To: Kevin Podsiadlik who wrote (8727 ) 2/10/2003 9:05:19 AM From: DanZ Read Replies (1) | Respond to How does being on the wrong side of short sales during the most irrationally bullish market in generations differ from being on the right side during the most irrationally bearish market in generations? As I'm sure that all you experienced people know, there are two kinds of risk in the stock market: company risk and market risk. As Hank correctly pointed out, the Geopolitical situation has produced a short term environment where market risk significantly outweighs company risk. It is easy to see that in the multitude of companies that are trading at historically low valuations relative to their fundamentals. Are you aware of any stocks that are trading at price to sales ratios below 0.5 and price to earnings ratios below 10? I do, and I agree with Wexler that there is a huge opportunity to make money on the long side of this market, with perhaps the only risk being the Geopolitical situation. The low valuation of many stocks can not be justified based solely on their fundamentals. That said, it is just as absurd for anyone to claim how brilliant they are for making money on short sales over the last two years as it is for anyone to claim how brilliant they are for making money on longs during 1999. I don't have any problem whatsoever with anyone shorting stocks, and in fact, I short stocks myself. I have often said that I have a problem with Wexler using the Internet to spread accusations of "fraud" when no such evidence exists, and in fact when one can easily refute his bogus claims. The man is nothing short of a hypster whose stock picking sucks. He simply got lucky shorting stocks the last two years, and unlucky shorting stocks at 10, 12, 16, all the way to 30+ in late 1999 and early 2000. To those long the market, here's hoping that the Geopolitical situation works toward a resolution because that will be the catalyst for a huge bull market in stocks from absurdly depressed levels.
