Herb does a scorecard every six months....this is the one from July.
Herb's Semiannual Report Card Time
By Herb Greenberg
Senior Columnist
Originally posted at 8:49 AM ET 7/3/00 on RealMoney.com
Fess up time. Back when I was with the San Francisco Chronicle I would do a report card once a year. But now that I'm with TheStreet.com, living on Internet time, I do one every six months, exposing the good, the bad and the ugly (otherwise known as incompletes -- not good-looking until proved otherwise).
As is usually the case, my sources and I have had our share of bowsers -- some of which have already been pointed out. Like Cree Inc. (CREE:Nasdaq - news). The stock has zoomed since the company was first mentioned here last July. It's no longer an incomplete. It's an out-and-out failure for this column (though the company that was tied to Cree, C3, which has changed its name to Charles & Colvard (CTHR:Nasdaq - news), has been an unmitigated disaster and a clear A for the column). Also deserving an F is one of last year's big winners: Scott Turkel, of TCM Partners, whose choices here of Centura Software (CNTR:Nasdaq - news), Sybase (SYBS:Nasdaq - news), Versant (VSNT:Nasdaq - news), Informix (IFMX:Nasdaq - news) and Geoworks (GWRX:Nasdaq - news) -- all mentioned in one column during the market's most intense turmoil -- are all, for the most part, filled with fleas. But also during the market's turmoil, to be fair, he was rightly "out" of the market at just the right time -- and alerted this column's readers to the fact, which means he gets an A for the short-term macro call. Also in the failure column goes my buddy Raymond, the 70-something stock broker from San Francisco, who gets an A for his gutsy call saying Cisco (CSCO:Nasdaq - news) had peaked. He shoulda stopped while he was ahead: His next picks were Goodyear (GT:NYSE - news) and Unisys (UIS:NYSE - news), both losers. Moral: Don't take your investment tips from the guy at the corner tire store!
The story isn't much brighter as it pertains to some of last year's incompletes. See how far we go to be accountable?! Colgate-Palmolive (CL:NYSE - news), an incomplete at year-end, has done better than this column would've had you believe. And SFX Entertainment's (SFX:NYSE - news) stock was entertaining as it rose and fell and rose and fell until SFX agreed to be bought by Clear Channel (CCU:NYSE - news). (Now the short-sellers are looking at Clear Channel.) Meanwhile, IDT's (IDTC:Nasdaq - news) stock hasn't been a winner, but the company is about to come into lots of money, which for critics usually means that no matter how loopy things may be, its game is over. Then there's Diamond Technology Partners (DTPI:Nasdaq - news). Don't know what the stock will do, but considering how the stock has done since it was first mentioned here, I give myself and my source, who has been so good on so many other companies, an F.
This year's incompletes? We've got plenty that still haven't panned out one way or the other, starting with Lernout & Hauspie (LHSP:Nasdaq - news) and going down a list that includes Estee Lauder (EL:NYSE - news), Premier Parks (PKS:NYSE - news), Salton (SFP:NYSE - news), PF Chang's (PFCB:Nasdaq - news), Harley-Davidson (HDI:NYSE - news), Whole Foods (WFMI:Nasdaq - news) and Cyber-Care (CYBR:Nasdaq - news). Even though it already blew up, I put Cyber-Care in the incomplete category because it's extremely volatile and something tells me that saga isn't over yet. Also incomplete: Cell Pathways (CLPA:Nasdaq - news), PrePaid Legal (PPD:NYSE - news), ITT Educational Services (ESI:NYSE - news), Nordstrom (JWN:NYSE - news) -- positive and negative comments -- and Edison Schools (EDSN:Nasdaq - news).
Now for the good news: A-plus to Jeff Matthews for his gutsy column here in August raising questions about Amazon.com (AMZN:Nasdaq - news). Also A's to Bill Fleckenstein and Tom Chanos for their calls on Dell (DELL:Nasdaq - news). Honors A to John Woodberry for his positive comments about BCE (BCE:NYSE - news), Satyam Infoway (SIFY:Nasdaq - news), Seagate (SEG:NYSE - news), IPC Communications (IPI:AMEX - news), UnitedGlobalCom (UCOMA:Nasdaq - news) and MGM Grand (MGG:NYSE - news). And you folks don't think I ever write anything positive!
Also A's to this column's sources (you know who you are) for their questions about Ancor Communications (ANCR:Nasdaq - news), Transaction Systems Architects (TSAI:Nasdaq - news), THQ (THQI:Nasdaq - news), The Learning Company and its impact on Mattel (MAT:NYSE - news) -- actually, that was moi -- Honeywell (HON:NYSE - news), Pacific Gateway (PGEX:Nasdaq - news) and Medallion Financial (TAXI:Nasdaq - news). Also to the head of the class for Don Luskin of the Open Fund, who now writes for TheStreet.com, for his provocative short-sale recommendation of AT&T (T:NYSE - news). .
What have I missed? I'm sure you'll let me know! On that note -- kaboom! Have a bang-up Fourth! |
