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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Second_Titan who wrote (3488)	4/18/2001 5:02:15 AM
From: chowder	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 23153

Hi Que! RFMD went in the wrong direction. I have a choice. I can continue with my short in an attempt to prove I was correct about the poor fundamentals in the semiconductor industry, or I can cover and take my losses. At this point it isn't important to be right, it's more important to survive. Investors are starving for a turnaround. There's no way of telling how high they run the stock up before it corrects and eventually reflects its proper value. How high does the stock go before it corrects? What if it continues up another 15, 20 or 25 percent and then starts to correct? How far would it then have to come down to prove I was correct? I'm cutting my losses and I'll let the stock do what it wants to do. I can always come back to it if the situation warrants. I can even go long and enjoy the ride. It's funny, a friend mentioned to me yesterday that when you're long on a stock and it drops $2 in a day, you justify your position by saying it'll come back. However, when you're short a stock and it drops $2 in a day, you experience an entirely different set of emotions. While in the Marines, we were taught not to be heroes. When the shooting got heavy, you were expected to find cover. Once you were safe, it was then your job to Improvise, Adapt, Adjust and Attack. A dead hero can't fight. I'm ducking for cover so I can continue to fight. In my opinion, shorting stocks teaches you more about sound investing than anything else I know. It teaches you how to be proactive and how to manage your investment decisions. Too many investors who hold long positions hang on to their positions when good investment principles dictate that they shouldn't. They die a slow death, just ask those who bought CSCO at 60 and are still holding on. Too many investors don't use stop loss limits in an attempt to survive and have more capital to invest elsewhere. Try going short and don't use stops and see how quickly you die. My advice to people who want to learn the stock market game is to learn how to short stocks first. The lessons and investing principles you learn there will make you a better investor in the long run. Just my humble thoughts, dabum

To: Second_Titan who wrote (3488)	4/20/2001 1:29:28 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 23153

Lean OXY fit for the podium Upstream, April 20 By Robert Smith In the number-seven spot is Occidental Petroleum. The company's business strategy has remained unchanged since 1997, according to Fahnestock & Co analyst Fadel Gheit. He says the company has shifted its focus in that time from marginal or declining assets to large, long-lived ones to achieve critical mass in its core oil and gas and chemical operations. Gone are a grab-bag of businesses including a slow-growing gas pipeline, a beef processing outfit and a dozen or so international ventures. In the US, its oil and gas operations are now focused on Elk Hills in California and in the Permian basin. It is also the largest independent oil and gas producer in California. Internationally, Occidental consolidated operations in 24 countries to 10, principally in Latin America and the Middle East. Chief executive Ray Irani has turned the once unwieldy conglomerate into a tightly focused and highly profitable oil and chemicals producer, says Business Week. Net daily worldwide production of oil and gas last year was 461,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. "A combination of relentless cost reduction and higher realisation have given Oxy the highest earnings per unit of production in the industry since last year," says Gheit. Oxy recently spud its long-awaited exploration well on the Samore block in Colombia, which the company believes could uncover 1 billion barrels of reserves. It is also one of the companies selected by Saudi Arabia to bid on two of three new natural gas core ventures that the kingdom has approved for implementation, according to Christopher Stavros at USB Warburg. Both projects include upstream gas exploration, development and production.