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Non-Tech : E*Trade (NYSE:ET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spytrdr who wrote (9921)	12/15/1999 2:43:00 PM
From: 10K a day	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13953

I think the problem here, spytrdr, Is you are just an Honest, Good Guy....That is a Problem.

To: Spytrdr who wrote (9921)	12/16/1999 11:54:00 PM
From: Spytrdr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13953

Press Releases Speak Volumes By James J. Cramer 12/16/99 5:27 PM ET Eureka! I have found the sexiest press release of the week, in a week filled with tantalizing press releases. It came out this morning and had the desired effect: It goosed both stocks. I was thrilled; I am long Portal Software (PRSF:Nasdaq), one of the two companies involved. But that's not the point. In an era where venture capitalists are more like producers, deals are more about buzz and sizzle than about substance, and the game is about identifying hot trends and not good earnings, this one is worth spending some time on. First, the lead of the release: "BEA Systems (BEAS:Nasdaq), Inc., the E-Commerce Transactions Company (TM), today announced a strategic alliance with Portal Software, a leading provider of customer management and billing software for Internet and emerging next-generation communications services." What a delicious mouthful of goodies! Let's break it down. First, BEA gets in a pointed jab, with a trademark yet, that it is "the E-Commerce Transactions Company." That, for the uninitiated, is the fabled B2B everyone wants. Then Portal Software hits you with a right uppercut that it is "a leading provider of customer management and billing software," which is the rage area right now. Customer retention. Customer evaluations. Customer pleasing. Customer beckoning and calling. This is the stuff that does it. And then the combination is complete: Portal does this magical act for whom? "The Internet and emerging next-generation communications services." Pow pow pow, right to the canvas with that one. Portal works on companies that sell DSL. It works on cable modems. It works on next-level switches. Oh man, bears take a seven-count! The rest of the release simply fleshes out these products and makes it clear that these two companies are in the right segments of the right markets. This was one of those releases where we joked internally about which company got the better part of the release. I thought it was Portal. But by the end of the day it was nothing but BEA, and my little Portal remained stalled at around par (or 100). In 1999, may it be remembered that these kinds of announcements -- and not return on equity, or book value, or price to sales, or internal rate of return, or price-to-earnings ratio, or quick ratios, or the multiple -- determine the direction of stock. Now there is something they don't teach you at business school.