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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yard_man who wrote (32453)	9/9/1998 7:28:00 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 132070

Tip, I am a long-suffering short seller, not a smart put buyer, of Gillette and Coke since 1995. I have taken several trading profits and I am getting a nice rebate, but I am still under water on both stocks. My reasoning for selling short instead of buying puts was that the stocks were too big to be takeover stories and that their exposure in Asia would kill them. Also, they are easy to borrow and I get top tick as a rebate. All of my reasons were right, but the dogs went up anyway. The pe ratios have just now reached the level where I started shorting. Investors didn't care than they had no growth, because they are "safe." Remember, nearly all of my trading rules were derived from pain and agony. The other reason I did not use puts on these stocks is because they had low volatility. That is still pretty much true. They are the bluest of the blue chips and fairly boring. Ditto for P&G, though I did buy puts on it and Kellogg's a year or two ago. Those worked out great. Clorox is in a different category. They aren't that blue and much more vulnerable. I have just never used the name. There always seems to be something else pricier. As you know from reading this thread, in addition to BBY and HD, I will occasionally jump on Tandy and CompUsa. CompUSA is down and out for awhile, so it is not appealing. And I think Tandy will have a good Xmas and back to school with their new Compaq arrangement. The writeoff of the Computer City stores will make the income statement look clean, and Universal and MacDuffs are long gone. Nobody seems to notice that every decision Tandy has ever made that was outside the Radio Shack concept has been a big flop. I will look at it after Xmas, unless it pops big time earlier. One threader likes Maytag puts. They announced a big quarter today and I have yet to play it. I like the co., but the stock is getting pricey, though still cheaper than the market. Xerox has been a favorite whipping boy of mine over the decades. It sucks now, but it is down a lot and I made a lot more on Electronics for Imaging. Last year somebody even said that EFII would have so much demand that it would lift the DRAM industry. <VBG> I haven't played either for awhile. Kodak is a dog, but it is cheap on a relative basis. I would rather go for larger pe ratios. I hate Walmart mostly because everyone loves it. It is the one stock every strategist mentions. They don't mention that growth is slow and the pe ratio is huge. And I can't stand those "greeters." <G> MB