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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solid who wrote (23687)	7/21/2000 1:40:45 AM
From: MIKE REDDERT	Respond to of 29970

Hi Solid, I hope you and the family are well. The wife and I, and the kids for that matter, bought a new home recently, and the liquidation of under-performing assets to pay for that came, in part, from ATHM. All along, not trusting the erratic behavior of ATHM's management, I sold call options on the BS rumors that came along from time to time. Altogether, I lowered my cost basis by about $15/shr. and was marginally profitable within most short term ranges. The basic idea was to lower the cost basis to the point where I couldn't lose... after all, pure chance would dictate that management would do something right. As luck would have it, I bought back the then current calls, in order to liquidate the underlying, at the same time ATHM announced it's "global reach" business plan... out of the blue... thank you ATHM... and I sold it anyway. While I didn't take a real beating, because of those calls, I did lose money... no big deal. Considering this, your statement struck a chord: it's not a loss until I sell...if I say it often enough maybe I'll really find solace in the phrase FWIW, and I'm sure you know this, life guarantees no formal chronology of events... in spite of the recent shift in mind-set that implies some orderly schedule of events, life itineraries are vague at best. With that in mind, I submit that paper losses are indeed real losses, particularly when investing in individual stocks. Investing in individual stocks requires some consistency within intermediate time frames, otherwise it degrades to pure gambling. By cutting losses short, an investor can skew the overall outcome such that s/he maintains a positive and consistent return. The investor who hits a home run is a gambler until he can prove that same record over a prolonged period of time. There is any number of other ways to enhance consistency, and ATHM is a case history... Among them : 1) Refuse to invest in an erratic management team 2) Demand performance and refuse to be judged "at fault" for the fumblings of your management team. Fire them. 3) A management team that appears befuddled, mirrors that same image to the street. Don't buy stocks that no one understands. 4) Stocks that are making new highs are doing so for a reason... and vice versa. Buy the former and sell the later. 5) Losing positions are as damaging mentally as they are financially. Refuse to develope a pattern of losing... refuse to play the game and take the "ball" and go home if you have to. Solace comes from a firm conviction that you control your investments and they don't control you. There is great peace in that. And so on. The point at which I became successful at trading was the point that I scuttled gambling and/or wishful thinking. I still stumble from time to time, but I become firmer in that conviction with each error. To steal a quote that G. Gordon Liddy pilfered himself ... "If you don't kill me, you only make me stronger." JMHO Mike

To: Solid who wrote (23687)	7/21/2000 2:11:45 AM
From: gpowell	Respond to of 29970

Did Bell tell anyone how he planned to make the 3 million by 12/31? As much as I'd like it to happen, in my book it had best NOT be due to Chello, self-installs, or UMG. Goldman in his presentation during the CC, stated that ATHM is still comfortable with 3 million subscribers by year end because of "stronger growth from AT&T", "upside growth from other domestic cable providers", "better growth in Canada", and "contributions from international operations". The guidance from last quarter projected 3 million subscribers, exclusive of international. Message 13468265