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

To: 249443 who wrote (15806)	11/16/2002 2:29:07 PM
From: Allen Furlan	Respond to of 78701

Ms Ablan had an article on putable converts about 2-3 months ago. Many were the Merrill product called LYONS. Key is to select company with reasonable probability of paying in cash. The best of the group in my opinion is the sgr convert which had YTM of about 15% when I bought. The ELN has great return but great risk. If company cannot cash out they have to issue stock at price on conversion day. Much like a toxic convert for those without cash wherewithal.

To: 249443 who wrote (15806)	11/16/2002 2:44:27 PM
From: Wallace Rivers	Respond to of 78701

More thoughts on UIC (United Industrial Corp.) I do not own any, although my "significant other" made this her first purchase ever in her small account. She purchased it for the AAI subsidiary (which makes TUAVs, or unmanned drone aircraft), which has headquarters which we pass by frequently in the Baltimore area. The asbestos exposure surprised us both, of course she and I were dismayed when it was the number one loser on the NYSE yesterday. Some thoughts on the company, and its potential asbestos exposure: If you believe the company, and you believe that asbestos exposure can indeed be quantified, then the most the company will be liable for is $15 mm over a 50 year period. That equates to $1.15 share. Were there to be payouts, I would expect they would come in a few big hits. Nevertheless, that also equates to about .02/share/year over the 50 year time horizon. I don't see that as life threatening. However, with cash on hand about 2-3 million, were there to be one or two big hits, the company would need to raise cash somehow, which is a possible concern. Sources of cash might be equity (and dilution), or debt (increased interest expense, less margin for error operationally). Here is the release detailing the asbestos exposure: biz.yahoo.com Coincidentally, the company reported decent earnings yesterday.