To: Jess Beltz who wrote (7683 ) 2/21/2000 10:11:00 AM From: Bill F. Read Replies (2) | Respond to
first of all i did not "submit" the story it was an interview with kate weling.the subtle distinction means it gets edited her way and is not usually word for word what i said.details often get omitted.generically i was bearish on capital eqipment stock and semis as they didnt reflect the change for the worse that the business had taken since the peak in semi sales in the fall 1995(which still has not been topped by the way).also i felt that the problems in asia would create some disruptions(which they did).lastly cymi itself had problems at the time;there was the small problem you acknowleged,the was lots of inventory in the field with customers(this was not generally known by the public at the time) and lamda physiqche(that spelling is incorrect,i cant recall the exact spelling and its not worth looking it up) looked to become a real competitor.lastly montgomery had just downgraded the stock just as cymi was due to present at their conference (an extremly unusual move)because the analyst found out all the stuff i just described.after it all played out i covered the stock.the stock going down had nothing to do with my barrons interview,those things rarely have any impact and im not silly enough to think they do.in this case i was right for the right reasons and covered the stock almost perfectly. in sum i was short the stock for a whole group of reasons many of which you cited ,if you consider me to be wrong on this so be it,it is a free country.on the other hand you didnt know all the stuff i just told you,as kate didnt print it all(although some of the setup was in the body of the interview which you may not have read).btw-she called me i did not call her so i could not have "jumped on board with my little piece"as you have suggested.what i was very wrong about however was the subsequent rally here in america and the subsequent boom it would produce ,not to mention the exponential increase in speculation.so i have missed lots of things if you want to be critical pick something like that.lastly,your view that i was attempting to somehow manipulate the market,"play off market psychology" in your words is not only inaccurate, it is naive to think that i could actually accomplish that.i have been on tv countless times,been in print even more and i have yet to move a stock which i do NOT find surprising.it is people like you who think i dream up ways to manipulate stocks.i dont try and cant.
