Lorrie,
You must be joking. Maria class? Are we talking about the same Maria?
She does not have a clue about what she is blabbering...hence, analysts use her like a cheap tool. Case in point: her DELL faux pas earlier this week. Ok, anyone who's been around Wall Street could've seen right through those DELL "upgrades." Everyone knows there are stocks that analysts truly like and stocks that they are paid to gloss over, yet wouldn't invest a nickle of their own money in. They say they are "upgrading" to a.) suck up to DELL for future investment banking biz; or b.) to help favorite institutions unload the stock onto their retail customers. Trust me on this, I worked 3 years as an analyst. Anyway, anyone with an ounce of sense could've seen that this was indeed the case with the DELL calls last week. But nope, not Maria...Maria just took the bait and ran with it. I just shook my head in disbelief as she screamed from the NYSE floor "FOLKS, I wouldn't be surprised if DELL finished the day up. GREAT news on DELL!!!" Well of course, you know what happened afterward. A bunch of retail suckers who didn't know any better bought DELL at 40 and change, only to see it close near 37.
See, that's my point...when I was an analyst, we knew people like Maria who would act as your personal mouthpiece. They were dumb as a post, yet so anxious to actually "break a story" that they'd repeat, verbatim, anything and everything you'd tell them, without stopping to think if what you were saying actually made any sense. How about the last two triple-witching Fridays...when analysts fed her a line of BS at 2:30 p.m. on IBM...once again, she took the bait and ran with it, screaming how IBM had big problems, which in turn sent the indices into a tailspin. They used her on IBM two Triple-Witches in a row...do you honestly think these analysts changed their opinion on IBM on a Friday afternoon at 2:30? Don't count on it...2:30 p.m. Friday you're thinking about what you're doing that weekend, not pondering IBM. And it's ever so funny that they just happened to call Maria to break the news, only to put egg on her face the following Monday. These guys' option desks needed to clean up their trading positions before the close and needed to scare off buyers...Maria merely acted as their spokesperson.
She's not polished, she's certainly not competent, and definately not poised. As far as she's concerned, CNBC should be renamed "The Maria Channel." On those call-in things, why does she play it up so hard when some fawning loser calls into Buy-Sell-Hold, professing his love for her? First off, the producers should bleep that crap out...hearing some guy living in his parent's basement telling Maria how beautiful she is is NOT what I tune into CNBC for. And, if she were a pro, she wouldn't play up those calls..."oh, do you really think so??? Oooh, yeah I guess I am pretty hot, aren't I? Teeheee..." Gimme a break, I feel like I'm watching some MTV call-in show when that crap comes on. And I wouldn't be surprised if those supposed "callers" were plants...let's face it, the ONE thing Maria has going for her is she has a helluva agent. I'm sure to keep the producers thinking she's a hot property, it wouldn't hurt to keep a steady stream of callers who fawn over her...the question I have is this: if these callers are legit, why don't you ever hear any of these pre-pubescent callers fawning over Liz Claman, Bonnie Behrend, Amanda Grove, et.al., all of whom are both more attractive as well as much more professional and polished than the aforementioned Maria? Just seems awfully strange to me that Maria is the only one who gets fans calling in for her. And so many of them.
As far as your other assertion, me envious? Of what? The money? Well, I don't know what Maria makes, but I do just fine and would be willing to bet that if she makes more than me, it ain't by much. The attention she gets? Hardly. When I was working as an analyst, I was on local TV 4 to 5 times per week, along with newspapers and magazines across the country. See my problem with Maria is this: due to my profession, I have CNBC or CNNfn tuned in all day. It insults my intelligence when I watch her completely fumble on a story, all in the name of promoting herself. Again, she seems to think that the story doesn't matter, because the viewers just tune in to look at her. What a joke.
As a whole, I think CNBC is more concerned with attracting a mainstream viewership rather than act as financial journalists. Sex sells. And that's fine, that's their prerogative, they are, of course, in business to make money. However, if they're going to parade around and foresake insightful reporting in the name of higher ratings, then they deserve to get called on the carpet. I also think their "rah-rah Internuts!" programming has had a great hand in creating this irrational exuberance. The average "Joe" doesn't know any better...for instance, he sees Maria on the floor proclaiming that DELL will finish the day up, and figures, "hmm, better cash in those CDs and step up to the plate." If they're going to go for a mainstream, less sophisticated viewership, then they have a responsibility to bridle people back instead of whipping them into a frenzy.
Also, I'm not alone in my opinion of Maria. Every person I know who works in the securities business thinks she's a joke. |
