Not go up from here to prior levels??? I'm curious. Why the pessimism on a company with UUNet, MFS(old), MMDS, overseas in Asia, Europe, projected 2001 earnings of ~$2.45, i.e. pe of!18, with growth rate in data and internet of around ~30%,i.e. PEG ratio of~.65 give or take , not be expected to double or triple in 3-5 years? Just don't get the pessimism.
"AH, the madness of crowds"...from a personal perspective, all this BS about the runup in biotechs has me baffled...This is NOT off topic. I'm a retired neurologist, used to prescibe Biogen's drug Avonex for MS, average cost of ~$1000/mo... Now give me a break! Who in God's name is going to pay for these megadrugs in the next decade when the average cost of developing a new drug to market in the US is $450! million?...the third world? the baby-boomers who are making overnight megabucks in stocks like INCY, BGEN, AMGN, and on and on...IMHO the immediate future for us babyboomers is in telecommunications since so much of the world is growing in that direction first..I think this drift of money away from the likes WCOM(with real earnings((nasty word)) into many of the dot.coms and biotechs is crazy at least for my time horizon of 3-5 years. Hope I didn't raise any hackles but that's the way one very tired doc sick of the medical/drug system in this country sees the world...FWIW I also keep about 60% of my portfolio in Fed secured funds...Just think, when you lie down to sleep at night how safe is the money in some of these ridiculous high fliers these days, when on any given day Tokoyo(sp) is hit with a citizen-detectable earthquake every HOUR? Their big one when it happens is going to pull alot of money out our our market.
Yeah, I'm paranoid, but I think we should all keep our eye on history that says, regarding the stock market and individual stocks, trees don't grow to the sky and WCOM is one of the safest longterm plays in the market...Please pardon the rant and forgive an old man who has owned this company since the dips in old MFS Communications days....Best to all, Jim Black |
