>>>>I was reminded by the annual report that APM has been around for
>>>>40 years. <<
>> NO! APM's parent company has been around a while, APM was spun
>>off as a money loosing venture. The way they started making money
>>is by gettig rid of most of the management.
I am sorry, but my records on APM only go back to 1978 and most of those years they did make money (exceptions were 1990, 91, 94-96). So how far are you going back when you say they were a spin-off and were a money-losing venture? I don't have anything one way or the other as to them being owned by somebody else during their history and I am curious. But my records show that p/e values varied from 7-12 typically and almost every year since 1978, fluxuations in their stock price have been large (>factor of 2 in 8 of 13 years from 1978-1994).
Donald I.
P.S. to Alan S.: I concur with your opinions. I continue to have a long position, but I would shed most of it if some bunch of nutters drove APM back up to the $20-30 region (of course, half of my shares were bought at $2.75 in Dec. 94, which shows why investing will have to remain a part-time affair with me because I have not figured out when to SELL). With the type of variations APM does, I simply failed to recognize that this wild up and down variation meant that APM was not a long term investment for anybody over a longer time line than 2-3 years. I won't be surprised if it dropped to below book value in price and I don't expect to see any significant recovery until it appears that they will be making money again. Remember that what this company is doing in the next quarter or so won't affect the price near as much as conclusions as to what their sales will be doing a year from now. Since nobody knows much of anything in this technology that far in advance, getting too heavily into any single company will likely cause you pain. Since I couldn't decide which disk company was most likely to come out on top, but SEG, QNTM, and WDC all make drives I have been happy with, I decided to buy a little of each since I am fairly certain that at least 2 of those 3 should be pretty good buys right now. So that's my thinking, and any experienced trader reading this line of thought is probably irritated, but relieved....... i.e., irritated in that it shows my ignorance, but relieved in that they can sleep better knowing that there will continue to be a source of money for those who understand buying AND selling of stocks! ;-) |
