KB
HAL for me was a two-hour wonder (ten minutes to close to out by 6 PM EST). I'm going to be watching and listening to what people here say about it but I was only kidding, I don't want MORE asbestos exposure.
You know my favorite MDR chart, the one with the nine moves averaging 50% since late 99.
stockcharts.com[h,a]dhclyymy[d19991001,20011024][pb50!b200!d20,2!c20!f][vc60][iut!Ub14!Ua12,26,9!Lg!Lk14!Lh14,3!Ll14]
You may be right, the move may be over and its back to single digits. I lightened up by about 25% and wish I had sold more. I still have hopes (along with Koll and Razor and a few other MDR nutballs) about a favorable decision in the NOLA court. I mean the asbestos crowd can't always get their way, right? RIGHT?
It may be a damaged stock but remember that the underlying businesses, including B&W, are looking very healthy. The JRay backlog alone may be approaching 2B and some people are excited about GLBL with its 200MM backlog. GLBL and ALL of MDR have the same market cap. MDR is really an asset play, a bet that somehow we will get beyond the asbestos crap and unlock the underlying value.
That said, this asbestos litigation is a real quagmire. I was surprised by the HAL verdicts. I wonder whether the plaintiffs had diagnosed cases of asbestosis rather than just symptoms. HAL lawyers complained that they were not allowed to introduce evidence that the plaintiffs may have been affected by other factors such as smoking. That seems odd since, unlike smoking, scientific evidence on the effects of asbestos exposure alone is very unproven. How the hell did the tobacco companies win all those cases when the evidence was so damning and statistics of physical damage so overwhelming? Maybe the asbestos defendants need to hire the lawyers who defended the tobacco companies.<ggg>
Luck,
John |
