chirdoc, i really must apologize for the reference to amazon.com. very bad analogy!
actually i did have aol fairly early, but not until it became clear that steve case knew how to put prodigy away and make a dent in compuserve. aol is a company easily underestimated. amgen is not anything i felt i knew enough about to venture into. i hate being too reliant on the opinions/expertise of someone i don't know. so i pass on that one. without biotechnology, i can live. cisco certainly was way ahead of me for quite a while. no doubt you bought it long before i did.
but stocks like dell, oracle, and computer associates represented wonderful opportunities to get in at bargain basement levels. out of favor, under $10, and with a future, even when concensus was that they were near death.
guess i was thinking outloud about your passion for checkfree. but, have you been in for the past 2 years? it was just under $30 2 years ago, in the doldrums since, and only in october of 1997 returned to the lofty heights of 1995.
if one wants to be on the leading edge, ahead of the curve, etc., there is a cost. timing in the face of uncertainty is very risky business indeed. i want returns not bragging rights. i may take 1or 2 positions a year in companies that have never made money, but i never pay more than $12 for them.
i did not intend any disparagement in remarking on your enthusiasim for checkfree. i just noted that i did not share your optimism.
ray |
