<In any case, I liked your PCTV arb, so I stole a chunk at 7 1/4. I may already be a winner. Did you manage to get any more?>
That's funny. I missed the whole deal. I could see something important was happening when MCI bought in. And then when Sprint bought a position it was again obvious.
Then I looked at this arb deal and again missed it. In this case I entered in order with a limit of seven dollars. My concerns were simply that in four months the market will have a serious correction and I'll want the cash. So instead of going for the sure deal, I wait for something else.
I really don't know enough about the other wireless cable providers to make a recommendation. PCTV seems to the doing pretty well considering the difficulties that had introducing the services. They had a base of about 90,000 television subscribers, a significant cash position, and they'd raised cash selling some marginal holdings. I think there work with Speedchoice, their Internet offering, has been good. Despite the blockades, they found ways to make one-way digital useful and they seem to of worked with big car companies such as Ford in their Detroit area.
C.A. I. Wireless was a high-profile stock about two years ago, but I think they had problems with poor management and their debt situation is a big problem. A lot of the other wireless service areas are held by RBOC's. I think BellSouth and PacTel have also been trying to make go out of this service.
There are some equipment suppliers such as Stanford Telecom, Hybrid, California Microwave, and Harmonic Lightwaves. In general, It Looks like Harmonic Lightwaves has an interesting position. They are planning a secondary offering and it might make sense that the investment banks will do what they can to boost this company. They broke out of the trading range this last for several years. It seems clear that a lot of money is going to be spent on upgrading the cable systems.
On the other hand, I wonder if the split in AT&T stock will give this company to push on to new highes? It seems to me they're in all the right places now. They have a strong position in wireless, cable and Internet services. I think there's also huge Intellectual Property that could be used for so many things. One assumes the knowledge of Bell labs was passed on to Lucent, but I think AT&T holds a lot of patents is well.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear someone is making money on this PCTV. I have a difficult time making good investments now because the market is open when I should be sleeping. Here in Australia the market now opens at 11:30 p.m. and closes at 6 a.m. I'm always amazed at how Stitch seems to be able to do so well working from Asia.
Regards, Mark |
