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Non-Tech : Conseco Insurance (CNO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JM who wrote (481)	12/9/1997 7:35:00 PM
From: Ken Sammut	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4155

IMHO we have all seen the Ray Dirks of the world on many occassions. They hit a homerun early in their career and from that point forward they are trying to hit another to recapture the glory. An impartial analyst with would not print a 20 something page report and then take it on the road and hold press conferences. It is plain to most that Dirks has a personal problem (maybe in more ways than one) with CNC. Alan Abelson of Barrons is a wonderful writer but has been wrong for ten years. Again in my opinion he hurts the credibility of that fine publication. He has been a bear and short on stocks for ten years. I guess eventually he will be right and the market will come down but I am very glad I have never followed any of his advise. He also has not liked CNC and makes it a point to support Dirks each time he comes out of his cave and rips the company. Think about it. Dirks was the most positive analyst that followed CNC and was a huge supporter on how they acquired companies to propel their growth. He says he was a bird-dog for the company and he helped identify a take-over target. First of all that is a conflict of interest for an analyst to be that close to a company and oh my gosh, Ray thinks that same company is worth $1.00 or $2.00 now that he is not getting a finders fee. CNC and its executives purchased millions of dollars worth of stock the last time Ray cried and brought the stock down several dollars. By the way, they did defend themselves and the stock reached $50.00. Unless you are a trader or speculator, relax. Take a step back and wait a week or two. You have seen a lot of new people to the board. Most are traders and my guess will play the stock while it goes down a few points and then back up again. I sold 1000 shares on Friday and bought 11 inexpensive CNC leaps. I believe in the company long term. To me this was a way to keep most of my profits while still having a nice leveraged position in the company. Ken S.