To All, Barron's was loaded with interesting stuff this week, mostly in the small pieces, not the main articles.
1. Abelson mentions the disparity between what AOL is paying per subscriber for Compuserve ($6.34) and what the great unwashed is paying per AOL subscriber ($1204) and notes that this looks like a wide difference in valuation. -g- However, he does not mention that AOL knows they are not going to get all the Compuserve people while AOL investors think they are getting many more subs than they really are. He did note the difference between paid subscibers a la revenue #s for AOL and the touty claims of mgt. BTW, the touty is my word, not his. 9 million claimed subs take a nice haircut to 6.4 million on reported revenues at $19.95 a pop, a dandy little 41 pct. buzzcut for AOL's pointy little head. Good stuff.
2. Abelson also touts Japan's market as being at a bottom. I agree it is very, very close with explosive upside ahead.
3. Gateway gets a great slam-dunk on page 10. I had to look twice to make certain this wasn't a direct copy from a note I wrote here earlier this week. -g- At least somebody in the media is showing some common sense about this co. IMHO, the only question will be how long until they call in Dr. Kerkorian. And a similarly inclined vet. -g-
4. Ascend gets a minor pat on the back from McNamee on page 30.
5. Microsoft gets a major hatchet job on page 33. Java's gonna bring them down to Earth.
6. Cedd Moses got canned at Calvert Funds. This guy is a momentum geek who had fabulous performance until the past two years, so he is history. What have you done for me lately? -g- Or, as they used to tell me at Waddell & Reed, you're only as good as your last trade. I don't believe in that philosophy, but obviously, some goofs who run socially conscious funds, do.
good luck, MB
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