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Technology Stocks : Westell WSTL -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Leroyt who wrote (20300)	9/8/2000 5:32:20 PM
From: John Curtis	Respond to of 21342

Ever heard of Bash and Stash?? Well, here's an interesting little article to contemplate. themestream.com "Bash and Stash" Bash and Stash is yet another stock manipulation scheme... It is unlike Pump and Dump in that it is typically launched against respected well established stocks. It is also much harder to really prosecute, because proving it is about impossible. It's very hard to see it coming before the fact... it is only after the fact that matters suggest that a Bash and Stash has been worked. What happens with Bash and Stash is that a "Name" analyst, or a publication such as Barron's Weekly, comes out with an article that is approximately scathing in its assessment of a company's prospects. Grave concerns about being overpriced are expressed, a chain of doubts about the potential for future growth are carefully phrased with dark innuendo, and the vigor of competitors is noted. Now, when "Name" analysts express concern, people panic...especially up and coming fund managers for institutional houses. Some start aggressively selling, and that causes the price to drop, which triggers less reactionary persons to consider selling, and on it goes... the stock may tank eight, ten, fifteen percent, triggering stop loss selling, and more downward spiraling. Curiously enough, future retrospection will show that this happens just a few days before an earnings report comes out gleaming with gold beams and glitter... and it develops that the prospects for the company are, afterall, pretty darned good! Meanwhile... a certain patch of somebodies have loaded up on the stuff at a double digit percentage discount, and when the price recovers, which it shortly does, it's new Caddys all around. Think it never really happens...? Just look at what one article in last weeks Barron's did to Cisco Systems this week! Piles of other analysts came out over the weekend, and after, with positive things to say about CSCO, none (that I could find) were negative. But see Cisco's share price down double percentage points... MY point here is, it likely will recover very shortly.... a classic Bash and Stash. Occasionally, you will get Pump and Dump also in this league, but it is much less common than with the smaller cap stocks. Typically, the pump and dump at this level takes the shape of a single analyst coming out with a very loud positive opinion about a company, the share price of which has been flagging lately. This will boost the price somewhat, and then the shares are unloaded over time. I suspect (but do not know) that both Disney and AOL have had this happen over the last couple of years. Then the share price sags... (see about Pump and Dump at themestream.com -------- Interesting, eh? John~

To: Leroyt who wrote (20300)	9/8/2000 11:06:31 PM
From: Rich Wolf	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21342

Leroyt, they are in 'hate' with the DSL equipment stocks now, the only thing propping up EFNT is the backing of Merrill and Goldman. We'll get ours here soon enough. They seem to love to hold WSTL underwater until the last possible moment... slowly accumulating positions and also playing in other sandboxes until it is 'time' here. No more longterm investments in this market, no sir! Case in point: the quarterly gyrations as funds dress the window, even the monthly reporting causing them to attempt to front-run any stock being dumped. Hence, when the bottom drops here, the funds accelerate it... not because they don't like WSTL, but they know they can probably get back in at an equal or lower price, and hence minimize risk in the meantime. Beancounters rule these days. Buy and hold? Bah humbug! Top off that this has been a strong shorter's market for much of the time since April. See what happens when shorts swarm, buyers back out, and institutions dump on way down to lock in what's left... that's WSTL's pattern. To know it is to play it is to love it. To return to your thought, the SBC connection won't matter for WSTL until 2-3 quarters forward, so the street won't care until closer to realization of revenue. We should see modest moves up for our CC, and if they just meet the estimates but then can provide bullish guidance for the next Q, we may get our bigger move following the call, not heading into it like the last few. We'll see. Good luck to all!