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Technology Stocks : barnesandnoble.com (BNBN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: peacelover who wrote (280)	6/15/1999 5:08:00 PM
From: Stephen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 766

peacelover, It sounds like you have a pretty good handle on whats going on. Secondary & tertiary nets had mixed results today ... and the 'blue chips' like AMZN were due a technical bounce from an oversold position and shorts closing out before the CPI. Comparing BNBN with AMZN is not quite comparing apples with apples ...... firstly AMZN is the leader of the e-commerce group - some would say proven leader. To prove this point, when Steve Harmon was asked the question why BNBN was being lambasted by analysts (not that I was aware of this actually happening), his response was ' BNBN - followers vs leaders'. AMZN's management is admired by many analysts because they are totally focused on the net and expansion, both in customers and products. They offer a broader range of products than BNBN and have a large positive cash flow ... though given their margins they have to keep growing to maintain this effect, especially as some of the newer products have lower margins than the original books they sold. So relative valuations are questionable. The management of BNBN have to prove themselves going forward. If they standstill and just aim to be the internet brother of BKS ... they will go nowhere fast. From what I have read, that is not the intention ... but its time for show & tell ... and they need to start pushing in different directions .. or at least have a plan on how they intend to expand. And they need to communicate that to the analysts. One of my doubts about BNBN was that I felt the BKS management were diffident to their investors. I am hoping that the guy in charge of BNBN is rather better .... but who knows ... Now .... as for valuations .... if the internet is to be the mega arena of the future BNBN has a great opportunity to be part of it ... in a big way given the backing they have. So everyone has to place their bets !!!. Certainly BNBN is not on the same page as AMZN when it comes to market cap ...... but if they execute maybe someday they will be !! Frankly .. even if management & strategy prove to be insipid, there's not too much risk here, given that come the holiday period the e-tailers are all likely to soar. So ... I've bought twice recently ... and will see how the management performs. They have about 5 months to get their act together (GG). Hope this helps ... and if anyone disagrees or wanst to add something, please do .... Regards Stephen