airborn - I'll try to explain my understanding of the situation. It may not be true or false, but it's just an opinion.
If a company holds cash (e.g., IMRS, CRYSF, SPNSF, etc.), the market values its stock or its underlying business by subtracting the cash from the stock price. In SEEC's case, if they have cash of $5/sh, the stock's underlying business is worth $4plus. Does it make sense? No. You evaluate the P/E ratio on the basis of $4plus price, not $9plus. The reason someone would buy a company with a large cash horde is the same. The buyer gets the cash plus the underlying business (franchise value) cheap. CPQ deal with DEC is a good example. CPQ will take the cash from DEC's vault and use DEC's earnings, and pay off their debt. Do you really think SEEC's business is not worth $4plus? How come nobody is offering to buy? Don't worry, there will be buyers and vultures. I think the cash/share is the key to the success of all y2k stocks, regardless of questions about life after year 2000. Who cares about year 2000 or Euro, when I can buy a company at fifty cents on the dollar and turn around sell it for a dollar? If there are any mutual fund managers or arbitrageurs reading this post, my question is what is stopping them. Ram |
