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Strategies & Market Trends : LastShadow's Position Trading -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: U Up U Down who wrote (22315)	9/24/1999 3:50:00 PM
From: Redhook	Respond to of 43080

Just saw VFND go over 3 again. ALTN my sleeper pick

To: U Up U Down who wrote (22315)	9/24/1999 5:05:00 PM
From: Jeffrey Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 43080

George, FYI pulled from YHOO ... since only 1/4 left not overly concerned but will jump at open if momo ends <g>. Briefing.com VirtualFund.com (VFND) 2 27/32 +31/32: All it takes for a stock to take off short term is a casual comment that VFND is the next CMGI from Red Herring. Today's comment caused hundreds of traders to jump on the stock. Most don't really care if VirtualFund really is the next CMGI, they just want to have some inventory to sell to the next guy to come along who does think it is the next CMGI, or, more likely today, the next guy who wants some inventory to sell to... Well, you get the idea. Eventually, of course, there is someone who shows up who thinks it really is the next CMGI, and those investors take it off the hands of the traders. There are only two ways to play situations like this: get in there first, grab the early inventory of stock. No argument here; lots of Briefing.com readers do this, but please, make sure you know what you are doing, and why. If you go in on one like this, get out quick, especially if the stock tanks. Nothing works all the time. We continually get emails all the time from people who became long-term holders because a daytrade didn't work out and they refuse to take a loss. Don't be one of them. The other way to play it, of course, is to find out if VFND really is the next CMGI. The risk is that it is more like the next Zapata (ZAP) than CMGI. (If you aren't familar with ZAP, check the Briefing.com archives to see how Zapata tried to go from the fish-oil business to net-giant.) We actually came across VirtualFund at the beginning of the summer, when the name showed up on a corporate action list. We thought it was a mutual fund of some kind, took a look at the company, and found out it is a manufacturer of high-quality specialty printers for professional applications, like sign shops. Morever, printer sales were declining, and the company was running out of cash. And two months ago, their web site featured products about printers. We passed on it. But look at the web site now, and it looks like they own a stable of companies! Most of these "companies" were listed as divisions of VirtualFund just a month ago (note how many are "wholly owned.") Now they also are listing a separate part of the company as VirtualFund@Ventures 1, just like CMGI does (CMGI@Ventures III is their latest venture fund.) Note the web site lists these companies as "Organizational Structure Pending." What you are seeing in VirtualFund.com is a hardware printing company that hit hard times, and is transferring itself, as quickly as possible, into something that looks like an internet company. They've chosen CMGI as the model, but with just $251,000 in cash on their balance sheet, they can't exactly be big investors in much. Before you become a big investor in the "next CMGI" make sure you do some due diligence. We saw their web site two months ago. The change between then and now is so dramatic, and so different, it begs more inquiries. It is one thing to look like CMGI, a very different thing to live up to it. (Also suggested: look up Batesian mimicry in a biology book.) - RVG * Volume so far today: 3,683,200 * Average Daily Volume: 45,000 * Float/Outstanding: 10.10 million / 15.78 million