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Biotech / Medical : VISX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: W Shakespeare who wrote (1528)	1/20/2000 7:45:00 PM
From: J. Plesha	Respond to of 1754

I am Still waiting for all of the analysts to finish trashing the stock and the stock to consolidate a little. I like it alot but it will take a little while to consolidate and get some real investors into the stock, Instead of the fly by night momentum investors. I am really sorry my worst case senario came true. Especially since they made their numbers. :-( Wait for the shock to wear off and we should get a dead cat bounce, if the analysts allow it. You can sell it then if you want. It should retest 30 again before it can go up. I personally would wait to see what happens to the fundamentals of the company. This is all my Opinion and in no way be used as investment advice. I am only describing what I have seen in the past. Take care longs, all I can say is been there done that, and nothing stops it from hurting. Joe P.

To: W Shakespeare who wrote (1528)	1/20/2000 10:05:00 PM
From: Robert G. Harrell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1754

Hi W. According to my notes, they didn't even concede that they had lost business to competitors. My notes say "no dramatic market share changes." For anyone thinking about taking the tax loss, don't hesitate. I got clobbered in Global Crossing when they got in the big dispute with Quest over who was going to buy US West and ? (I forget)and sat on it for a long time. Finally one day a light went on and I realized I was sitting on a nice tax loss which fortunately I could use. At the time there was no prospect of the stock going back up any time soon. I did the calculations and realized that even if it went up $9 before I could buy it back, I would be ahead taking the tax loss. By day 25 after I had sold for the tax loss, the stock had only drifted up 2 or 3 points and then someone announced on day 26 a big merger that put all the companies with cable in play and it started running up. Close but no cigar. I think I ended up paying about $20 more to buy it back after the wash sale period had passed. The sooner you sell after the disaster, the more likely you'll be able to buy back for about the same price after 31 days. A lesson from the school of hard knocks. Bob

To: W Shakespeare who wrote (1528)	1/21/2000 3:17:00 AM
From: Thai Chung	Respond to of 1754

Visx Down 31% On Flat Sequential Procedure Growth No further information is available at this time. No further information is available at this time. By Johanna Bennett NEW YORK -- Shares of Visx Inc. (VISX), the nation's largest maker of lasers used in vision-correcting surgery, fell 33% Thursday after the company reported that demand for procedures using its surgical laser in the fourth quarter did not grow from the third quarter. Shares of Visx were trading Thursday morning at 30 9/16, down 14 13/16, or 32.6%, after exchanging more than 8.5 million shares, compared with average daily volume of 3.1 million. The hectic trading action stemmed from the company's fourth-quarter earnings report released Wednesday evening after the market closed. Despite meeting the Street's earnings expectations of 38 cents a share and showing increased demand for the surgical procedures since last year, the sequential growth in the number of procedures performed using Visx's lasers was flat, analysts said. The news took many by surprise, launching a selling spree of Visx shares and compelling several Wall Street analysts to lower either their ratings for the stock or cut their views. "We have been knocked for a loop," said Banc of America Securities analyst Kurt Kruger. Visx shares have fallen significantly over the last six weeks, starting in early December when the Federal Trade Commission ruled that a Japanese rival, Nidek, could import its lasers into the U.S. Nidek, like Visx, manufactures and sells surgical lasers used to correct vision problems such as nearsightedness. But unlike Visx, Nidek does not charge doctors a fee for each procedure performed using its laser. For Visx, however, those fees account for a significant portion of revenues. So a drop-off in the number of procedures performed or a sequentially flat growth rate can play havoc with revenue estimates. Warburg Dillon Read analyst Emil Westergaard had predicted a 12% sequential increase in the number of procedures performed using Visx lasers. Instead, the company's fourth-quarter revenues of $75 million fell $7 million short of Westergaard's projection. Still, Visx's revenue almost doubled since last year, when the company reported earnings of 26 cents a share on revenue of $41.9 million. A spokesperson for Visx was not immediately available for comment. Visx shipped 94 lasers last quarter, 71 of which were placed in the U.S. Analysts said the company blamed the lack of sequential growth in procedures on a number of factors, including saturation at some high-volume vision correcting centers, competition from Nidek lasers and the loss of some U.S. customers to Canadian clinics where the operation is cheaper. On the bright side however, the average price of laser eye surgery is falling, which will stir consumer interest. Meanwhile, new clinics are opening and laser placements remains strong, analyst said. Johanna Bennett, Dow Jones Newswires; (201) 938-5240; Johanna.Bennett@dowjones.com Good Luck to all long VISX's shareholders!