I went to Motley Fools (I don't usually use this type of site because I have successfully relied primarily on technical analysis and the news on the National Discount Brokers screen) and got lots of information on the suits. I will also read the 1.17 WSJ article the next time I am at the library. I appreciate your responding.
By your indicating that you are going to get back in, are you saying that you also believe the company management is not at fault as regards the misinformation the suits are alleging?
From a technical analysis/Wall Street action patterns viewpoint, the correction started in early November. long before the 1/17 article appeared. The price went down to $18.39 on February 7th just below good support at 20 and initially stayed well above super support at 15ish.
The overall upmove seems to have started in 1995 at around 2 and ended, after 3 other peaks and valleys in '98 and '99, in Nov. 2000 at $48.75.
This correction and even the correction down to $17.13 in 10/98 does not seem like its overdone, in light of a 23x upmove, to those of us that normally trade technology stocks.
In terms of Wall Street patterns (WSP), the worst news often comes out just before the stock turns up.
In summary, as you have indicated, from a TA/WSP viewpoint, matched up with PPD's unblemished earnings and revenue growth record echoed by the 20% annual new membership rate being experienced by the Arizona law firm suggests that PPD is a good buy in the very low 20's or the mid to high teens.
Can anyone help me with the member retention rate. An IBD article suggested that the loss rate is as high as 40%?
Can anyone also help me with the associate productivity rate? I know that associates are asked to sell at least five memberships in the first six months. On the web site, Mr. Stonechiper says that new memberships in 1999 increased by just over 525,000 while new associates increased by just over 92,500? If 92,500 new associates plus the existing associates sold 525,000 memberships, the membership productivity rate per associate is in the mid to low single digits. Am I getting this right or missing something? Is it the case that a modest number of the associates sell most of the memberships?
Finally, I wanted to again state that my initial experiences as a member with the Arizona law firm have been excellent. I am writing to Mr. Stonechiper letting him know about how happy I am.
Best wishes to all. |
