Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (54356)	10/20/2001 7:53:14 PM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

RE CCL--see bolded aturday October 20, 7:06 pm Eastern Time Argentines cautious after anthrax confirmed (UPDATE: Adds comment by Miami company paragraphs 12-13) By Gilbert Le Gras BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Dozens of people carrying letters wrapped in plastic waited to be checked for anthrax infection at a Buenos Aires hospital on Saturday after authorities confirmed a letter sent from Miami to a woman in the Argentine capital was laced with anthrax spores. ``Personally, I'm not afraid because I know it is something that can be cured but I'm worried about the situation in the world,'' Daniel Fernandez told Reuters on his way out of Muniz Hospital. He said about 100 people were waiting to be checked. Fernandez said he went for a check-up because he received a letter mailed in Miami that bore the logo of a cruise line, similar to the letter received by the woman that health authorities on Friday said carried anthrax spores. He said there was no powdery substance in the letter he got about a month ago. Before Friday, Kenya was the only country outside the United States to confirm the presence of the potentially deadly bacteria in a letter. That letter was mailed in Atlanta. Many Argentines fear their country, the only Latin American nation to send troops to the 1991 Gulf War and a strong ally of the United States, could be a victim of attacks after the Sept. 11 suicide-hijack plane assaults on New York and Washington. Ten people entered the Muniz Hospital, where the woman was given a clean bill of health on Friday, in the space of 15 minutes carrying letters wrapped in plastic and another six left the hospital over the same time period. Hospital security refused to allow any media access to the building. NECESSARY MEASURES SAID TAKEN ``The Argentine government is on alert for your safety and is concerned, but the necessary measures have been taken to ensure the integrity of our citizens,'' Interior Minister Ramon Mestre said after an emergency meeting of the Interior Security Council on Saturday with all mail distributors operating in Argentina, public security agencies and airport operators. News of the confirmation dominated reports in Latin America's third-largest economy, displacing coverage of an ongoing economic crisis that has been one of the focal points of overall emerging market volatility in recent months. The woman who received the letter in Buenos Aires did not open the envelope but sent it for tests and was believed not to be at risk of infection, health authorities said. She was not named. As of Friday more than 580 suspicious envelopes were handed over to the state-run Malbran Institute -- a leading medical research center where Argentina's 1984 Nobel-prize winner Cesar Milstein once worked as chief of molecular biology. Governments around the world have become increasingly fearful that anthrax smeared on letters is being used as a biological weapon after some 40 people tested positive in the United States for exposure to the disease and one person died. The head of intensive care at the Muniz Hospital, Jorge San Juan, told reporters on Friday that the envelope came from Miami and was from the Carnival Cruise Line. Health Minister Hector Lombardo later repeated that information on an investigative journalism television program. A spokeswoman for Miami-based Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL - news), the world's largest cruise group, said on Saturday her company had not yet been contacted by Argentine authorities but that it appeared the contaminated envelope was mailed by a package tour company whose promotional material included cruises with Carnival.

To: Sam Citron who wrote (54356)	10/21/2001 1:38:56 AM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

OT re CCL: I am scaling in. I have purchases at 21 and 19, more limit orders at 17 and 15. After that, we'll see. And, I'll lighten up beginning at 23. 1. LT, this industry is a winner. Middle-class people like going on cruises. People go on vacation, even in war-time. And this is not going to be a WW2-type war, where all frivolous spending stops for the duration. Quite the opposite, in fact. The Fed and the Feds are doing everything they can, to prop up consumer spending. 2. So far, the targets have been symbols of American power (financial power, military power, the media). A cruise ship full of blue-hairs doesn't fit on that list. I don't think a cruise ship will be a target, any more than any other concentration of people, and maybe less so. 3. When this recession is over, there are going to be few survivors in this industry, and CCL looks to clean up. If you don't like CCL's debt/equity of 0.41, look at the #2 company in the industry, RCL, with a debt/equity of 1.29 And, as you look further down the list, it just gets worse. In comparison to the competition, CCL's balance sheet looks very pretty. Unless you think the banks are going to end up owning everything, you're led to the conclusion that CCL will come out of this recession with a much larger market share, of an (eventually) larger market. 4. If Bin Laden ends up ruling Saudi Arabia, and oil goes to 80$/B, yeah, I lose this bet. 5. CCL is my diversifier. I've been steadily selling my only other non-tech (CMH, a homebuilder). 6. It's the best company in a sector that is profoundly hated at the moment, selling at mid-1990s (= pre-bubble) valuation lows. Last month had the feel of capitulation, a huge gapdown on huge volume, the majority of analysts covering them downgraded and/or slashed earnings estimates, investors were treated to a barrage of highly negative articles and opinions on the sector.