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Technology Stocks : MRV Communications (MRVC) opinions? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sector Investor who wrote (11114)	10/31/1998 12:13:00 AM
From: George Dawson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

Sector Investor, Thanks for the great report. I have some concerns about what was said particularly the concept of using cash to purchase stock back in the event of a hostile takeover attempt. There are much easier ways to prevent this. Preserving cash for the prevention of a hostile takeover doesn't make any sense to me. Why did they need all this cash in the first place? Did anybody there seem to have an idea about how their stock is being played, especially why there are such large fluctuations in the short position? In my opinion it seems to reflect more than earnings and products. George D.

To: Sector Investor who wrote (11114)	10/31/1998 1:13:00 AM
From: michael modeme	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

Sector Investor, Wow! This is certainly one of the top 5 posts that I have ever seen on SI! You have been incredibly helpful in providing a plethora of detailed information and insight. Thank you very much. Now I am a very much more informed investor. Cheers

To: Sector Investor who wrote (11114)	10/31/1998 7:59:00 AM
From: signist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

Hi Sector, Your post is incredible. You have a young mind for our age (g). See why I stuck close to him during this day. One thing I might add and Sector please feel free to correct me if I as not as accurate as I would like. Noam said something to the effect that" MRV is a GOLD Member at Interop and at every show MRV contributes a significant amount of MRV equipment to Interop's Intranet Backbone.(USA, France, etc.) This has given them much publicity and credibility throughout the networking industry." MRV had a booth in a "Good Location" and Noam felt there was good interaction with possible future customers and vendors. IMO, they just didn't have a lot of new technology to display as they normally do, due to the various delays we all have heard about. At the meeting, "Schlomo" as everyone seems to address him buy, twice, spoke to us to explain the reasons for the delays of the new products, mostly vendor problems and he wanted to name the vendors but the other board members suggested to him not to name names. Now, with much respect for this man,(I would like to make this absolutely clear that I am NOT criticizing this man), it is hard for me to understand his English but IMO he showed a lot of sincere passion for shareholders and seemed upset to have to report to us of the disappointments for this quarter (and a few quarters forward...my opinion). I was very impressed by this and it disarmed me of most of any hostility I may have had. Sector's report is simply amazing. Hat's off for your efforts. I personally feel better about the company. The Company is not going to go out of business. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing...Visibility, Visibility, Visibility...IMO is this company's weakness. We all know it. I am still not sure MRV's management understands this. Please get professional help! By the way, Noam and Mr. Glazier said they don't feel that the shorting fiasco propagated over the Internet had any effect on the price of the stock, but they said their only source for short interest is on the Internet??? SEC found the Internet such a significant problem that they announced new, aggressive enforcement and monitoring procedures of posts. I did let them know we were upset that management did not respond to this issue. I should have saved my breath, but it made me feel better. John

To: Sector Investor who wrote (11114)	10/31/1998 8:33:00 AM
From: EdR	Respond to of 42804

Sector, KUDOS ! ! ! to you... I can't thank you enough for sharing the experience in such an informative and understanding way.... No matter what happens to MRVC stock price, this is what SI is all about... Ed...

To: Sector Investor who wrote (11114)	10/31/1998 9:59:00 AM
From: mph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

Sector: Thank you for your most excellent report. As others have expressed, your efforts are greatly appreciated. You certainly made me feel better since I ended up being a long term investor whether I liked it or not! mph

To: Sector Investor who wrote (11114)	10/31/1998 12:12:00 PM
From: VivB	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

Sector, thanks for your comprehensive report on your impressions of the meeting. The subsequent discussion of MRV's cash accumulation to avert a hostile takeover led me to do some research on hostile takeovers. There was an interesting article on this topic in last Sunday's L.A. Times called "Falling Stocks Could Make Unfriendly Bids More Popular; With lower market valuations making many companies more attractive acquisition targets, some experts foresee a comeback for the hostile takeover By DEBORA VRANA, TIMES STAFF WRITER Los Angeles Times Sunday October 25, 1998 Home Edition Business, Page 1" Sorry I can't provide a link directly to the article but their WEB page is: latimes.com In discussing the ways to defend against a hostile takeover, the article says: "Unfriendly acquisitions can turn into costly, drawn-out fights, given all of the ways a target can defend itself. Besides classic poison pills, other defenses include filing lawsuits, threatening to break up the company without a shareholder vote and going on a shopping binge for firms that the suitor would have no interest in owning. In September, about 45 companies nationwide enhanced their hostile-takeover defenses by updating or adopting new poison pills, according to Securities Data." Trying to find a link directly to that article, I did come across a subsequent article on mergers she wrote published Oct. 26th: As Stocks Decline, Firms Find Other Ways to Pay for Growth latimes.com; After doing some reading, I'm not convinced that holding excess cash is MRV's best method of averting a hostile takeover.