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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimbaBear who wrote (14456)	5/10/2002 4:41:20 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Respond to of 78595

anybody looking at LVLT?

To: TimbaBear who wrote (14456)	5/10/2002 4:57:08 PM
From: Lazarus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78595

i got a call from a WCOM telemarketer today... ...it sounded like he was in a room with a THOUSAND other sales people. it was incredible he offered me a free phone if i would sign on for 12 months at 29.95 for 120 minutes anywhere in the USA -- [well at least the 48 ] hey --- we all make mistakes from time to time chin up :) Lazarus

To: TimbaBear who wrote (14456)	5/12/2002 12:05:57 PM
From: Don Earl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78595

Question on WCOM. I've been casually spot checking the downward progress of WCOM since it keeps getting a lot of attention in the news. For myself, the stock would break my minimum requirement on debt to equity ratios, but this article caught my attention: biz.yahoo.com Trading corporate debt isn't an area where I have any experience, but I've often wondered if that might not be the way to play some of these large caps when they start getting into trouble. My view is that any highly leveraged company can't possibly represent a value in common stock because the assets are owned (for all practical purposes) by someone else. Holders of common get what the littlest pig got in any kind of reorganization, but those with bonds, or even preferred, usually get something, even if it's new stock in the reorganized company, by being closer to the top of the food chain. While I don't see much in the way of value on WCOM common, I also don't see the company being a near term candidate for Chapter 11, although a year or two out is probably a different story. The notes are trading at a substantial discount to face value and the yields look fairly impressive. On some of the issues, it looks like the original investment would be returned in interest payments in a few years, assuming the company stays in the going concern category that long, and getting swapped out for common in a reorganization might not be that bad a deal at that point. Does anyone with more expertise in bond trading have an opinion if that kind of strategy makes sense? I'd also be curious to know what it takes for a private investor to get set up to trade corporate notes, or if it's even possible, or practical. I've been under the impression bond trading is mainly limited to institutional investors, but I'm not sure if that is correct or not.