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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: codawg who wrote (26791)	7/19/1999 9:49:00 PM
From: t2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

I get the sense Maffei is saving a big surprise for the analyst meeting. That is why he was evasive on the tracking stock issue. That is the one thing that makes me believe MSFT will do very well on a relative basis. I think Maffei is interested in keeping shareholders happy. If the market declines, he won't really be disappointed. However, if MSFT continues to lag its competitors, he won't be happy with the prospect of giving employees reasons to leave for "greener pastures" like IBM. If this earnings report causes a stock specific decline, he would do something to add support at the analyst meeting. He is an exceptional manager of the stock price. What i find happening many times is that stocks run up to analyst meetings---it really prevents an imediate post earnings news vacuum from occuring. If there is a big selloff tomorrow(i doubt it), i would expect a bounce going into the meeting with some anticipation of a blockbuster announcement. It is such a hard thing to be bullish on a stock like MSFT and bearish (somewhat) on the market itself near term. It is a new thing for me with my limited investment experience---have only been bullish in the past. Makes it really tough to make decisions. I don't know how others manage it. Oh yeah---buy and hold works.

To: codawg who wrote (26791)	7/20/1999 9:05:00 AM
From: Wahoo96	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Thanks codawg & taxman for your responses. What you said codawg was what I had suspected and also is what I consider a poor deal for current MSFT shareholders. The way I see it, the only real value right now in owning an internet company is the actual posession of it's stock. Since almost all internet companies are losing money faster than a toilet can flush, having the right to their earnings stream is pretty darn worthless right now. However, given the Wall St. mania, actual posession of their stock is worth quite a lot. So, if the only way for current MSFT shareholders to get hold of the actual stock is to buy it in the open market like every other John Doe, then I as a shareholder would vote against any tracking stock. The only people to benefit would be the lucky (or well-connected) ones who were able to snap up a few shares before they quadrupled and then your buy order executes and you get screwed. Or, the executives that Bill hires who get the stock for free. And I'm sure Bill would find a way to issue himself a good number of the shares as well. Good luck to all MSFT shareholders, Craig