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Technology Stocks : MEMC INT'L. (WFR -NYSE) The Sleeping Giant? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jonathan Edwards who wrote (3530)	6/14/1998 7:54:00 PM
From: Carl R.	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4697

What would be the rationale for buying the stock back at say $15 today? That is easy. For the same reason that we are buying the stock - because it is a good long-term investment. If they did buy the stock back at say $13-15 they would have in essence been paid for borrowing money. They sold the stock at $17 or so originally, got to use the money for several years, and then paid the loan back at $15. What a deal! If the stock will have earnings in 3-4 years of $4/share, buying the stock today even at $15 is cheap. I suppose it is possible that they could IPO it again in a few years, but I doubt the IPO would go very well considering the experiences of most current WFR investors. But long term profitability really isn't the reason I think that they may buy the stock back. I don't think that they run their business very well, and I think that they will buy the stock back for an entirely different reason. The existing evidence is that they are not very happy about being a public company, and they don't like people talking about them or looking over their shoulders evaluating their performance. In the not too distant past they are alleged to have used company attorneys to discover the identity of people posting to this thread. See: Message 2200148 Message 2202707 Message 2206961 Message 2217526 Message 2223202 Frankly, I think they would be delighted to be rid of us all. If they can do that cheaply (at book value or below), I think that they may do so. Carl