To: gbh who wrote (46400 ) 5/9/1998 2:59:00 AM From: Darren Read Replies (5) | Respond to of 61433
Now I'm the one smiling; no make that ROFLOL. :) Darren, I'm not sure where your info is coming from, but I sure hope your not making a short play based on this nonsense... Come to grips with reality man. WS values companies based on future expectations. So look at whats expected for full year 98, and full year 99 to make todays play. If ASND misses those expectation they will be punished. If they meet, as more and more analysts are predicting, they will be rewarded. It doesn't get any simpler than that. What makes you think I'm short? I have never publicly stated I was short ASND. I simply believe the stock will go down. And no, I don't find a correlation simply between a negative PE and a short position. I believe if you read the message, it was a "simplistic" reference to the first reason the stock isn't going to the moon. And, by your definition, I couldn't be short because I don't have any gray matter. Come to grips with a different reality, man. You are in euphoria. It is a human emotion that allows people like me to make a lot of money based on your desire to predict the future. As long as humans invest and computers don't create a perfectly balanced market, I can take advantage of your's or someone else's weakness -- and that current weakness is thinking that this stock will go up and not come down. BTW, I rarely hold a stock longer than 90 days, and I make about 100% per year on my money. That means your yearly estimate is "old news." That also means I'm smart enough to know that a two year growth PREDICTION is just that. A prediction. If you trade on that information, you are just giving your money away to the other side of the equation, paranoia. Finally, if you keep listening to analysts, you will end up with less gray matter than I currently have. They aren't really analysts, they are underwriters. They have a reason to upgrade/downgrade a stock, and it's not to make you money. Stop watching CNBC, start reading EDGAR. It doesn't get any simpler than that. As for "the loss in the current quarter," it was part of the last earnings report that this quarter would be much like last quarter. I still haven't found the source story, or I'd post it. I did find this one about the Jan-Mar quarter, which shows a "diluted" profit, which I wasn't disputing: ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 1998--Ascend Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) today reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 1998. First quarter net sales were $305.1 million and net income was $52.4 million ($0.26 per share on a diluted basis). Compared to the fourth quarter of 1997, these results represent sequential quarterly growth in net sales and net income of 4.3% and 10.1%, respectively. I also pulled this from the 14A. Very interesting returns over the last three years. I might call that a negative... COMPARISON OF CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN FROM MAY 13, 1994 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 1997(1) ASCEND COMMUNICATIONS, INC., STANDARD AND POOR'S 500 INDEX AND NASDAQ TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY INDEX PERFORMANCE GRAPH APPEARS HERE<TABLE> <CAPTION> Measurement Period ASCEND S&P NASDAQ TELECOM. (Fiscal Year Covered) COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 500 STOCKS INDUSTRY INDEX - --------------------- -------------------- ---------- --------------- <S> <C> <C> <C> Measurement Pt- 05/13/94 $100.0 $100.0 $100.0 FYE 12/30/94 $271.7 $103.4 $102.4 FYE 12/29/95 $2163.3 $138.7 $137.3 FYE 12/31/96 $3313.3 $166.8 $142.3 FYE 12/31/97 $1306.7 $218.5 $202.1 Good luck. I hope you've recouped last year's losses...