why am i'm going to short asnd?? well since mory sold all his shares how could i not join him by shorting what he sold ..LOL
..................................................................
Talk : Communications : Ascend Communications (ASND)
| Previous | Next | Respond | Earnings |
To: +Jorj X. McKie (58297 )
From: +Platter Saturday, Dec 26 1998 11:20AM ET
Reply # of 58304
Dec. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Ascend Communications Inc. Chief Executive Mory Ejabat sold all of his shares in the No. 4 network-equipment maker last month, as the stock reached its highest level of the year.
Nine other executives and directors, including new executive
vice president Bruce Sachs, also sold as much as $28.2 million.
Ejabat, 48, sold 100,000 shares at $47.49 to $50.98 from
Nov. 4 to Nov. 10 after exercising options to buy the shares at
$5.81 apiece, according to the Washington Service, which tracks
insider buying and selling. His profit was about $4.35 million.
Ascend's stock doubled from Jan. 1 to Oct. 30 on investor
enthusiasm that companies will need more of its equipment to run
corporate and phone networks. The sales may indicate that Ejabat
and other insiders expect the stock's performance to taper off in
the months ahead, one analyst said.
''This level of insider selling doesn't show a lot of
confidence among top management in the company's long-term growth
prospects,'' said David Coleman at Washington, D.C.-based Insider
Watershed Group LP, a hedge-fund manager whose investments are
based on insider buying and selling.
Other insiders sold a total of 519,000 shares in November,
as the stock rose 16 percent. Ascend fell 3/8 to 66 on Thursday
after reaching 66 3/4 on Wednesday, its highest since February
1997.
Stratus
Sachs, 38, executive vice president of carrier signaling and
management, exercised options and sold Ascend shares less than
six weeks after joining the company in October.
Sachs came to Ascend when it bought Stratus Computer Inc.,
where he was president and CEO. He received at least 412,500
options to buy Ascend stock, some of which had been converted
from Stratus options he held.
Sachs sold 150,000 shares at $57.76 each for a total of
$8.66 million on Nov. 25, the most of any executive that month.
After subtracting the cost of exercising options and buying
Ascend shares at $37.33 each, Sachs pocketed about $3 million.
Ascend spokesman Eric Warren said insider selling might have
been higher in November than in other months because of limits in
effect while Ascend's $822 million acquisition of Stratus was
pending. Executives and directors were restricted from trading in
shares of Ascend or Stratus from mid-July through October, he
said.
''There was a lot of pent-up demand for some of these
guys,'' Warren said.
Stock Rises
Ascend reported a 65 percent rise in third-quarter profit in
late October and introduced new products in November.
Since then, the Alameda, California-based company and other
makers of networking equipment such as Cisco Systems Inc. and
3Com Corp. have risen further amid optimism that phone companies
and businesses will use more of their products for carrying
voice, data and video on single networks and because of heavier
use of the Internet.
Ejabat, who was promoted to CEO from chief operating officer
in 1995, still holds an undisclosed number of options, Warren
said. As the options mature, executives can exercise them and
sell the shares they get.
Ejabat often sells all the shares he buys in a quarter,
since executives typically don't like to concentrate their
holdings in Ascend stock, spokesman Warren said. Also, U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission rules prevent executives and
company directors from selling whenever they please, so their
sales often come in waves, he said.
Still, the size of the sales raised concern.
''When insiders sell at this magnitude, even for this
industry, it's unusual. You've got to wonder why they're bailing
out,'' analyst Coleman said.
Bailing Out
Among other sellers, Jeanette Symons, executive vice
president of advanced products and chief technical officer,
exercised options and sold 60,000 shares from Nov. 17 to Nov. 24
at prices ranging from $53.72 to $56.
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Michael
Ashby sold 30,000 shares on Nov. 30 at $58.06 after exercising
options that day. Michael Hendren, executive vice president of
worldwide sales, sold 28,334 shares on Nov. 25 at $56.93, also in
options-related sales.
Ken Fehrnstrom, senior vice president of business
development, sold 72,000 shares for $51 each on Nov. 6 after
exercising options. He sold another 2,000 on the same day,
leaving him with 884 shares at the end of November.
Robert Machlin, vice president of marketing, also sold on
Nov. 6. In options-related sales he traded in 1,666 shares at
$50.25.
Vice President and Treasurer Bernard Schneider waited until
Nov. 24 to exercise options and sell 25,000 Ascend shares for
$56.78 apiece. Schneider said earlier this month he will leave
Ascend to become chief executive of closely held Digital
Broadcast Networks.
Director Roger Evans sold 120,000 shares from Nov. 4 to
Nov. 12. The sales, at prices ranging from $48 to $52.12, brought
him $5.94 million. Another director, Robert Dahl, sold 30,000
shares at $57.46 on Nov. 25.
|
