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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: H. Lee Grove Jr. who wrote (10785)	7/18/1998 2:11:00 PM
From: H. Lee Grove Jr.	Respond to of 164684

P.S. We are talking about such massive amounts of money here that I honestly believe anything is possible, and everything is likely. Consider some of the notorious things that you are personally familiar with--everone's exposure is different--that have been perpetrated to obtain much, much smaller amounts of money.... Lee

To: H. Lee Grove Jr. who wrote (10785)	7/18/1998 2:24:00 PM
From: umbro	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Lee (aka PblicSrvnt), traders don't need conspiracy theories ... and as you've pointed out before, valuations aren't much help either. The trend on AMZN is currently up, light volume or not, (it only takes one bullet to kill you ... :)). Maybe, expectations of a big announcment at earnings time is driving the stock higer. Maybe the Motley Fool's "Hold" rating, BARS (Benjamin) buy rating, the Wash. Post Artile, the Time article, The Forbes article, are highliting Amazon's successes and downplaying its risks. Whatever it is the stock has tested support in the 109 to 110 area, a few times this past week and traded up from there. Technically, it would seem, AMZN is likely to re-test its old high of 144 and even trade higher. Maybe it'll take a 2-1 split to lower the stock price, and give a new group of speculators a shot at AMZN, or maybe they'll blow out the quarter, and do much better than expected. Who knows? But for now, AMZN is showing strength and swimming upstream (heh, heh) is a losing proposition.

To: H. Lee Grove Jr. who wrote (10785)	7/19/1998 11:56:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

I have reason for hammering Marion for bringing to our attention the article she does in her post; there are various way's to interpret it, and if you are conspiratorial-minded enough, you can easily interpret this article as an "Amazon Quality while being thrifty, ever demanding the most intelligent for you, our wonderful customers" hype promo piece. Just look at the MF board to see that it has already started that sentiment--albeit from some NEW posters to that board. Who could they be?... H, I would like to make a comment about Marion. Marion did not write the article in question and she is a very bright investor on the bear side of Amazon. I agree the article may be interpreted many ways but all Marion did was be kind enough to bring it to our attention. I believe a thank you to her for supplying information is appropriate. I never understood the premise of shoot the messenger and that is what I see here. Glenn

To: H. Lee Grove Jr. who wrote (10785)	7/19/1998 2:24:00 PM
From: Rob S.	Respond to of 164684

Oh I agree that there is much more going on here than meets the eye - there is too much money in play and too many ties to the financial circles for this to be a play that is based on some "perfect market theory". But eventually the fundamentals will come into play - the hype can build to a momentum but has to go further and further out on a thread as the business progresses, losses and debt mounts and competitors increasing enter (that's another rule of the free enterprise system - huge potential markets and profits attract fierce competition). Contrary to what many people want to believe, people who short stocks are on average, more experienced and more savvy than investors who are long. That's not my assumption but is a well documented fact. Not hard to believe if you think about it - the over-riding social bent is to buy investments rather than to sell them. That is how investors are trained to think. by the time most people think about practicing the "obscene" investment strategy of selling short, they have usually been around for a while and have purged themselves of some of the worse habits. That certainly isn't to say that short sellers are always right but they do tend to do their homework very thoroughly and win more than lose. Another false assumption is that short sellers are like vultures that swoop down on a stock and then are quickly gone. Some short sellers give the group a bad name because they blast stocks just because they are up and make personal attachs on the longs or the company. That is just as wrong as the longs who fall in love with the "story of a stock" to the point that they can't see the forest through the trees. Many longs (and employees or associates) fail to understand that management, substantial owners and investment bankers have a prejudiced agenda that does not always coincide with what they say or what is in the best interests of the investor. Part of the well known (among management and venture financing circles) formula for success in fast moving, explosive growth, high tech industries is to create a "corporate culture" that feeds on the naevity and youthfulness of employees and associates. It is very clever to bilk this for all its worth. Give them a title and promise of options that may never be worth much and pay them well less than the going rate. Run through a few secondary stock offerings and stock splits, cash out a large portion of your shares and then watch as the stock dilution, debt, and competition set in to upset the grand vision for others to cash out. This is what is happening at Amazon.com.