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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (8708)	10/21/1999 5:59:00 PM
From: Jurgis Bekepuris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78650

Actually, tech/growth at value prices is the best investment to be found. Sometimes it's difficult to hold a conviction though. I missed ADBE, ORCL, QCOM, LU, NOK, EMC for this reason and lack of cash. I can swear that I investigated all of these companies at PSR < 1.5. Well, hindsight is 20/20. Currently looking at APCC, DBD universe (including NCR, PAYX, FDC), T, RTRSY. APCC, DBD, T are the front targets, but I have too little cash. :-( It's important to avoid the Novells of the tech land though. They are neither value nor growth. Jurgis P.S. Did you hold the HLIT to the spectacular run?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (8708)	10/21/1999 6:44:00 PM
From: jeffbas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 78650

I own a number of small tech stocks that I bought as value plays, not necessarily balance sheet value. CCUR, XICO, ELTX, SEMI are examples. The first 2 have moved out of that category. Trying to identify value tech stocks has cost me more money than anything else in my investing career. For example, I bought XICO in 1994 over VTSS for its larger size and vastly better balance sheet at the time. VTSS is up 50-100 times; XICO has round-tripped and is recovering again, now about triple my cost. IN TECHNOLOGY INVESTING THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ARE QUALITY OF MANAGEMENT AND GROWTH. Everything else is secondary.

To: Sam Citron who wrote (8708)	10/21/1999 8:49:00 PM
From: Michael Burry	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78650

I just go for what has value. To me, ignoring tech doesn't make sense. I've done well with Apple, Oracle, American Power this year. IMO, applying traditional value criteria to tech is deadly, because there is usually a reason it looks like a value, and it is too technical to understand. So in tech I look for: 1) Big, Buffett-like established companies with tremendous cash-generating ability that are out of favor despite a franchise on something 2) Small techs trading at about cash with no debt. They usually do well in my experience. In tech, good management is rare and when it is present limits become merely a figment. But for an outsider to somehow judge this before the Street does - I don't know that it is possible.

To: Sam Citron who wrote (8708)	10/22/1999 11:58:00 AM
From: Paul Senior	Respond to of 78650

Sam Citron: I've been mulling your post about tech investing vs. value investing. There are many aspects to what you say, and I believe a very complicated discussion is required to adequately address those aspects. Briefly, yes, a combination of value investing and tech investing can be "prudent". I've seen one media analyst refer to one academic study that concluded this. Some investing styles are more successful than others at different times, and since the style apparently cannot be predicted in advance, then an investor whose portfolio encompasses more than one style may, in my estimation, "do well" over a long time span. Here you've read about people buying tech stocks using value criteria. That's a method that works. But has drawbacks. First, imo, it requires patience to wait for, and find, The "bargain". More significantly, it often means applying value criteria to the sell decision as well. And that suggests the investor may sell too soon and miss very large runnups as the stock leaps past "fair value". Another aspect of tech/growth investing would be to purchase stocks by not using value criteria at all. For value investors that would involve managing a (small.) portion of one's portfolio in a totally different style - separate from value investing. So, for example, purchasing internet stocks based on price to expected revenues or based on media hyperbole or perhaps biotechs on price to R&D or perhaps an index S&P 500-- these areas might lead to significant profits. In this way, in today's internet-popular market or high cap market, the investor who combines (in the portfolio) investing styles has a chance to participate in possibly significant trends. Why value investors might be loath to do this, is possibly related to a proclivity to focus on looking at investments from a risk/reward standpoint. And the risks sometimes look very great. Paul Senior