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As the unofficial arbiter of the Yahoo! message board for Network Appliance (NTAP), Bruce Sterling Woodcock goes by the name "Sir Bruce." His choice of moniker is more than appropriate. Like knights of Arthurian legend, he is unfailingly loyal -- not to his queen but to the company he once worked for. He's so loyal, in fact, that Network Appliance stock makes up 85% of his more than $3 million personal portfolio.
Woodcock, who hasn't held a job since leaving Network Appliance three years ago with $250,000 in stock options, devotes hours a day to the message boards -- answering questions, quashing rumors, and sparring with short-sellers. His goal: to explain why Network Appliance, one of the fastest-growing and, until recently, hottest stocks in the data-storage sector, is worth owning long term. The company certainly has been doing well. For its 2000 fiscal year, which ended on Apr. 28, Network Appliance's earnings jumped 107%, to $74 million, on revenues that were up 100%, to $579 million.
Woodcock's story is far from unique. Message boards of many hot stocks are populated by such devotees and have attracted a following of other investors, as well as the notice of company management. And Silicon Valley, where he lives, is home to thousands of young millionaires who, like Woodcock, set out to join technology companies before their initial public offerings in hopes of getting rich on stock options -- and who succeeded. What makes Woodcock, 30, stand out is that he left the company because of a conflict with a manager yet has remained unflinching in his commitment to the stock.
UNLIKELY CANDIDATE.
"He really sees his role as the defender of truth and justice," says one long-term Network Appliance shareholder known as "Sunnydayprophet," who feels he knows Woodcock from reading his posts over the years. He credits Woodcock with helping to create a more stable base of long-term shareholders.
Woodcock "certainly has helped people...stay in the stock..." agrees Alexandre Leupin who posts on the board as "Sitting Bull." A former employee, with no official role at the corporation, Woodcock is known to be an advocate for the stock by CEO Dan Warmenhoven, who clearly is glad to have him around. "It's hard not to be an evangelist for Network Appliance," says Woodcock. "This company has been so good to me."
At first blush, Woodcock seems an unlikely candidate for such a role. He grew up in a small farming community in Missouri, dropped out of college after two years, and took the computer skills he had picked up along the way to California, where he was hired by Netcom, an Internet service provider that's now part of EarthLink. As a systems administrator there, he was an early customer of Network Appliance and saw the appeal of its storage solution and the company's opportunity. After it was "mutually agreed" that he should leave Netcom, Woodcock says he decided he wanted to work for Network Appliance, which he knew would soon go public. He was hired as a systems administrator and worked 80-hour weeks, earning about $50,000 a year.
STICKY FINGERS.
Woodcock makes it clear that as a Network Appliance employee, he was a management challenge. "I'm the kind of person who puts his finger in every little pie," he says. In the company's early entrepreneurial stage, he felt that his input was welcomed -- on everything from the color of the machines to technical issues in the design of new products. But as the company grew, that changed. He started to have problems with his manager. "At that point, I was wondering if I was really cut out to do the daily corporate grind," he says.
He left Network Appliance in the summer of 1997 with stock options then worth about $250,000, and plans to manage his investments and launch a career writing science fiction. "I didn't leave because I had visions of retirement on a quarter-mil," he says.
That's when the stock started to take off and he discovered the message boards. Since then, checking the boards and responding to queries (he frequents message boards of other stocks he owns as well) has been what he calls, "an action point for the day." It has helped him stay focused and involved while he adjusted to, as he calls it, being his own boss. Beyond that, he says his motivation is altruistic and doesn't think his comments have moved the stock price. "I just wanted to share the information I had."
KNIGHT BESIEGED.
Woodcock's posts range from the highly technical to the introductory, depending on the questions -- which are often addressed directly to him. For example, in a July 8 post, he answers a basic query about Network Appliance's competitive position by explaining that storage king EMC is like one of the Big Three auto makers, while Network Appliance is akin to the top maker of sport-utility vehicles. "EMC is trying to catch up by getting into the SUV business," he writes, adding, "(P.S. -- This was an analogy.)" To more sophisticated posts he responds with technical specs on the company's products, reams of market-share data, a breakdown of sales growth, and other detailed information. To one person who asks about a trading strategy, Woodcock says he doesn't recommend trading the stock but still predicts "NTAP is going to go higher before it retests the near-term lows again." He admits, "I'm the kind of person who has an opinion on everything.
Woodcock's role of defending Network Appliance has gotten a lot tougher in the past few months. The company, which is expected to increase sales at a 50% rate for the next five years, has held up better than many high-priced tech stocks. But at about $80 a share, it's down about 35% from its high of $124 in late March (it started out the year at around $40). The message board has been besieged by Network Appliance critics, some of whom apparently blame Woodcock for persuading them not to take profits sooner, and short-sellers who are betting the stock will fall further. Both varieties bash the company and Woodcock relentlessly.
On July 7, one writer responded this way to one of Sir Bruce's cheerleading messages: "Shut up. Die." On July 8, a day the message board was filled with venom directed at Network Appliance and Woodcock, another posting taunted him: "Bruce, look at all the critics here, please come out to play!" Both Sunnydayprophet and Leupin say they wish Woodcock would ignore the negative posts and believe that his constant point-by-point rebuttals have hurt his credibility. Woodcock knows some board regulars feel that way. "Others don't mind and think it's good that I keep it up and don't let the bullies push us around."
EXPENSIVE TOYS.
When interviewed on the phone and via e-mail in recent weeks, Woodcock seems more philosophical than defensive about the attacks, which he says he doesn't let bother him. He says he responds, not for the benefit of board regulars, but for newcomers. "I feel compelled to set the record straight so people get the right idea," he says.
Woodcock says he generally loves the sense of community he found on the boards and values the friendships he has made. When his father died in March, his regulars on the Network Appliance message board were some of the first people he told. "I got a tremendous outpouring of sympathy," he says. "I got a lot of support from it. It was touching. There was a genuine connection."
Single, Woodcock lives in an apartment in San Jose, Calif. It's the same one he lived in before he grew wealthy from Network Appliance stock, although he's looking for a house to buy. He says he lives simply but has bought a few expensive toys over the years, including two $3,000 limited edition first-run Aibos (robotic dogs made by Sony), one of which he gave to a friend as a gift.
He has diversified his holdings a bit into other technology and growth stocks and is pursuing other early stage investment opportunities. He recently invested in a gaming site through a private placement. "I'm looking for a company that will basically do the same thing all over again," he says. For now, his science-fiction career remains on hold. But on the message boards,
he's as prolific as ever.
Copyright 2000 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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