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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles Tutt who wrote (6310)	12/19/1997 5:42:00 PM
From: Alok Sinha	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

Charles, Even though in the real world of taxes, the cost basis is relevant, I can't understand why people pay so much attention to it. To me the only relevant measure is the market value of my investments. Any changes with respect to market value is an opportunity cost that should be factored in future investment decisions. Unfortunately, most investors are obsessed with their cost basis, and partially ignore fluctations in market value as long as they are ahead. On the other hand they hate to sell when a stock falls below their cost basis because they do not want to take a loss. This results in frequent uneconomic decisions and tremendous opportunity costs . I admit, I myself find myself allowing the cost basis to factor in my trading strategy, but try very hard not too. In that sense I have found the following advice to be very useful in deciding when to sell. "If you don't think you would want to buy a stock at this price based on value, then sell it" - and buy something that you would want to buy with the money. (Even with a margin call, I would rather borrow money than sell if I believe that the stock represents good value). Although I was fully margined during the Oct crash to add SUNW, I did buy another 1000 at 35 and 7/8 last week (along with 20 Jan 40 calls, which I sold today) Regards Alok

To: Charles Tutt who wrote (6310)	12/19/1997 5:50:00 PM
From: cfimx	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Charles, I appreciate your honesty. With the context of what you revealed about your recent trades as a backdrop, do you think we can now dispense with the notion that I am somehow providing the group here buy and sell signals? I think after the recent events, those particular comments have a ring of arrogance that you just haven't earned for yourself. Because, as the chart demonstrates Charles, since I have been on SI, sunw has done about what the market has done. Given that, don't you think the jury is still out on each of our perspectives? And if so, why the needles Charles. Let's stick to sunw.