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To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (74586)	8/18/1999 10:04:00 PM
From: KeepItSimple	Respond to of 164684

Dollar slips to Y111.30, lowest since Jan 13 TOKYO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped to 111.30 yen in mid-morning Tokyo trade on Thursday, its lowest level since January 13, pressured by persistent speculative sales led by overseas operators, dealers said.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (74586)	8/19/1999 1:57:00 AM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

From TheStreet.com: thestreet.com ======================== A Passing Remark About priceline.com Raises Serious Concerns By Aaron L. Task Senior Writer 8/18/99 8:55 PM ET The Mouth and the Manager NEW YORK -- Several emailers pointed out Ralph Acampora recanted his neutral stance last Friday on Wall Street Week, one week after turning neutral on the same program. While I appreciate the heads-up (on this or anything pertinent), it was far from the most interesting part of the show. The program got about as provocative as it can get when Jim Callinan, manager of the RS Emerging Growth fund, said priceline.com (PCLN:Nasdaq) is "triple counting or quadruple counting revenue." Callinan was answering Louis Rukeyser's question about Internet stocks he doesn't like. Amazingly, the fund manager's inflammatory reply didn't generate so much as a "come again?" from the host or any of the panelists. I can't imagine something like that happening on TheStreet.com's TV show. Even if I'm not there. I seized the initiative and called Callinan, who backtracked a bit, saying he meant to say priceline.com is "double counting" revenue. That isn't as bad as triple or quadruple, but having read Herb Greenberg, I can assure you it certainly isn't "good," especially if you're long. "What I meant by that is they count as revenue the actual price of the ticket as if they were a retailer," Callinan explained. "It's [generally accepted accounting principals] but it's a way to get more revenue intensity and better price-to-revenue valuation for your company." Callinan isn't allowed to short stocks in the RS Emerging Growth fund. Moreover, "at this price I wouldn't short it, but I wouldn't own it" either, he said. "I don't like the business model. It's heavily dependent on a few airline companies. [Chairman Rick Braddock] has the right idea in terms of efficiency of what they're doing [but] I wouldn't give him credit for the revenue he gets for the ticket. I would give him credit for the revenue net of the ticket." Brian Ek, a priceline.com spokesman, (surprise) categorically denied Callinan's accusation. "We make the spread between the amount the customer buys it for from us and what we can buy it for from the airline," Ek said. "What you see in our gross revenue is the price of the ticket as sold to the customer." Callinan could not be reached for rebuttal. Still, I suspected there was something significant about Ek's use of the term "gross revenue" vs., say, net revenue. (Remember, dumb spelled backwards is "mud.") For an objective opinion, I called Bob Willens, managing director and tax and accounting analyst at Lehman Brothers. Given priceline.com takes the risk of reselling the goods vs. acting as an agent who earns a commission, "they should be reporting revenues in that manner," Willens said. "It is totally appropriate." For the record, priceline.com reported revenue of $111.56 million for the three months ended June 30, up from just over $7 million in the prior year. But "revenues in and of themselves don't tell you a lot," Willens said. "The idea is to be profitable." Ah, so it's a profit game. priceline.com didn't fare as well on that front. The company's total cost of revenue (mainly, what they paid for the tickets) was $101 million, leaving it with gross profits of $10.5 million. Minus expenses and adding interest income, the company reported a net loss of $14.3 million or 10 cents a share. priceline.com supporters no doubt cheer that the EPS loss was narrower than the 17 cents per share loss a year ago. But note, the firm had 81.3 million shares outstanding at the end of June last year vs. 142.3 million this year. A fairer comparison, I'd suggest, is "net loss applicable to common shareholders" (that's you), which totaled $14.3 million this year vs. $13.9 million a year ago. Maybe that's why priceline.com's stock has fallen more than 50% from its April 30 high of 162 3/8. Today, the stock rose 1% to 70 3/4. Willens didn't know and Lehman's PR department didn't respond to inquiries as to whether the firm has done any underwriting for priceline.com. ======================== -Eric