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To: Uncle Frank who wrote (443)	8/21/2002 2:02:18 AM
From: Seeker of Truth	Respond to of 562

Re options: I would prefer if companies expensed options only when they were exercised. Then the actual profit that the company could have made by selling the new shares itself can be determined. However the crediting as profits of income from the company's pension fund, the division of earnings by the average number of shares during the year rather than the final(larger) number of shares at the end of the year and another myriad of cute tricks are in a sense outside of the point. The main question is, in a putative investment, which we intend to hold for a long term because the competitive advantage is for a long term, what is the management's attitude toward disclosure of what's going on? If they are trying to push the stock up they can do it without bald lies, by creating false impressions in the wording, by taking a "charge" rather than taking a "loss" etc. etc. Only literal minded children think this is not lying. Anyway if management is not worried at all about the near term stock price but concentrates on their business rather than day traders' impression of the business, the stock is a better investment. Policy for the country is a great thing to be interested in but policy of our investments can be wise decades before the society as a whole wants the wisdom. I say we should try to determine if management is trying to push the stock. If they are then sooner or later they will mislead us and cheat us. The tone of the annual report may say a lot more than any of the numbers. In any event the attitude of management is of first importance. In this regard I personally give QCOM a much higher grade than SEBL.