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To: Jan Crawley who wrote (77991)	9/22/1999 11:34:00 AM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>>This is a dangerous game to long/short based on >>your own judgments. Hi Jan - I was being a bit facetious myself in replying to Olu's message. I actually don't read through annual reports, as they tend to come off as being more marketing literature than objective financial review. I do however, look at financial statements. The problem with "internet stock stories" is that it seems the investment banks would have us believe all the stories - and they would have us believe stories that are, perhaps, very optimistic (at least in my view). Case in point: Bottom Line Technologies (EPAY) - in case you haven't been following the action in this stock, it's been hammered over the past few months. It IPOed at 19 in Feb, rose to 98 in March on buy recommendations from several investment banks - apparently they liked the story - and amazingly, Bottomline was actually profitable. From March-July, it dropped to the mid-20s, and this morning it is trading at 15, below the IPO price, because they preannounced a loss. I have a friend that rode EPAY down from the mid 70s to the mid 30s - based on the buy recommendations from the investment banks. I guess EPAY's story has now changed (although I don't believe the same investment banks that had earlier buys have announced this). You have to wonder when investing in a stock if "playing the stories" is more profitable than the approach of "waiting until after the IPO mania has subsided and then relying on fundamentals". If a company has good fundamentals in the long term, there will always be plenty of upside after the mania subsides. Thanks, -Eric