<< For those that are not aware you can short BB stocks via Canadian brokerage accounts>>
You can do a lot more than that. There are many things that the unscrulous do to make money, even if it is not ethical. I have never participated in any of these, but one should be aware of what can happen.
Seth, it is also my understanding that you can short a BB in Canada, or if you are a Market Maker, etc. However, I have never had any long or short position- ever, in FTEL. I started posting here by sharing my quick opinion on this company. I was treated rudely, and now I'm following it more and more closely to make sure my negative opinion was correct, etc. (Judith, I'm again repeating myself as I'm being accused, again.)
I did appreciate your respectful answering of the questions I asked. I did not reply to them, and I did intend to. As I said, I have been doing some volunteer work recently, so my time was limited. I will attempt to respond to your comments now:
<<For the interest of this thread I will try to answer your sarcastic
questions. This is long all I warn you.>>
Seth, believe it or not they were not sarcastic questions to RB. They were sincere, but obviously directly opposed to what I felt was hype. The fact that many don't openly grapple with the good questions or concerns I often raise makes me doubt the sincerity of the poster. I enjoy it most when posters are willing to openly discuss the good AND bad of a company. I will discuss any good point (the PR and excitment generating ability of FTEL is a great strong point), about FTEL if this thread openly discusses the logical concerns one might be expected to have about FTEL (lack of sales).
<< I would however request that all reads it so as to correct anything that I post that is wrong or off base. Throwing insults at you Mike doesn't work so maybe I can stimulate others who know much more than myself to help enlighten your followers. (as if you had any)>>
This is great. I really like this approach. However, the barb at the end could have been left out, and hopefully will be in the future.
<<Why didn't FTEL meet your $ 12- $20 mil projection in revenues for last year?
The answer lies in the re focus and the unexpected success in Beta testing of DVG. IMO they were so encouraged by that early success that they pulled staff from other potential revenue making products and redirected efforts here. Also some other products were scuttled due to the fact that it was more trouble than they were worth. E-Commerce comes to mind here. Others please correct or add>>
The cyclone sales never became a storm and the Intrine sales still haven't materialized (and that almost sounds like it was a distributor agreement), etc.
<<Was Intrine a "major company"?
YES they are. the reason that they are not so well known is that they
are privately held. However their reputation in their field by their
peers is known well.>>
RB is quoted as saying they are an $ 80 mil per year company. Also, many on this thread were disappointed with Intrine. I don't think you are being fair by labeling Intrine as a "major" company, though "major" is relative term. Major to me is 3COM, Cisco, IBM, ATT, etc., or any fortune 500 company.
<<Did Frank only sell "some shares"?
Mike if Frank sold shares and I say "if" he did it for 2 reasons.
1) Reinvest in either FNET/FTEL
2) Take a well deserved bonus for his efforts
You explain to me what is wrong with either issue. I have used this
analogy before, Roy Disney sold a large % of his disney stock back in
1988 to build his dream home for a few million dollars. He felt he
deserved it. in hindsight that house has cost him 6 times that value just 10 years later and I bet it needs work on the pool by now. Hes still rich from his remaining shares. Nuf said>>
Part of what I said was in the context of what Helen said. She said Frank sold some shares. Is close to 700,000 shares some? It is true that "people sell for many reasons, but only buy for one". I'm not saying that Frank's selling was necessarily a big deal but why am I given a hard time when I report what I found out? You can make of it what you want regarding his selling, but I think what and when he sold the shares is good to know.
<<Is collocation with WCOM that big of a deal as per the words of WCOM
representatives?
The question is not whether its a good deal or not Mike its that we have the highly sought after agreement to use WCOM to spread our wings. 15 cities as rb explained to me as well as Judith stated have different tariff arrangements to be worked out. Lets see what happens after they are. My guess is that this is like the Kahuna on the horizon. If it pans out everyone will be rich but you>>
Didn't the stock fly on this news? If it was no big deal, then many could have saved their money and not bought, after all, nothing would have changed ! FTEL has not produced sales in the past as I would have expected from there press releases; Therefore, I don't put as much weight into this most recent press release. Also, I was under the impression that many of the FTEL bulls thought the collocation deal was significant and hard to get. Was I wrong?
<<Are sales up or down compared to last year?
About neutral. The focus has been ramp up and lining up sales and
contracts those revs will be determined in the future not the past>>
I thought the company did $ 1.7 mil in the year end June 1997. So far this year they are only about $ 1 mil run-rate, if I'm not mistaken. That is down from last year. I think you should look at the past to learn so you can better predict the future.
<<How reliable have past management projections been?
depends on your point of view. If you are a bear you could point at many things that did not happen. If you are a bull than you can point to many things that have and that are happening. You the investor decide>>
I'm talking about it from a revenue point of view. However, overall, it all aspects seem negative to me accept for the financing that they got (and keeping the stock price up at the same time).
Was FNET not expected to go public last year?
Expected, not that Im aware of was there talk that they would like to
move that way sooner than now yes
<<Did you warn us about the stock sales (warrants, Frank, etc.)?
Sorry no comment cant answer for someone else>>
Do you remember him doing so?
<<Raliegh, would you call yourself impartial considering that until
recently you had at least 87,000 shares as per the S1
I cant answer for Rb but I can for myself. Of course Im not impartial, I am biased a cheerleader . What I also am is honest and Im trying to find the answers like all the others. We can only know so much, than instincts need to take you the rest of the way. My instincts are obvious i'm still long. Your instincts are obvious by the very nature of your posts. one of us will win the difference is that I back my thoughts with money. Do You?>>
I just thought that RB's position was signficant to know when considering what he might be saying and why he might not want to discuss or point out or admitt to things that could be seen as negative.
I believe that you have been more honest and open then most. I don't have any money on FTEL, and I don't feel I need to in order to give my opinions, etc., on FTEL.
<<Sorry for the length>>
Thanks for taking the time to comment on my questions. Overall you can see we still disagree significantly, but I think it is OK to agree to disagree.
Take care !
Also, VALUESPEC stands for Value Speculator :o)
Happy Valentine'd day !
VALUESPEC
Seth |
