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

To: H James Morris who wrote (16070)	9/4/1998 10:55:00 AM
From: OtherChap	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

The people behind Amazon will do anything to keep you from shorting it. First of all, most brokerages never have shares, at one point the stock was declared "unshortable" by the SEC. Now, there are literally 25 dollar premiums on all the puts. Not like last week when it was around 12 dollars. The earlier poster was correct, now that the MMs see that everyone is making a killing on puts they're doing all they can to make sure nobody makes a profit there either. The only problem is they can't find anyone to actually buy the shares, so the stock just sits there. No profit for anyone anymore. Having said that, I think a lot of people are going to bail from this stock in advance of the three day weekend.. Should see a 50-100 point sucker rally on the dow around lunchtime, then a quick and sharp selloff into the close as daytraders liquidate their positions. One last thing, I am absolutely positive that the reason your average retail investor (web trader) buys this stock is because everyone "thinks" amazon is actually making money. I asked several of my computer-geek friends this weekend if they had heard of Amazon, and they ALL said "Yeah, its the one internet company that is making incredible profits." It's almost an urban legend among idiots who can't read quarterly reports- and THAT is where the retail support comes from.

To: H James Morris who wrote (16070)	9/4/1998 10:56:00 AM
From: llamaphlegm	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

BIG BLUE AND WALL STREET TOO By Peter D. Henig Red Herring Online September 3, 1998 Is this the best market for analysts to be recommending stocks? It is if one of the stocks is a large-cap, 3-letter, tech-bellwether-to-be, and the rest are a fun group of Internet stocks any surfer would love. IBM (IBM) picked up some nice new coverage from the Street as both Paine Webber and J.P. Morgan Securities started the computer giant with Buy recommendations, while a whole mess of analysts still can't keep their paws off Internet stocks. E-bull "Guilty as charged," said Daniel Kunstler of J.P. Morgan Securities, when asked if he was the analyst who recently chose to rate Big Blue a Buy. Mr. Kunstler joined his colleague-in-arms, Don Young of Paine Webber, in initiating coverage of Big Blue on the basis of earnings consistency, large-cap status, and plain, old-fashioned valuation. "It's a name investors should gravitate toward," said Mr. Kunstler. He granted that the market still remains gloomy and will likely continue to be so, "even after its two-day suckers rally." "Investing in IBM is not so much a flight to quality," said Mr. Kunstler. "It's more of a flight to earnings consistency, if you will." Indeed, these analysts may be on to something. On a day when the market confirmed that it simply can't hold its head above water -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 7682.22, down 100.15, while the Nasdaq settled at 1571.86, off 20.99 -- shares of IBM were up 1.25 to 121.75. In fact, according to Mr. Kunstler, at current price levels IBM is quite the "bargain." A bargain? In this market? Wait, who let Abby Joseph Cohen into the room? "It's regaining its status as a bellwether in technology again," said Mr. Kunstler. The analyst states that on a price-to-earnings and price-to-sales basis, investors have actually given Big Blue no credit for future growth. And when measured against its peers in each of its various industry categories, IBM is actually valued at the low end of each peer group on a price-to-earnings basis. More than that, Mr. Kunstler is adamant that IBM's share-repurchase program is, and will continue to be, "a great thing for its stock price as it translates strong cash flow into earnings enhancements." Upgrading everybody Yet, IBM wasn't the only one lucky enough draw some positive karma from the Street, even in these jarring and volatile market conditions. Mr. Young with Paine Webber started a whole slew of computer companies with Buy recommendations, including Hewlett-Packard (HWP), Compaq (CPQ), Sun Microsystems (SUNW) Unisys (UIS), Data General (DGN), and Micron Electronics (MU). The analyst also picked up coverage of Dell (DELL) with an Attractive rating, and Gateway (GTW) and Apple (AAPL) with Neutrals. And if you think that's special, you'll be amazed to learn that, even as the market was luring investors further into a sucker's rally on Tuesday and Wednesday, a whole other gang of Wall Street analysts was jumping back into Internet stocks as if this were the last chance to buy. Hambrecht & Quist and Everen Securities each raised their ratings on AOL (AOL) to Strong Buy and Intermediate-term Outperformer, while Warburg Dillon Read picked up coverage of Lycos (LCOS), Excite (XCIT), and Yahoo (YHOO), each with a Buy recommendation, and Netscape (NSCP) with a Strong Buy; Infoseek (SEEK) was started with a lowly hold. Still in shock? There's more. Everen Securities also upgraded Amazon.com (AMZN), Earthlink (ELNK), and Cisco (CSCO) to Intermediate-term Outperformer, while Robinson Humphrey bumped up Mindspring (MSPG) to Short-term Strong Buy. Will they ever learn?