M.H. Meyerson returns to profit, execs cash in
NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) - M.H. Meyerson & Co. Inc. , a small New Jersey brokerage firm, swung
back into the black in the fourth quarter, and its executives cashed in on the firm's soaring stock price.
The firm on Thursday said it earned a record $1.9 million profit, or 35 cents a share, in the fourth quarter
ended Jan. 31 on strong trading results. This compared with a loss of $860,000, or 17 cents a share loss,
i~nd quintupled from $2.8 million in the third quarter.
M.H. Meyerson's top executives earlier this month took some of their chips off the table when Internet
frenzy pushed up the firm's stock price almost sevenfold in three days, a Feb. 16 regulatory filing shows.
The rally started when M.H. Meyerson, which employs just 180 people, on Feb. 2 said it would set up an
online trading unit late this year.
Investors pushed up the firm's shares, as well as shares of other obscure brokerages that offer some
online trading, such as JB Oxford Holdings Inc. and Siebert Financial Corp. . JB Oxford and M.H.
Meyerson shares, which traded for less than a dollar apiece four months ago, hit $20 and more as
millions of shares changed hands.
On Feb. 4 and 5, as M.H. Meyerson's stock zoomed up to a record $21.88, the firm's chairman, Martin
Meyerson, and its vice chairman, Kenneth Koock, sold 610,002 shares and 250,000 shares, respectively.
Meyerson sold 100,000 shares at an average price of $15.98 a share on Feb 4; and an additional 110,002
shares at an average price of $9.60 a share the next day. Meyerson still owns some 2.5 million shares, or
44.5 percent of the firm's outstanding stock, after the transaction.
Koock sold 150,000 shares for an average price of $14.10 a share, and 14,625 shares at $11.13 a share.
Koock still owns 395,000 shares, including options covering 275,000 shares.
M.H. Meyerson's stock has fallen more than 75 percent from its Feb 4. high to trade at $5.25 on Thursday
afternoon.
Meyerson on Thursday was on vacation and Koock could not immediately be reached for comment. But
Eric Logan, one of the firm's executive vice presidents, said he would probably have sold too, had he been
able.
"The stock just went berserk," Logan said. "If I had stock to sell, I probably would have also."
Meyerson and Koock were not alone in cashing in on the phenomenal rise in the stocks of brokerages
that offer, or merely plan to offer, cybertrading. Executives of leading Internet brokerage E*Trade Group
Inc. recently sold some stock and a slew of shareholders of Nasdaq market maker Knight/Trimark Group
Inc. filed with the SEC to sell part of their stakes.
M.H. Meyerson, which is based in Jersey City, N.J., was founded in 1960. The firm, which employs some
40 stock traders and 25 trading assistants, generally derives more than three quarters of its revenues from
trading for its own account. The firm did not provide a breakdown of its revenues in the fourth quarter.
((--Jack Reerink/Wall Street Desk (212) 859-1725--))
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