWorks CEO.
Perhaps now there will be time for a friendly card game.

 

You know things have taken a truly pitiful turn for the worse when a software vendor is so desperate for good news it announces new features with such specific phrases as “customers will benefit from numerous enhancements.” That seems to be the story at MSC.Software, which has been on the ropes for some time. We know of at least one private equity fund that is taking a close look at what might be done with the carcass. But we digress.

In this week’s announcement of new features, there were 26 sentences in the body of the press release, not counting headlines and the boilerplate text attached to every press release. There were exactly five sentences that actually mentioned new features in MSC.Software products, and they are, well, not very specific. I think this is the point where Dave Berry would say, “I am not making this up.”

For those of you who still care, the five gems of information, in order, were:

• In the latest release of Adams, customers will benefit from numerous enhancements to the Adams Solver, Adams/Vibration, and Adams/Car.
• Some of the new capabilities in the latest release [of MSC Nastran] include advancements in the solver performance, NVH and acoustics, new capabilities for shape and topology optimization, and advanced heat transfer analysis with thermal contact, to name a few.
• Many enhancements have been included in this release [of Patran] including support for 64-bit hardware for working with very large models and new interface capabilities to improve the overall productivity of the analyst.
• This release of Marc includes many enhancements, including new optimization for handling large assemblies such as Powertrain systems, new capabilities in component failure and delamination, advances in structural and thermal modeling, and more.
• In this latest release of Dytran, new capabilities have been included to reduce solution time for many fluid-structural interaction problems.

If you use MSC.Software products, perhaps you can discern the true value of these upgrades by reading these statements. Looking at MSC.Software financial results of the last five quarters, I have to believe not many MSC.Software users are continuing to find such value.

Private equity firms are wondering what to do with the carcass of MSC.Software (above) if they buy it.

 

Doing some self-serving promotion for a conference this week, Fortune Magazine asked a variety of technology big-wigs "What technology has taken the most unexpected turn in your lifetime?" They polled the usual big-shots and pundits, but also some people in the trenches doing cool stuff including Aptera Motors CEO Steve Fambro. Scroll down to look at the "car" Aptera is working on and you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, Fambro gave what I thought was a really smart answer. He pointed to the ability to use PC's as a "force multiplier" in engineering. Here's only a bit of what he had to say:

Properly used, and I stress "properly," computers are ... powerful "force multipliers." For example, at our company we're heavily leveraged in CFD, computational fluid dynamics. Every single part of our vehicle that touches the air has been through countless revisions to lower the drag. Fifteen years ago, even ten years ago, our only alternative would have been to use a wind tunnel, an expensive and lengthy affair. ... A small company, armed with these tools, but without a bureaucracy, can turn around key engineering decisions in days or hours, not months or years. The proliferation of these tools is a great equalizer with the bigger companies.

You can read the entire quote from Fambro, as well as interesting comments from Esther Dyson, Bill Joy, Jonathan Schwartz, and others, in the Fortune Magazine Online article, "What Technology Has Surprised the Most?"


The Aptera typ-1, not to be confused with your Uncle Buck's Buick Riviera.

Yesterday PTC told Wall Street that its previous earning guidance was wrong, and revised estimates down $10 million for the quarter. Today Wall Street had a message for PTC, and as TheStreet.com put it, “Parametric Tanks on Warning.” PTC stock closed at 17.23, down 20.12 percent in one day.

In yesterday’s announcement, PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) said it expects revenue for the fiscal 2007 third quarter ended June 30, 2007 to be approximately $225 million, compared with previous guidance of $235 million to $240 million. PTC said lower-than-expected license revenue totaling approximately $62 million was the primary driver of the third quarter results.

“Having met or exceeded our guidance for the past 15 consecutive quarters, I am disappointed that our revenue and earnings results will be below our expectations for the third quarter,” said C. Richard Harrison, president and chief executive officer. “Though third quarter total revenue grew approximately 4% year over year and was generally in line with our results from the second quarter, our license revenue fell short of our forecast in North America and Japan. In response to our revenue and earnings shortfall, and to support our commitment to deliver significant operating margin and earnings improvements in the future, we have already begun to implement several cost-reduction initiatives in the fourth quarter.”

PTC President Dick Harrison Wonders if he should have told Wall Street sooner about his sales forecast "oopsie."

Wall Street analysts who cover PTC were quick to offer their assessment. Typical was the word from Goldman Sachs analyst Sasa Zorovic who downgraded the stock to “Neutral” from “Buy,” reducing his price target to $20 from $24.

Those of us behind 3D CAD News have a different view. Nobody runs away when a grocery market has a sale; why should anybody run when a stock market has a sale? Today's 20% drop makes PTC a rather attractive buy to the shrewd investor (all two of them who read this blog).

CADCAMNet will provide more details and less snarky attitude in its next edition on July 12. PTC will report on earnings for the third quarter on July 25.

Upfront eZine, published by Ralph Grabowski, today announces the availability of its latest e-book, "Tailoring AutoCAD Rendering 2008 ". The book, available for download at a price of $30.30 (why the extra 30 cents, Ralph?), covers the entire gamut of new commands and variables in AutoCAD 2008 rendering, photometric lighting, the new .IES web lights, and expanded explanations of lights and materials.

This is the second edition of the e-book for creating renderings in AutoCAD and it builds on the initial version with additional tutorials, more full-color illustrations, methods for placing lights, rendeinrg and custom materials and a whole bunch more.

The e-book is downloadable or available via CD, but is formatted for printing on standard 8.5 x 11 paper with margins for 3-hole punches. Looks like Ralph thought of everything.

Prices are $30.30 for the download (sent via email), or $35.30 for a CD to be shipped. Payments can be via Paypal or check/money order.