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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: put2rich who wrote (5146)	4/27/2000 12:51:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19428

Thanh, I was only short PGTV, and I covered several days ago, when it went down to 90 1/2. Only made about 8% profit from it, but the prices of stocks like this tend to whing-whang about a lot, and I didn't want to be left holding an unexpectedly heavier bag, so to speak. Took a quick look at the CBS MarketWatch story on DISH earnings - horrors!! Just as I said: the more customers it gets, the more money it loses. And the cashflow situation is enough to make one's hair stand on end, especially when contemplating the staggering debt load DISH carries on its back. Sooner or later, IMO, the chickens are bound to come home to roost. For your sake, I hope it is sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, the stock is up 5% today! I know you've seen the Market Watch story, but I am posting it here, in case anyone else wants to see what "investors" reward. EchoStar loss widens on higher costs Satellite TV operator spent more money to gain customers By Jeffry Bartash, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 8:33 AM ET Apr 27, 2000 LITTLETON, Colorado, (CBS.MW) ? Satellite TV operator EchoStar Communications posted a larger-than-expected first-quarter loss, citing higher marketing expenses aimed at corralling new customers. The nation?s second-largest satellite-television carrier said it lost $185.1 million, or 40 cents a share, up from a loss from operations of $55.7 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier. The company was expected to lose 35 cents a share. The loss from cash flow, meanwhile, increased to $87.5 million from $30.6 million a year earlier. Cash flow, a key gauge of financial health in fast-growing industries, reflects the ability of a company to pay its bills. The higher market costs appeared to pay off, however. Sales surged 83 percent to $565.7 million from $309.6 million, while EchoStar added 455,000 net new subscribers, up 40 percent from a year earlier. EchoStar's (DISH: news, msgs) total costs jumped 94 percent to $707.7 million, driven by a doubling of advertising expenses to $273 million and more promotional deals such as free installation. The carrier ended the quarter with 3.9 million customers. See press release. EchoStar has been pushing to sign up as many customers as it can in an effort to catch up to industry leader DirecTV, owned by Hughes Electronics (GMH: news, msgs), which is about double the size. On Wednesday, EchoStar slipped 15/16 to 57 7/16.