UTStarcom – “Turnaround situation with long odds”

Pros

If you are Chinese there may be some opportunities there.

Cons

This is a Chinese job shop that tried to transition from serving two Chinese customers to 100 global customers. It failed. It possessed some advantages in terms of lower costs of Chinese labor, but those were insufficient to offset systemic problems with operations, financial guidance and an inability to address global markets. Under the hood, it is an operational basket case. In addition, the work environment is toxic. Essentially, non-Chinese employees are viewed as unfortunate--if temporary--necessities.

Advice to Senior Management

The company needs to diversify the experience of their senior management. A preponderence of sales-based senior execs and a dearth of operationally experienced managers hasn't served UTStarcom well.