<< I have always maintained that it is actually the short position that has manipulated this stock in the past and should be the focus of the current SEC
investigation. If there are those on this thread that don't believe the media is influanced and can't be fed false information, then look whose naive.>>
Neil, quit playing martyr. When the bulls tout this story, they are wildly optimistic and have to use stretched estimates. They use phrases like "short squeeze" and "next Xerox" and "100% growth rates! Well, this story is three years old and the earnings can still be measured in pennies. Maybe the hy-pe will come through and everyone on this thread can say "I told you so!" Fine. But, to date, this story has been Hope and Dreams. All this stuff has gotten the stock to a market-cap that has nothing to do with the fundamentals.
Now for the shorts, they have said things like "SEC investigation!" and "Howtek" and "Centronics" and "Insider selling" and "High mkt cap to revs" and "No plate earnings yet" and "The little runin that Lutts had with the SEC."
Now you want to tell me that the nasty shorts planted a story in the mid '90s about Bob Howard and Bob Finkelstein being the same person. Well, I believe that that story was planted by certain longs in the scheme to discredit the shorts from the beginning! Aside from that BS, what have the shorts done other than tell the other side of the story ... and with a little less gusto than the longs?
I'll make a deal with you. You quit griping about the shorts manipulation of this stock and I'll quit chiding the Chicago boys and the MMs.
This saga has given me a great idea.
There's this little service company that hauls away the garbage for Intel. It is going to put out a press release that trumpets its new "joint venture" with Intel. Look! Immediate respectability! It's repeat business! Then we get a whale of an underwriter to do an IPO. If we can get the guy out of the Penn and Mr. Cabot to make some "reasonable" earnings projections ((43cents $2.50, $5.00, $12.00, $20.00) we can really get this thing going! Then we'll have some of the large holders take profits by shorting against the box thereby making a very large short position. Then we'll just show that large short position to investors and say "Look! A short Squeeze is coming!" Then when the stock goes way up, we can do one of those Reg whatevers and sell some paper to some unsuspecting furriners!
What a plan! (Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is strictly coincidental and is meant only for humorous purposes)
Jim Finkelstein |
