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To: Zeev Hed who wrote (38392)3/18/2000 11:10:00 PM
From: The Prophet  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 93625
 
Hi Zeev:

I was looking at the chart and I tend to agree with you on your estimate of the short position. I think it's likely that new shorting occurred at the 150, 200, 300, 370, and 470 positions. Any thoughts on how we can estimate, based on the dips and volume, how the shorts played these various ranges?

Best,
Prophet



To: Zeev Hed who wrote (38392)3/19/2000 12:02:00 AM
From: The Prophet  Respond to of 93625
 
As a follow up to my last post to you, consider this:

1. As of the last report date, there were 23.8 million shares outstanding, with only 15.5 million in the float (held by non-insiders).

2. Since Stuart owned less than 10%, he is not considered an insider so one must take 1 million off the top and say that 14.5 million or so are available.

3. Then, 41% of the total shares (approx 9.6 million) are held by institutions, who are less likely to unload that quickly. Lets assume that most of these have not sold and that new institutions buying have made up for such sales. This is not a scientific assumption, but I think it's fair. That means that of the 14.5 million available float, only 4.9 million were truly available to the average short.

4. Assuming all 4.9 million sold and there were no new buyers other than shorts, then we would still have at least 4 million short.

My guess (and I'm sure yours, too), is that (1) not even half of all longs sold, (2) we had a lot of new buyers, and (3) we had a lot of new shorts. So, my friend, if we do the math, the odds are strong that the short position is much, much higher than Stuart's guesstimate.

Can't wait to see.

Prophet



To: Zeev Hed who wrote (38392)3/19/2000 3:17:00 PM
From: John Walliker  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 93625
 
Zeev,

...there is not much rationale in holding leaps with such high premiums at this time, and these will be exercised, forcing the holders of the stock (those that wrote, hopefully, covered leaps) to replasce the stock taken away.

My position is entirely in LEAPS. They are now so DITM that there is hardly any premium left anyway. There is no point in exercising before 6 April because that would bring forward the UK tax liability (40%) by one year for the ones that I would have to sell to exercise the rest. (I have sold about 20% of my position though - just in case.)

I always follow your analysis with interest - but make my own decisions as I find timing very hard and am strongly influenced by tax considerations.

John