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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Forrest who wrote (38385)	7/17/2000 3:02:37 AM
From: Eric	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77400

Ed There was a guy called Craig Crawford that got sued on a subject very similar to this a few years ago and I have not seen him since on SI. There are a few on this thread who could be sued for libel if the parties wanted to. Gotta be careful out there! Eric

To: Ed Forrest who wrote (38385)	7/17/2000 10:32:12 PM
From: bambs	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 77400

Ed, fool.com "So Blodget is willing to admit that he alters his publicly made comments to serve the companies he covers. He's also willing to admit to one of the most widely read papers in the country that he's perfectly capable of producing an estimate that is closer to the truth with no input from the company than what he actually does produce with guidance from the company" This points out that he is not completely truthful with his estimates. He changes them so the company can beat them and look good for the public. "In this particular case, Blodget received a private call from Amazon execs (after the conference call) to update him personally on what his revenue estimates for the next quarter should be. Blodget was then on the phone with a number of clients informing them of his latest thoughts on Amazon, all prior to going public with his comments -- including a raised price target and upgrade -- the next day. As Blodget eloquently noted regarding his upgrade of Amazon.com, he wanted "to differentiate it from all the pieces of [expletive] we have buys on." Blodget refers to stocks they have buys on as pieces of [expletive]? Hmmmmm, that's strange.... "I don't really care about Blodget's private discussions when he was apparently under house orders to be quiet, or about his cynical comments regarding his role in a profession that deserves cynical treatment. I don't expect analysts to withhold their thoughts from their richest clients until they can be known to the lumpenproletariat, and if Merrill Lynch wants to misrepresent how the system really works to the SEC, I've no doubt that the SEC commissioners aren't as gullible as Merrill seems to think. The broader issue, which is demonstrated magnificently in the Post article, is that the entire method of analyst conversations with companies is designed to purposefully hide the truth from the public, rather than help reveal it." Here the article states that he finds out exactly what earnings will be and lets his rich clients know before he goes public with his upgrade and his estimate that his knowingly below the actual number that he is told. In my opinion, analysts get earnings information companies and give lower estimates to make them happy (like a form of payment). They then tell their top clients the estimates before going public to keep them happy (like a form of payment). The analyst gives an upgrade. The stock goes up. The company beats the number. The top clients take profit. The public buys and holds. The analyst looks good. Brokerage gets more business. Analyst gets bonuses and pay raises. It's a great system everyone is happy! "Apparently so. It's sad, it's selfish, and it's an intellectually dishonest story that Merrill is putting on the public record." Intellectually dishonest stories being put on the public record? Sounds like the article is accusing analysts of lying. They use the information they get to help out their best clients...Sounds like they profit from this activity. Sounds crooked to me. Finally, it sounds like the SEC may be looking into this these activities right now. Bambs