To: blair holder who wrote (1792 ) 7/24/1998 12:11:00 AM From: Ariella Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 15313
Dear Blair, This week's chart looks like FNTN has had a double dose of Viagra. My personal opinion is that the new website is factored into the current price. The website is a way of announcing that "we're open for business." It may be pretty, it may have all the interactive, video-streaming state-of-the-art stuff that makes FNTN investors proud, but the kind of "news" that makes big block buyers jump in won't happen till we have an idea of how fast customers are coming in and how much money they are plunking down on the table. If you've got at least a six-month time frame, I say buy on big pullbacks and wait. I own too much stock in a company run by brilliant engineers who can't sell their way out of a paper bag. The stock languishes badly as a result and my hope is that actual earnings will de facto pull us up out of the investing quagmire we're in. By contrast, insurance brokers by nature and training are people who make clients feel they need something whether they do or not. ("But what if you die in bed tonight? Do you want your widow and kids living in a shelter? etc.) If these insurance agents and brokers and financial planners think that what FNTN provides will help them make more sales, we got a real earnings machine here. So guesstimating how many will rush to sign on with the company -- even better, getting audited numbers about how many did sign up -- is the REAL news, IMO. Here's an example of one kind of FNTN potential client:www2.cash-money.com These people want you to buy mutual funds through them. Notice how they sound like insurance agents (first they scare you by telling you inflation will eat up all your net worth over time unless you do something about it now; second, they calm you so that you can sign a check to their company while they have your attention (but don't worry, investing in mutual funds will protect your net worth and the stock market is not as risky as people say, especially if you invest the way we say). This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but when the new website goes up, I won't be looking at it in terms of how useful a tool it is for an investor like me. No, I'll be looking at it as a potential sales tool in the hands of a stock broker, insurance agent or financial advisor. (After all, how many stock brokers, insurance agents, or financial advisor do you know who actually read all the economic news that comes their way? How you gonna make sales quotas if you're reading all the darn time? Why not call up someone and just get a sound bite? On the other hand, if this intranet thing helps make enough sales, why not cough up the dough for it?) As for news tomorrow, the stock does not act like real news is coming tomorrow. It will come, I believe, but in the meantime, pullback, consolidation. Long term holders certain they want to be so should take an early weekend tomorrow and leave the thread to the daytraders/short-term/long-term buyback people. Less aggravation. And what's the point of being rich if you're not alive to enjoy it? Happy trading, Ariella