To: Ron McKinnon who wrote (15263 ) 7/13/1998 7:26:00 AM From: Paul Dubsky Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 53068
Ron & Dan & LTCW Thanks to both of you for your comments. This one certainly is not for the faint of heart. The price to book isn't as good with so much goodwill making up the $3.96 book value. It's hard to believe that a company can pay so much for another (regardless of whether it's a good deal or not) and put the excess on the balance sheet! If they paid under book value for the assets, then the firm would record the assets at the price paid. Goodwill has always conerned me, especially with such a small firm. We're talking a $120M sales firm with a market cap of only $44M. We're talking micro of the microcaps! Anyhow, I think I'll wait to see what the next few days holds for LTCW. $5 looks to be the bottom, but noticed in the last few trading days that the stock opens higher, only to fall about $.50 - $1. If this is the case, shows that retail investors are buying at the open after getting pumped about it overnight, then the majors are selling through the end of the day. Also, since the market cap is only $44M now, certainly will be some manipulators out there to bring it down below $4 to get the margin players out. Also, could there be another "shoe to drop". Accounting irregularities? Growing a firm from $3M in sales to annualized $120M in less than 5 years causes some scrutiny. The co-founders selling: I see 1 plus and 1 negative. Certainly their selling will cause some review, and it's never good. BUT, they sold at $15, knowing the stock will go down. It's down now! Also, they didn't sell anywhere near their total holdings. Looks like only 20% or so, if that. If the ship were going under, they would have cashed out entirely, or at least more than 20%. Thanks again for the commentary.