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 : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Harold S. who wrote (24550)	11/24/1997 4:47:00 PM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

can you just wait 2 weeks ?? Just 2 weeks.

To: Harold S. who wrote (24550)	11/24/1997 4:58:00 PM
From: Gary Korn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

In one of my dumber posts, I suggested that insiders might be buying on the open market. I was wrong (Form 4 would show the purchases, as Blankmind noted). It has been suggested, and I agree, that insiders likely have millions of shares in options that will be worth a lot should an acquisition of ASND succeed. The buying (or selling) of options or stock on the open market coud be a lightning rod for potential plaintiffs should anything go wrong. Moreover, the public could get wind of something and that could cause the kind of price fluctuation that might ruin a deal. In contrast, the price of ASND has been remarkably steady during two periods: before the Asian flu hit and, now, during the past several weeks. Arguably, this could be reconstructed as one long extended period of intentional price stability. If you are an acquirer, the last thing you would want while price negotiations are ongoing is to have the price suddenly zoom before anything is set in concrete. If you're a seller with a huge personal stake in the utcome you're not going to want to do anything that might muck things up. The relative silence of management, with enough information released to keep the price stable, supports this conjecture. Lastly, active negotiations, if these are occuring, might involve a collar or some sort of device that would prevent personal trading in the stock. So, bottom line is that we likely still need to have patience. Even the CPQ 2B share authorization (if CPQ is involved) won't be approved until 12/11. These things, done right, take time. Gary Korn