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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly?
MSFT 456.91-0.5%3:59 PM EST
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To: Joan Osland Graffius who wrote (2407)7/25/1997 12:13:00 AM
From: Ibexx   of 74651
 
Joan,

Bill Gates and friends could never be acused of being conventional. They wouldn't have achieved software dominance if they had been; so many big, powerful high tech companies were ahead of them at one time or another.

Coming back to the present situation: I think they are smart in playing down excessive exuberance in order to prevent the bursting of a speculative bubble (remember NSCP?). It is a lot healthier for companies to operate within normal parameters of things, without undue pressure from Wall Street to meet the "whisper numbers.". I know, cuz I spent most of my professional career within Corporate America. As the simpliest example: when pressure for earnings was too severe, it became impossible to think strategically and/or implement long-term plans.

And it is no hidden secret that Bill and friends want to purchase their own shares at the cheap, even though they could sell puts as an alternative. I am not close enough to the current corporate rules to know whether there might be a difference.

A third benefit of Microsoft's attempt to talk down its stock might be--my own speculation only--that Bill and friends want the investment community to have the right mindset: eps surprises are a gift, not a given. I happen to agree and think this is an important message.

Let's see if Bill can break the mystic of "whispers". If so, the manipulative herd of WS would have lost much of its power, and small investors would stand to benefit greatly.

Rambling as usual,
Ibexx
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