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To: Ronald J. Clark who wrote (89927)	4/11/2001 7:30:55 PM
From: isopatch	Respond to of 95453

Hi Ron. Have not been in PQUE this year But it was a good small cap NG exploration play for me in 2000. Netted about 70% total from 2 Short/Intermediate holding periods. They have a good earth sciences team that has an established track record of finding NG. Most of their exploration is offshore GOM though they've had some good onshore results as well. Question is not the quality of NG E&Ps like PQUE. There are a number of good ones. Question is what was the risk of being fully invested in a basket of perhaps 6-8 of them from Sept through Nov, and again from Jan/Feb till now? Pretty high IMO. Only a few weeks near year end produced across the board gain. The rest of that period has been at best flat and for the most part down. In fact down hard, in the past month or two. Notwithstanding the declines have taken place in most of the favs E&Ps, there will always be one or 2 that either lost little or nothing or actually gained like PQUE. However does that 20/20 hindsight justify ignoring a Bear Market and a Recession to stay fully invested in our 6-8 favs from last Sept till now? I don't think so. In the patch Bull Market from early 1999 into Sept 2000 wind was at your back if you stayed fully invested in the right stocks. But the risk/reward equation shifts against such a stance during Bear Markets. And IMHO, this one isn't over yet. Capital preservation is Job One when the Bear rules and that's why I've held cash reserves between 50 and 80% since early Oct of last yr. trading only occasional ST opportunities since. I've been though a number of Bear Markets and have found this strategy to be the best one for protecting my capital and the gains I was able to earn using it in the preceeding Bull Market. Regards, Isopatch