Rudedog,
Thank you for your posting. It is precisely because of what you were told that I think it is about time for analysts to reevaluate the significance of insider (stock option derived) sales of stock for companies such as CPQ. To put it bluntly, I would find an executive of CPQ a fool if I were to learn that he held, say 1.5 million shares of CPQ and not one share of any other publicly traded company. Just for the sake of diversification, I would expect insiders to sell options derived shares--and move the money elsewhere, whether it be into other stocks, a summer home, anywhere.
The following is a pet peeve, one I have only because I know people who now or who in the past have been members of publicly traded corporate boards [banks and 1 non-tech NYSE corporation], a peeve that does not just apply to CPQ: Why doesn't CPQ at least name people to the board who already own a few shares of CPQ? Looking at the annual report, I noticed that one of the two women has a big egg (0) listed after her name for the number of shares held.
Let's face it, the people considered for board membership have enough personal assets to own shares of CPQ. When looking at a person as potential board material, doesn't it send out some kind of message if the person does _not_ hold any shares of CPQ? To me, a little guy investor, this means the person either does not know very much about CPQ or does know about CPQ--but is not willing to risk his/her money by investing in a few shares.
Going with the above, I would like to see a breakdown in future annual reports where we shareholders can see the non-CPQ employee board members share listings broken down into shares obtained via options and shares held because the fellow/woman bought them.
Lynn |
