Re: <<<Diana, are you still following RATL?>>>
A Somewhat Green (with Envy, after selling at $18) diana is still watching.<G>
Obviously, my opinion of RATL should carry little weight, but I would not rest easy owning it here with all the Insider selling. I make it a personal rule that when the Insiders start selling big, I sell too. This is not always a good indicator, but I feel better owning companies which management thinks are undervalued. I can't help thinking that if the Insiders thought it had great upward potential here they would be buying like they were in Autumn '97, or at least holding on to their shares. And I must put a high value on their opinion. (I see myself in a hypothetical future after the price falls saying to myself "Why did I think I knew more about the company's prospects that the CEO and the board and officers?")
I hasten to add that I often sell too soon. We all have our individual styles of investing. I like to buy solid companies that are extremely undervalued for an understandable reason. RATL no longer looks good to me, but that doesn't mean it isn't going to go up from here. RATL may well mushroom in price like the internet stocks, I don't know. But at this point it's just not my style.
---(There is a well-known American poem about baseball, 'Casey at the Bat', in which Casey lets pitched balls go by without swinging, explaining "Not my style." In the end he strikes out. <VBG>)
I also have Great Respect for Hans-Erik's opinion, and in some environments I would hold RATL based on that alone, but not here and now. We must always choose between investment possibilities, and at this point RATL is not one of the stocks I choose.
Still watching though! If we get a nice market collapse, I may well buy some RATL.
Best Wishes for a prosperous and happy 1999 to you, Thomas, and to all!!!
diana
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