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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Craig Freeman who wrote (15920)	10/23/2000 11:01:08 PM
From: docpaul	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

A couple points from my perspective.. Wanted to start by saying, I'm a bit ashamed in my hasty assessment of the folks on this board.. you longs continue to impress me with your honest analysis of your SNDK investment. I personally really appreciate these difficult issues being brought up, b/c it allows a true analysis of the risks and benefits involved. I've avoided posting some of my thoughts, b/c I didn't want to appear a skeptic, and I hope they are not taken as such.. 1) Regarding Lexar.. Some folks have asked how long patent trials/nullifications can go on.. I would imagine they can go on forever.. a recent example of such occured in a personal investment of mine with SSTI. ATML sued the company four years ago for breach of 6 seperate patents.. and just now are we coming to some sort of conclusion. The fear I have is that a lot of SNDK investors are counting on this to bring about some sort of financial windfall to the company, but it's entirely likely that this could be dragged on for quite some time. In this period of high growth and frequent product refreshments/revisions, it's entirely possible that the patents being enforced will be "obsolete" more or less by the time the ruling takes place, and often times from my research, those damages assessed are not retroactive.. shrug. The market will have moved on to MMC or whatever the flavor of the day is. The other more striking question relates to LEXR.. with this seemingly huge set of charges laid against LEXR, don't you find it a bit odd that there was institutional support to see it to the light of day? :) Clearly, these questions had to have came up? If there was a significant amount of danger in the immediate term, don't you think that might jeopardize the IPO? If I'm way off, please tell me.. but these issues have been bugging me re: everyone's LEXR comments. 2) Regarding level of disclosure.. This is often a very touchy subject, b/c you can approach it from one of those glass half full/empty perspectives. The half-full folks will say "it leads to more surprises", etc.. when the half-empty folks will say "they're hiding something from us". Needless to say, the direction of the stock's price would have a lot to do with how your glass is looking that particular day. :D I don't think that either way of disclosure is right or wrong, but I do know that folks must temper their frustrations with a realization that there are indeed some positive aspects to not fully disclosing business arrangements. Especially in the data storage community, there is a rising level of competition, and millions of dollars can be lost by leaks and over-disclosure.. A PERFECT example.. what happened with Honeywell today. United Technologies had a bid on the table, and once word spread of this merger, GE came in and gave a higher bid.. I would imagine the same sort of thing goes on with licensing agreements, etc.. it's a real competitive battle out there, and limited disclosure can often lead to some design wins, etc.. I guess a lot of your fortitude is based on your level of trust in the management, etc. 3) I thought I had a third one, but I've forgotten! :) all the best SNDK longs, you have a good investment on your hands.. docpaul