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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (5715)	7/23/1998 4:02:00 PM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Sun Tzu, You seem to be pretty obsessed with stating over and over that you're not a short. "Thou dost protest too much". I suppose Eric isn't a short either..Nice tag team. So given that you're not a short. You clearly have sold you're long position and moved on to greener pastures. So what are you doing spending anytime here when you should be paying attention to your other more lucrative investments? The strategy that your suggesting for those perhaps that are still long is really buy high, sell low. The Warren Buffett's and the Peter Lynch's have always bought based on fundamentals, i.e., the intrinsic value of the company in question and not the past performance of the share value. They and their kind have shown repeatedly that long term investing in quality companies in the long run outperforms the market averages. There is not a case that the intrinsic value of TDFX has declined, though certainly it's share value has. If you are a long term investor it is not a point of fighting the tape or riding the trend. The tape is largely inconsequential. I recall from Peter Lynch, that "the movement of any stock over three years is random". As long as the intrinsic value of the company is solid, you buy and hold. You can ride the tape if you would like on Yahoo or Amazon and wake up tomorrow with a 10% pop or a 40% drop. You can trade if you like. I prefer to invest and I am diversified enough, that this "random" movement in TDFX share value is inconsequential. This stock may or may not succeed, but because I buy and hold based on fundamental value I've got my 15-baggers. Have a great day, Jim

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (5715)	7/23/1998 4:26:00 PM
From: Greg S.	Respond to of 16960

Sun Tzu - for the record I don't think you're short. (Uh oh, another long-winded post from Greg a.k.a. "bag of wind". Just my take on things ...) We're all arguing apples and oranges here. Sun Tzu is saying that you should take your money out of TDFX for now because it's not going anywhere, and - key point here - put it in some other stock that is growing because you are losing money by not doing so (opportunity cost of having money tied up in a stagnant security, losing money because you're not making money, etc.) Others are saying that for the long term TDFX is a great investment because timing the market with this sort of stock is difficult, it's sure to go up just a question of when, etc. We are all different people. We all have different aversions to risk. We all get different returns (both in pleasure and in money) from daytrading - its too stressful for some. We all get different returns from long-term investments - some are too impatient to stick through the tough times. In short, investment in this stock is driven by much more than a desire to make money. I've marveled at the camaraderie of some of the investors on here who have long frequented these message boards and who have long .. been long. :) For some people, all of this involvement is worth it even if money is lost! There are plenty of arguments that trend investment is a good idea. There are plenty of arguments that value investment is a good idea. It's all personal preference as to which people choose, and I think it's a bit silly for anyone to claim which is "better". TDFX is in a downtrend. It's dropping. Knowing that .. we'd have to be idiots not to sell! But not selling makes us .. LONG-TERM .. investors. Not everyone likes to flip around stocks and pick a new pet every few weeks (or months). Maybe that's how you can make lots of money, but some people want in on the ground floor even if it takes longer and the money could be "better" invested elsewhere. It also takes less energy to keep the stock than to continue buying and selling it, and some people don't want to expend the energy worrying about playing momentum and whether they are buying and selling at the right times. They'd rather worry about whether the company is a sound investment, which if they didn't think they knew they wouldn't be long in the first place. These people are more concerned with long-term prospects and the <gasp> HOPE that the stock will go up as it should than on timing ups and downs. I own MRK. It took a 9 point tumble from earnings. I could have sold it as it was sliding, KNOWING that I would be able to buy it back cheaper. But I am keeping the stock for a longer term and for some inexplicable reason it's not worth the bother to sell my long-term stock and buy it back again. Too much action and stress (not to mention too much capital gains). 4) In those rare cases that you do have found a sure thing, keep in mind that you will never know everything about the stock (despite what effecient market theorists may say) Really? I better go call my econ professor right away and tell him that it's final, the efficient market hypothesis in all its forms is just dead wrong. Thanks for clearing that up. -G