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

To: Poet who wrote (2865)	2/13/2000 3:13:00 PM
From: Jill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8096

Poet, out of sheer laziness I have discussed options ?'s over on Voltaire's porch--they were interesting, about covered calls. If it keeps up, I'll direct 'em over here. They were about selling covered calls: Voltaire wrote an interesting post about his philosophy of always selling cc on half your position--it's not about attachment to a stock, it's about income. As for rentals: the absolute key, as you can see from everybody's posts, is to pick a good tenant. Better to sift and wait and be careful. I found I could get a feel for them after a while, it was usually 1 out of the 200 who called (yep that's NY). But I always made sure I had a reference from a landlord who said something like this: "Ms or Mr X always paid on time, sometimes early, they were an excellent tenant, I'd rent to them again in a sec." Credit checks are totally mandatory--as PAL noted. Feels funny for me to give advice to a real estate maven...as for the tax break with kids that PAL noted, I never knew about that. That could be very useful for you!

To: Poet who wrote (2865)	2/13/2000 3:47:00 PM
From: RR	Respond to of 8096

Hi Poet: I've done arb plays before, yes. But, I have never been too successful with them. I suspect it was because I didn't make the play quick enough, i.e., buying ETEK immediately on the announcement to catch it before the gap closed. Seems like the last time I played one was last year in the MALL/UBID deal. At this stage, personally, I'd just stay with a JDSU play. Rick

To: Poet who wrote (2865)	2/13/2000 5:03:00 PM
From: Ritch	Respond to of 8096

Poet - About a week ago the discount between ETEK and JDSU was 20%. That discount has now dropped to less than 10%. I bought some ETEK July 200's about 2 weeks ago. While I still think it is a good play, the gap between the two has narrowed significantly in the last week. (Still nothing wrong with getting stock at a discount<g>). Looks like the street is getting comfortable that the deal will be completed. The more comfortable the street gets, the more the discount will erode. I still have not heard of a definite closing date for this deal, but think it will be done by the end of the second quarter. Once the closing date is officially announced, the discount will probably erode some more. You may want to look at the July Calls, or if you wait until a week from Monday, the Oct's should be available. (But the discount could erode some more by then). Ritch

To: Poet who wrote (2865)	2/13/2000 8:58:00 PM
From: Neal davidson	Respond to of 8096

<<I'm thinking of buying some ETEK Sept calls, as it's currently trading at a 19% discount to JDSU, despite the 1:1.1 buyout figure. I understand the increased risk involved in playing the arb spread. Wondering if you, or anyone else here, has considered entry into JDSU this way.>> Poet: I bought ETEK based on the same thought process you described. However, I simply bought the common rather than trying to figure out when the deal would close, and thus which month's option was the right play. I don't feel like I need the leverage from an option since the pseudo arb play gives me some leverage. (I called it a "pseudo" arb play, as the true arb play would be to buy ETEK and short JDSU and simply keep the spread)