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To: Earlie who wrote (198401)	10/17/2002 8:33:44 PM
From: orkrious	Respond to of 436258

Had a nice "come to papa" on Sears this a.m. Nice to haul in a biggie once in a while. Thanks Reaper for this one. I agree, thanks Reaper. In my "investment" account, my Sears more than made up for my IBM.

To: Earlie who wrote (198401)	10/17/2002 8:54:27 PM
From: ild	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Comstock Partners, Inc. October 17, 2002 IBM Report A Shaky Foundation For A Rally The IBM third quarter report was a flimsy foundation for a 3% market rally. Look behind the spin and all you see is an earnings decline to 79 cents a share from a year-earlier 90 cents on sales that were virtually even with last year’s weak results. The company managed to show a slight earnings gain by announcing the sale of its losing hard disk drive business and excluding the results from reported sales and earnings. What gave the market a sense of relief, however, was the 2% increase in service revenues, which was a cause of concern after the disastrous EDS report last week. Overall, though, the IBM results definitely do not provide any indication of an impending upturn in technology, and do nothing to contradict the impact of Intel’s negative statements the day before. In fact, IBM CFO John Joyce stated that customers remained cautious about signing large service contracts and that the environment was rough. Almost every upside earnings surprise in technology has been achieved through either cost cutting or creative accounting, and revenues are in a rut. Elsewhere, the economy continued to show further sign of weakness. The labor market remains tepid with initial claims now averaging well over 400,000 for the past seven weeks and layoffs mounting in furniture, machinery, textiles, finance and construction. Continuing claims are still rising even though benefits are expiring for those unemployed for more than 39 weeks, a period which had already been extended from 26 weeks. Industrial production dropped for the second consecutive week while capacity utilization declined to 75.6%. The Philadelphia Fed Index for October plunged to surprising minus 13 from plus 2.3 a month earlier. The Consumer Comfort Index has dropped 20 points since mid-July to its lowest point since 1996. Although new housing starts soared in September, the forward-looking indicators are not that favorable. Purchase applications fell 3% to the lowest level in six months. The strength in starts is a result of the low mortgage rates that, in turn, is a result of weak economy. If the economy continues weakening, however, consumers' appetite for new houses will diminish. All in all the risks for the economy remain on the downside with wavering consumer confidence, weakening labor markets, tepid corporate profits, low capacity utilization rates and no growth in capital expenditures. With little help from a weak global economy, either an anemic recovery or a renewed recession is likely. In our view, therefore, the current rally probably will end soon. comstockfunds.com

To: Earlie who wrote (198401)	10/17/2002 10:07:34 PM
From: marginmike	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

I heard from hedgie that IBM diped into their reserves for the first time in 6 years to make num's look preety. Dont know what that means though-g/ng

To: Earlie who wrote (198401)	10/17/2002 11:23:41 PM
From: Activatecard	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

Earlie, Went back seven quarters to the first quarter 2001. IBM spent approximately 9.5 billion on their share repurchase program. Basic common shares outstanding were reduced from approximately 1.74 billion to 1.69 billion or 50 million shares. Effectively, they paid $190.00/share. The buy-back made somebody rich, but it wasn't the shareholders. Steve