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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rhet0ric who wrote (9216)	4/1/1998 5:56:00 PM
From: the Druid	Respond to of 13594

From Briefing: BA ROBERTSON STEPHENS. Investment banking concern has added a new category to its stock recommendation system. The firm now has five categories including a "strong buy" which did not exist before. BA Robertson Stephens expects this new category to provide clients with its "most urgent investment ideas" with significant appreciation potential over a three-to-six month time period. Based on this new ratings criteria, several stocks have been upgraded to this new category from their previous "buy" ranking. Among the issues listed in this new "strong buy" category are 3Dfx Interactive (TDFX 28 5/8 +3/8), America Online (AOL 71 3/8 +3 1/16), Applied Materials (AMAT 36 11/16 +1 3/8), Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC 22 -1/2), Level One Communications (LEVL 24 3/8 +7/8), Micrel Inc. (MCRL 37 7/8 -1/16), PhyCor Inc. (PHYC 23 +7/16), and SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals (SEQU 1- 1/2 -1/16).

To: rhet0ric who wrote (9216)	4/1/1998 6:10:00 PM
From: the Druid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13594

stocksite.com

To: rhet0ric who wrote (9216)	4/1/1998 6:24:00 PM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13594

I think you just have to divide up the money you are willing to bet on the decline so as to spread it over a reasonable period of time or you can buy leap puts. Nearer term puts give you more bang for the buck, of course. Suppose AOL is 6 months or a year from tanking -- you just don't know. You can buy some short term puts every three months until you hit or buy the leap puts. If it takes a full year for the drop, then you don't really care, one way or the other. You still wind up paying for a lot of time premium that you didn't know you didn't need (if you knew, you would have waited and bought near term puts later on). On the other hand, suppose it tanks 2 - 3 months out. If you bought leaps you still participate, but you've got a lot of time value that was useless to you and gone if the puts go deeply in the money. Psycholgically perhaps its harder to do the short term options, watching some expire worthless, if the collapse doesn't come soon enough. I'm no expert. I just wouldn't buy more than 10 points out of the money and never shorter than a couple of months out. Never bet more than you can really afford to lose and try again.