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

To: john dodson who wrote (25010)	11/30/1997 9:21:00 PM
From: Gary Korn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 61433

John, 1. You wrote: why not load up on Dec 30 calls for 1/4 or even Jan 35 calls (1/2) I don't like close-in calls. If nothing happens, it was wasted money (and everything I've posted is pure conjecture, the "novel" as Blankmind politely calls it). If one were to do calls, better to base them on fundamentals, so look for June or even Jan 99 options to let the fundamentals develop (or better yet, sell puts for those timeframes or just buy the stock). 2. You wrote: what do you think CPQ's top 2 or 3 acquisition targets are now? I haven't a clue! I'm so focused on assessing CPQ's interest in the networking sector and what actions ASND is taking in that regard (not necessarily with respect to CPQ) that I really have not focused on what else might be of interest to CPQ. But that would be an interesting undertaking. 3. You wrote: Sounds like with $45 billion (and counting) of market cap's worth of currency, CPQ could make quite a few more purchases. Larry Myer had a good point here: 1.5B of stock will be authorized, but it is essentially worth nothing until translated into an acquisition. What it will be worth at that juncture depends on how dilutive is the acquisition. (Am I correct, Larry?) 4. You wondered how many shares of CPQ per share of ASND (only vis-a-vis the acquisition theory, which is just that, a theory). CPQ is now trading at about $60/share. I would guess .8 shares of pre-split CPQ for every share of ASND (IF, and that is a big IF, an acquisition were ever to happen). That would equal $48/share or 8 times ASND sales. I don't think the CPQ split matters vis-a-vis timing. Per the 14C, I think the CPQ split is as of 12/31 (maybe a later distribution date). Take care, Gary Korn