To: J. RICHARD RIESE who wrote (1648 ) 1/18/1999 9:30:00 PM From: Ram Seetharaman Read Replies (1) | Respond to
It came out in Wall Street Journal around the August time you are talking about in 1998. It addressed not only ESV, but other oil services companies as well! Though little dated, that was when any significant buying occurred. By now all that is already out on the internet. Even if it is a few thousand shares there was at least someone inside ESV who thought the stock slide went too far. Then came the September bloodbath and selloff in the stock market. It took three rate cuts by the fed to breath some life into the market. It is disheartening to see ESV head towards single digits. The whole sector is having a tough time at least for 1999. It will turn around, eventually. Don't get me wrong, low oil prices are very very good for the U.S and global economy. If inflation is low in the U.S, energy prices have a lot to do with it. Greenspan used the famous "irrational exuberance" term when Dow was around 6400. Look how irrational Dow is now at 9300 and headed towards 11000. All this is possible because of low interest rates and low energy prices. Nobody is concerned much about inflation in U.S right now. Right now if you don't have a two or three year investment window, this oil service sector will not make you happy! If you can pick up ESV at $ 9 or less and wait for two years, it should hit $ 20 - which is pretty good return on money. The sector that is definitely upcoming in 1999 is the semiconductor and chips. During the Sept. 1998 bloodbath, you could have had VLSI for $ 6, ALSC for $ 2, ESST for $ 2, ADI for $ 13 all of which have more than doubled by now and are even heading higher!
