Andrew; RE: "I bought some AMAT today..."
...so did I, Andrew. When the NAZ hit -50, I did the following :
(1) bought-to-cover all of my outstanding CALLS.
(2) rolled those profits (cash) into JAN2000 LEAPS: MSFT/INTC/DELL.
...of course, my equity capital in MSFT/INTC/DELL shares went down today, along with everything else in my Long Term Portfolio.
(3) bought 500s CPQ @ 70 AVG.
(4) bought 500s LU @ 83-3/8.
(5) bought 500s AMAT @ 40-5/16.
(6) bought 10 QNQEU QNTM MAY 37.5 CALLS @ 6-1/2.
...as QNTM came out and pre-announced that they would beat First Call, (but within analyst's higher-end estimates).
So, you were not alone, Andrew. This downgrade you speak of...
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - BancAmerica Robertson
Stephens analyst Sue Billat said she downgraded a group of
semiconductor equipment stocks based on current valuations and
on uncertainty in the second half of 1998.
-- Billat said she went to a long-term attractive from a
buy on the sector including companies such as Applied Materials
Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT), Etec Systems (NASDAQ:ETEC), KLA-Tencor Inc (NASDAQ:KLAC),
Photronics Inc (NASDAQ:PLAB) and PRI Automation Inc (NASDAQ:PRIA).
-- Billat said the high valuations in the sector cannot be
supported, due to uncertainty going forward.
-- "There is a lethargic PC market, disappointing earnings
announcements from LSI Logic, Intel and Compaq and against this
backdrop, the semiconductor equipment industry is nearing an
opportunity to convert (to new manufacturing technology),"
Billat said. "We have got an increasing level of uncertainty in
the second half (of next year)."
...is a little late, n'est-ce pas ? I mean to say, AMAT is down -20% when this nice lady says, "...they only look attractive to me now..." Well, Duh! (^_^)
Now as IQBAL counsels, we still have BigBlue and Ms.Softie to digest; and if they say something bad, well - we all bail toute suite. Into what, I don't know; but IQBAL will help us find something.
Else, it makes more sense to buy stocks (as you did) when everyone else is discounting them like crazy to get you to buy them, please!
But it is hard to do sometimes, when it looks like the whole world is about to fall apart: I commend your courage.
I wish both of us luck, Andrew. Put in a nice STOP-LOSS, wherever your pain threshold is, and don't change it: plenty of fish in sea.
bient“t, Andrew
-Steve
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