Captain: You are insulted by people who talk as though their purchase of COMPAQ was akin to taking religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
The truth is that if were to judge from what SI posters have said there is only one poster - namely, PCSS - who has consistently said he is in it for the long haul. Everybody else has said or implied that they wished they had sold in the past or they will sell given this or that future condition.
On this evidence it is conceivable that all posters, except one, will have sold long before the CMGI directly benefits the COMPAQ share price. Yet they treat critical analysis of that deal like a personal attack on their religion.
Rosen has become their infallible Pontiff. Like 16th century Spaniards they use the thread as an Inquisition on the Holy Faith. They devise all kinds of tortuous tests to discern the heretics and witches. They can't duck you in a pond, or burn you at the stake, so they try banishment - "sell your COMPAQ shares". And to justify their bigotry they make false attributions. When I read accounts here of my own share dealing and history with COMPAQ I know what a Greek Orthodox must feel having his religion explained by a Jehovah's Witness.
In the novel "Lord of the Flies" a group of little boys marooned on an Island in the Pacific made a pig's head their totem and then set about mocking and even killing those who would not worship it.
The merit of your position is you have a rational plan for disposing of your COMPAQ shares. As I understand it, the plan is flexible enough to allow for adjustment to even modest improvement in the share price in a bouyant market. The fact that this modest improvement has not been attained causes you disappointment and frustration but will not deflect your plan. Nevetherless, given that COMPAQ has massive assets built up by the previous management and given that the new management has made promises, then COMPAQ ought to be doing something positive, and if Capellas words are to have substance then it ought to be making announcements which might improve the share price to $27, or $30 or $32 in the short term. However, the failure to produce these announcment so far, and the past history of the company causes you to be on constant alert.
The difference between your position and others on this thread seems to be to be one of degree. How much is expected in the short to medium term (3 months to 9 nine months) and how much to rely on COMPAQ's integrity and the competence of its Chairman, BOD and Management.
The hopeful but sceptical question and analysis is greeted by the hypocrites with calls of "witch" and "heretic" and "long live COMPAQ, our Most Holy God". |
