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Technology Stocks : Alcatel (ALA) and France -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Hermesmann who wrote (1393)	3/6/2000 1:44:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 3891

Hi Bill, no problem. Bob is one of my old Brazil buddies (I still have BIG stock holdings in Brazil telecoms), and I have great respect for his observations and opinions. I think he and many others are not quite as convinced as myself on ALA and are doing some serious DD. Not being as familiar with ALA and it's trading characteristics, it's easy to read things between the lines that don't necessarily exist IMO. I like the way this stock trades, the evolution of the trading patterns, and expect it's going much higher. Options, yes, easy to get burned buying calls. I lose many short term options plays I get into when I feel I have some gambling money, but win the overall majority of my options plays. I tend to buy out at least 4 months, prefer 6 if the premiums are workable, and in rare cases will go out a year. I'm sitting on a couple of huge wins that I haven't cashed out yet. TSP APR 17.5 calls...paid 2, current 19 1/2 - 20. CS APR 22.5's...paid 3-4, current 26 - 26 5/8. ALSC Jul 20 calls, paid 3 3/4, current 8 1/2 - 8 5/8. TNE Jul 17.5 calls, paid 2, current 10 1/8, 10 7/8. These are only the big winners of the year so far, I have 4 others that are up 25% to 50%. Only a handful of losers this year...looks like I'll eat about 6K of NN options, and lost about 6K on AOL, and 4K on HLTH. Almost all my options trades are documented RT on SI as I made them, including all the above listed trades. I had many similar stories last year. Bottom line, plenty of money to be made with calls as long as you are very careful, but yes, most lose on them. I do start buying puts on high fliers to hedge when I get nervous enough. regards, sf