MR. GREEN RETURNS
Hello: In fairness I thought I would explain my (occasional) presence on this newsgroup. Ordinarily my investment activities don't include this kind of participation since the discussions of individual investors generally have little bearing on our investment decisions. However, in this particular instance I am doing so at the behest of some of our customers, who have been concerned at some of the lingering rumors that have been pervading the Street - and in particular, have been expressed on the Silicon Investor newsgroup. By the way, your newsgroup has a growing interest on the Street, and was recently the subject of a lead article in a major magazine (I forget which). Moreover, since our investment plans in mrvc run into 8 figures, it is worth our time to examine every possibility.
Although I have taken some of my personal time over this weekend (using my home PC) to look into and participate in this matter, in truth I don't have much time to spend reading posts, etc. However, over the next few weeks, my assistant, Rose, will scan the postings and deliver interesting posts or posts directed to me and I will dictate responses to her in some cases. In fact, Rose printed several dozens for me prior to my first posting, including all of the posts by the individual known as Mr. Pink, whom she had identified as being connected with on-line versions of the rumor-mongering regarding mrvc earnings or culpability wrt financial reporting.
I do not intend to respond to Mr. Pink, since I have concluded that he is almost certainly not connected with the origination of the rumors, and if fact, he is certainly not a professional investor. By "professional investor" I mean someone who invests other people's money as well as their own, and who hence are particularly responsible for expressed opinions and financial actions, including interfacing with other investors - even in a medium such as this. My opinion follows since Mr. Pink's postings:
- have zero credibility, since they are not backed up with facts of any kind, and no figures are given
- the posts are brief, contentless, and obviously intended to be "mysterious"
- have been filled with nonfactual (untruthful) statements, for example, suggestions that salepeople are leaving mrvc (denied by mrvc in response to my pointed question); that mrvc earnings are bogus (not at all true); that mrvc earnings have benefited by advantageous tax restructuring (not true; mrvc's EBITDA is equally impressive)
- infamiliarity with knowledgable short funds; Brous et al are hardly a good measuring stick given their recent performance during the past few years. On the other hand, if Manuel Asensio were making statements about mrvc earnings, I might sit up and take notice. However, he is silent on this issue, and for good reason.
The fact that Mr. Pink is deceptive is sufficient to eliminate him as a professional, since although Wall Street is full of rascals, professional analysts and money managers tend to be pleasantly honest and up-front, especially wrt financial figures. For example, a good friend of mine, Mike Metz, formerly of CIBC Oppenhiemer, blows more hyperbole and smoke about market conditions than anyone I know, and his public track record on the market is probably the worst around. On numerous occasions, he has declared, "The Bull Market is Over" at the top of his lungs. However, he is smarter than any fox, and it is all smoke. Despite this, Mike would never - ever - communicate false information about a company's assets, earnings, or internal integrity, since it is the worst form of dishonesty.
So, I think that we can dismiss Mr. Pink, and his empty, contentless, fear-mongering posts, and instead focus on the very real prospects of this company.
Along those lines, however, from the perspective of our customers, I think that I have served their needs here, and of course I am not anxious to see the stock price run up before we have taken a position of sufficient size. We plan to continue buying below $28 with a target in line with several other companies (above $40).
Regarding the rumors on the street (in answer to a question), I look at them as fortuitous, perhaps, but not as the reason for our participation in this security. We are not specifically contrarian, we purchase on the simple bases of value and growth prospects, by either of which criteria mrvc is obviously quite attractive. Whether the issue price will respond in the near future is beyond knowing, and in fact, is irrelevant. That it will eventually respond appears to be quite promising.
Regarding the "coming bear market," certainly we can expect some volatility to be injected at any time; nevertheless, the underlaying market conditions remain quite positive, and the US supertanker economy continues to surge ahead. However, I agree that mrvc is at this time, at worst a low-risk issue, but an adventurous one. At best, a home run.
Please make obvious any significant questions so that Rose can easily catch them. I'll respond through her as time permits.
Mr. Green |
