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Pastimes : Janice and Ellen Discuss Stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Qone0 who wrote (64)	11/27/1998 10:55:00 PM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 308

Robert, If you had done some research, you'd have known that I didn't pick BNEZ because of your profile, but because this little tiff with Ellen/marcos/me had started over on a BNEZ thread. And yes, I did look at your profile to see if you were a BNEZ long as I suspected. And you are. Nothing wrong with that, is there? You also have some other stocks listed in your profile. Why isn't anyone criticizing those selections? Possibly because no one here is interested? And just so's you know, I consider researching stocks to be one of my few strengths. I don't have many strengths, so I tend to emphasize those that I do have. In my limited SI experience, Janice, marcos, Mr. Forthright, Jeff, Tonto, jhild and a few other posters here on SI, have demonstrated an unmatched talent to be extremely good at stock research. They don't tend to run out, do 5 minutes worth of web searches and then run back to an SI thread to post what they found. They get independent verification of their facts before posting. Remember, anyone can call the company CEO (a practice I don't recommend) or copy over a press release. It takes experience to know where to look for the facts a company might not want you to know. (This last statement is not intended as a reflection on your BNEZ investment.) KJC

To: Qone0 who wrote (64)	11/28/1998 12:45:00 AM
From: s martin	Respond to of 308

What would be your opinion of the advice BNEZ seems to offer about companies on the OTC:BB that are non-reporting? Do you find it ironic that a non-reporting company would warn investors about companies that don't report ? Do you believe that BNEZ is keeping the float numbers secret from investors because they are worried that AOL will find out ? Do you consider that a justifiable reason for keeping investors in the dark ? To: +Ellen (5419 ) From: +Leroyt Friday, Nov 20 1998 6:27PM ET Reply # of 5995 The OTC:BB is the wild west of trading. Be careful. The following is taken directly from BNEZ's PMA product. Look it over carefully: The OTC:BB stands for the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board Now, within the industry there's another name for the OTC:BB: "Only The Clueless Better Buy." The OTC:BB is really a "sort-of" exchange as opposed to a real exchange. It falls under the auspices of the NASDAQ system, but it is not really a NASDAQ system exchange. It is generally traded by the same individuals who trade on the NASDAQ, and it is traded via the NASDAQ system. But technically, the OTC:BB is not an exchange. The OTC:BB is more a Filene's basement of stock opportunities. You can go there and find that $2,500 suit that fits you perfectly that's been marked down to $180, but you will also find a lot of electric-lime-green-yellow shirts that are yours for one or two bucks. The only problem is, there are very, very few places that you can wear an electric-lime-green shirt. There are many places where you can wear a Giorgio Armani suit. And this is the challenge that an investor faces when they're looking at the stocks that are being offered on the OTC:BB. The other problem with the companies that trade on the OTC:BB is that some of these companies are reporting companies, and some of them aren't. So if you're going to purchase an OTC:BB security, one of the most important questions you have to ask is whether or not this is a reporting company. If it's a reporting company it has to have audited financials. It has to file quarterly reports. If it's a non-reporting company, it's just that. It doesn't have to tell you squat. It doesn't have to issue any sort of financial information, it doesn't have to tell you anything about the principals of the company, it doesn't have to tell you anything about what the company's doing, how well it's doing, how poorly it's doing. It basically just has to say, "Yeah — buy us on hype." And that is something that happens quite a bit on the OTC:BB. Because many of the companies are non-reporting companies, the companies are subject to swings in price based on rumor. There is something called "pump and dump" that usually happens on the OTC:BB. And this is a situation where a stock is trading at 25 cents a share; it's a non-reporting company, and suddenly (currently it's normally over the Internet; before that it would be people picking up the telephone and making cold calls to wonderful prospective investors) and a rumor would be started. "You know, this company's discovered a cure for cancer. You know, this company's discovered a car wash process that never spots in the rain." People, being gullible, believe it. They run in and they start to buy the shares. The share price is pumped way up, and generally some less-than-honest-or-wonderful individuals who have been waiting for this process and who began the rumors, put their shares out on the market for sale. The public buys up these shares at an inflated price; the rumor goes away; and the stock price drops. If you're going to buy an OTC: Bulletin Board stock, make sure that you do your homework. Make sure that you check out the principals of the company. Make sure you know how many market makers that stock has, and make sure that if the company has a product or a service, you investigate the product or the service. As I've said, it is possible to find that Armani suit. But more often than not, if you're not careful, you're going to end up with the lime-green-yellow shirt.