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.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GST who wrote (145680)	8/18/2002 12:01:05 PM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Me too. Btw Update on nextel while you were gone. >>Western Wireless shares rose $1.46, or 94 percent, to $3 yesterday on trading of 5 million shares, more than five times the three-month daily average. They have fallen 89 percent this year. J.P. Morgan analyst Thomas Lee upgraded Western Wireless to "'buy" from "market perform." The company's revenue from roaming fees is no longer expected to fall in the second half, a "major departure" from previous expectations, said Lee, who doesn't own any shares. He said the improved outlook for roaming revenue meant the company was no longer at risk of violating a key bank covenant. Western Wireless, with networks mainly in rural areas in 19 Western states, charges other wireless companies to carry calls when their subscribers roam, or travel to locations where the service providers lack equipment. Increased volume from new roaming business from Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless is expected to offset rate reductions from a three-year agreement with AT&T Wireless Services, Western Wireless said in a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Western Wireless has been struggling since September, and many investors thought the company would go bankrupt, Lee said in an interview. That no longer looks like the case, he said. Roaming volumes are returning to normal "after falling off a cliff" Sept. 12, Lee said. The company has also introduced national rate plans that will help raise revenue, Lee said. The analyst's report gave other wireless operators a boost, too. Redmond-based AT&T Wireless' shares climbed 12 percent, while Virginia-based Nextel Communications' stock rose 11 percent. "I suspect that some people are putting their toes back in the water," said William Benton, wireless analyst with William Blair & Co. "It doesn't take much to move the needle when the stock prices are at the level that they are at." One analyst, who declined to be named, said the rally in the wireless stocks reflected short-covering by traders. Short-sellers bet that a stock will trade lower in the future. They borrow stocks, so they can sell them and then make a profit by buying them back at lower prices. When a stock price rises unexpectedly, short-sellers "cover" their position by buying the stock so they can stem their loss or secure their profit before the stock rises higher. "Western was really widely shorted. Those same people are short on a variety of wireless stocks. I think the fact that Western, from a business perspective, really seems to be clawing their way out of a financial problem scares them about their view on other stocks," the analyst said.<<