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

To: dfloydr who wrote (633)	2/27/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: Wabash Cannonball	Respond to of 4155

You make an excellent point, but I am not sure that the arrangement isn't good for the company and outside stockholders. Is the arrangement a perk? Yes, probably. But the insiders are still ultimately responsible for the interest and the principal. I personally don't like to borrow money to buy publicly traded stocks, so I wouldn't take advantage of this "perk" unless I was certain the price would go up. From an outside shareholder perspective and regardless any perk that benefits insiders, I like the fact that 27 insiders are on the line for $125 million in loans (and own about 30 percent of the company.) I believe this creates plenty of incentive and pressure to drive the company upward. Yes, the insiders have gotten a great interest rate, but I don't think the perk works against the company or my outside interest.

To: dfloydr who wrote (633)	3/1/1998 8:23:00 PM
From: Pancho Villa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4155

DFR and all: I am still "blindly" short CNC. Three questions: 1. Why so much hype in the earnings release? the tone of it is almost ridiculous. 2. How much of the growth is due to acquisitions? 3. How much of the earnings are due to capitalization of costs that should probably go to the Income Statement? 4. If they have a nice positive free cash flow, why do they need to keep raising money through debt? Is Ray Dirks assessment on their negative cash flows real? Pancho