I wonder how many of the execs at SIEB and JBOH did this as well. God knows that they must have felt the same as MHMY's. My favorite lines,
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.''
Now I derive no pleasure from another's loss and am not trying to rub it into your face. The stock will go where it will regardless of my opinion of it. I am saying this as "public service message". You can take it or not, it has no affect on me.
These stocks will go back to where their 200 day moving average is. Their sales and earnings growth does not justify their valuations, even by "Internet" standards.
Those who hope for a take over are indulging themself in wishful thinking. Large brokerages do not make their money from comissions. This is why the big fat ones like MER are still big and fat. The name of the game is "asset accumulation". That's why you want rich clients who can buy (and hold) large positions; Not those who trade a thousand shares 10 times a day. Next to asset accumulation, the money is made by underwriting and margin loans. Again it is the size of the clients' pockets that matters and not their quantity. Finaly, since attracting the clientle of micro-brokerages is not a goal, the cost benefit analysis favors an in-house developement of the web access, *if* a web access is desired to begin with. This is because it will be far easier to integrate the new system into the existing one and there are no legal issue (like ending up with a law suite for something that the small brokerage has [or has not] done).
Do yourself a favor and get back as much of your money as you can. Something is better than nothing.
best regards,
Sun Tzu
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