As I've said before, I heard that at AAPL, too "Jobs is a has-been", "AAPL should take its cash and pay off the shareholders", etc.
You know...I don't disagree that if I got in at 50, 40, 30, or 25, I'd be pissed. But I got in at 24...I'm not happy right now, but I'm confident this is a solid company that is on the verge of achieving its potential.
Maybe not this quarter. Maybe not next. But it is right there.
If, in 6 months, I'm at 12...and CPQ is dragging its butt around....I might dump it. But I'm not worried right now.
You, OTOH, should have bailed ages ago. You never hold a dog unless you believe it's coming back to life (as HDIE did for me). You take the losses, lick your wounds, and find a way to make the money work.
Take this from a guy who lost 50% of his stake when the markets were up 35% +. Yet I've still managed to earn it all back, plus more than the rate of growth I'd lost out on.
Lucky? Maybe. Astute? More likely.
You guys may be right. I'm not sure you are.
Sometimes the guy in the cubicle knows more than you think. Think Jeff Bezos would be a good CEO? Neither did I. But the Street seems to love him. Unlikely heroes exist all over the place.
Slightly Off topic, I know a guy who met Rosen. This guy is running an internet firm that is likely to be the "next big thing" when he goes public.
Anyway, he had lunch w/Rosen (at the behest of one of his investors), and Rosen basically ignored him, thinking he was a thug who was trying to leach off CPQ (actually, he was looking for something quite the reverse). Big mistake, I'd say. But that doesn't mean Rosen is stupid. Even my friend said that he's got more important things to deal with at this point, and the internet isn't their main interest now (though you'd wonder about that). |
