NetGear, Inc. (NTGR)

Earnings forecasts for this year and next are up 5% in past month.

Solid company.

Wall Street predicts 15% annualized growth over the next few years.

In my experience, Netgear's home networking products are easier to use, more reliable and compatible, and even better looking than competitors' products, at comparable prices. As long as management doesn't make any large blunders, they should be successful.

most common name in router service

While Netgear has an interesting inventory. I think the ReadyNAS is a really cool concept, but the scores don't stack up for the NV. The reviews for routers have been sub·par. Their market is saturated with competitors, QNAP, CISCO, Linksys, Buffalo, Synology, Thecus, etc. QNAP's NAS top the charts:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_nas/Itemid,190

Good support is no where to be found. They also have a really bad BBB rating, "F". I'm not sure about this one. I think they might be suffering in the near future.

Red thumbing a 5 star stock. What am I thinking of? They generated a ton of cash this quarter - oh no, I'm nuts. Here's the real deal. Inventory was reduced by 40% to increase receivable turnover, but sales nose dived in every region. Read the transcript - it contains so many if's, ands, or buts, you wonder when sales recovery will occur. I'm betting not in the next 12 months.

Financially in good shape. One of the first to recover in its industry.

Netgear is in a very dangerous zone, overvalue, and high risk. Demand is low. Competition is tough and NTGR management continues to pump stock. Speculative. Perfect for SHORT within the next 8 months.

The internets are unstoppable!!!

Netgear is overvalue, high risk, low demand, aggressive competition everywhere, products are obsolete. When Netgear nosedives, it will go dow fast. Perfect stock for Short.

Many small businesses are opting for video conferencing rather than long-distance calls and VOIP is poised to signifigantly reduce operating costs for most buisnesses. Many people will be switching to on-line computer backup in the next few years.

NetGear is quickly becoming the markey leader in Network Attached Storage (NAS). You may not have one in your home now, but you will soon.

This company makes good products and has a lot of cash to survive the down turn. They have a good niche delivering to consumers and small businesses. The company has good management and is conservative, which will benefit them in a year or two when demand picks up and many competitors go out of business. Sales may stay down for a while, but they will pick up eventually and NTGR will gain market share and increase profit margins.

Welll positioned with the ordinary consumer with products they like.

Not a priority for folks right now, but dynamite product if and when things turn around.

Reduction in demand due to consumer tightening. Should have preserve cash instead of buying back shares.

NetGear makes "home friendly" network hardware. If you don't have data network stuff in your home now you probably will in the next couple of years - don't you want to be able to surf the net on that new HDTV in the livingroom?

You'll probably end up being the network administrator for your family as well.

Now how good does "home friendly" sound?

Buy a NetGear router and try to set it up. Call their tech support to see if they're any help. Get a warranty replacement and see if it works any better. I'm an IT consultant; I install and service dozens of routers, and I have lots of touble with theirs. Compared to Belkin and even D-Link, their products suck. In my opinion, only Linksys makes a worse router, and at least Linksys has brand-name recognition and the backing of Cisco. I love the Motley Fool, but they're way off on this recommendation.