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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Apollo who wrote (9255)	10/30/1999 8:22:00 PM
From: JohnG	Respond to of 54805

Snas. Selling Q. Holding solid myself--wouldn't dream of letting earnings spook me. I really think they will beat their earnings a little--however, the forward forecast should be great as component makers ramp up, Up, UP. JOhnG

To: Apollo who wrote (9255)	10/30/1999 8:27:00 PM
From: Apollo	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 54805

Like tekboy, thought I'd share a weekend story. I'm in Chicago for the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting, to give a lecture tomorrow. Exactly a year ago, I was in Toronto for the same reason. One year ago, before I'd read The Gorilla Game, I had invested $20,000 on a lark in a small medical products company named Sonus Pharmaceuticals. I knew almost nothing about the company, except that a friend of mine is one of the biggest traders for Hambrecht & Quist in Boston. He had bought in, because his friend had bought 250,000 shares. They were expecting FDA approval for Sonus's product, a contrast agent for cardiac echocardiography. If you've ever seen the pictures from Ultrasound, of the uterus, or heart or abdomen, they look very murky in many shades of gray and charcoal. Sonus's contrast agent would sharpen the pictures, in the niche of heart disease, the most common in Western Civilization. Sounded like a good story. A year ago this week, the stock proceeded to double, and I recommended it to my friends at the ACCP meeting. Wow, I thought, for once I'm on the INSIDE. Isn't that what Gordon Gekko told Bud, "If you're not INSIDE, you're OUTSIDE. Just like Tekboy, I had an inside advantage. Well, the FDA delayed its opinion for 6 months and the stock languished. In that time, I began to research its product and the company, following the Yahoo thread. I discovered that we had tested the product at our own research center, and discovered it was OK, but no great shakes; also that there was major competition; also that no insurer would reimburse a medical center for using this contrast agent (kind of a big deal in medicine); and finally that management was clumsy. Finally, my friend at H & Q, who earned ~ $1 million this past year, couldn't tell me anything about the fundamentals of the company. By April, I had read the Gorilla Game and quickly liked the rationale in it, and also realized that small cap one-trick pony Sonus was not even a shiny pebble. I sold Sonus for a miniscule profit, and reinvested the $20K into a company I had been watching, and which had just been declared a Gorilla on this new thread I had been following. That night, they reported their prodigious earnings surprise to the upside, and the next day, the stock went up $55. Lessons learned: 1. It's shocking how ill-informed traders and wall streeters can be; corollary to this......it's shocking how much people can make without being informed. 2. It's shocking how successful at investing the private investor can be, especially with access to information on the Information Highway. So many on this thread are testimony to that. 3. Know the fundamentals. 4. Don't dick around trying to time the Q. Apollo

To: Apollo who wrote (9255)	10/30/1999 11:00:00 PM
From: voop	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 54805

If FranQ is looking for a second opinion, I agree with your analysis. I believe he is suffering from a form of schizophrenia, with a split personality call selling addiction that pops up on from time to time mainly on the Q threads and morphs into the genteel calming voice of reason King Solomon when judging his loyal subjects. Treatment options include institutionalization with the subject required to count each and every shiny pebble on the NASDAQ exchange followed by couseling sessions with day traders. More severe cases may require the implantation of a Q ASIC in the olfactory nerve to enhance the smell of money. I do think the prognosis is excellent given the superior support group that the patient has available. Dr Voop

To: Apollo who wrote (9255)	10/30/1999 11:28:00 PM
From: Uncle Frank	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Many thanks to the thread for the wonderful advice on Q. Since there is a lot of momentum talk going around, I thought this would be a good weekend topic. It has certainly been lively <g>. Q has been the most rewarding investment of my career, and as Lindy Bill predicted in March, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Q has a history of making higher highs and higher lows, and I wouldn't dream of letting the possibility of a short term correction tempt me into trying to time it. But I do appreciate the offers for therapy by several of our thread physicians. I hope the reactions to my post by some of the brightest and most successful investors on SI will help any of you with a weak grip to stay the qourse. Casino opens in 33h 35m, uf