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Gold/Mining/Energy : Rogers Communication -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hsg who wrote (61)	1/7/1998 3:10:00 PM
From: Sleeperz	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 189

>>>Cantel will be shedding jobs and cutting costs. This along with cable's improved performance should bring share values back up, but the time frame may be very long...<<< The problem with Cantel is also a problem with all Wireless phone providers which is a lot of new players entered the game. I think Cantel/Rogers' only hope is to be bought out buy AT+T Canada. Those rumours in the past gave RCI a boost. cl

To: hsg who wrote (61)	1/10/1998 2:01:00 PM
From: Le Requin des Bois	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 189

I have only been following markets for the last ten years, and I have no experience outside of Canada. But I have never seen a stock spend significant time with negative equity, while giving any returns to its investors. RCI's equity turned "officially" negative in the last quarters, but has been there for a much longer time. One of Ted's favorite methods of hiding debt is to issue preferred shares (take a look at the annual report). That means: 1) The often reported 5b debt load is understated. 2) The "equity" is overstated. Once you factor in goodwill and intangibles, you realize this thing is built on nothing other than a gamble that either the cable or telephone assets will suddenly become tremendous winners. Given the state of the competition in both areas, the odds are not good. Ted's first gamble, that convergence will occur between his different assets, has been already universally declared a dud. I shorted it at $15 over two years ago after reading that very analysis in little-read "Les affaires", and will probably follow it into the ground. I care little about communication technologies as they are very hard to guess. In the end, I believe even the right technological choices will only allow shareholders to collect a few pennies per share (a la IStar Internet). This letter is getting too long. Since I am short, I expect to get flamed. But if anybody is interested, I will post about: - Why Ted has little interest in shareholders - Why there is not enough time for a turnaround. - Why net asset value has been an almost-perfect predictor of share price over at least the last 2 years.