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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: VLAD who wrote (17938)	1/19/1999 8:19:00 PM
From: saszu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

Vlad i think you hit it on the head with writeoffs...AS for TNTO being on the bid it is an electronic trading firm.But if you noticed Bearsterns it taking its turn from Merril lynch in beating the stock up today. They were on the offer all day....Thats means on a regular quote system if you see the electronic bid tnto intsa-net ect...it is a market maker...My guess is Bearsterns was making the stock look weak while bidding through TNTO to buy...Everyone knows Bearsterns is an ax in this stock so they wont trade through them and if they lose some on the offer from buying they just get it a 32nd cheaper on the bid and they make even more money... the bottom line is someone has to break the back of these short position and give them a chill so they cover...or there just going to continue the most orderly short covering ive ever seen.... what really gets me is like the bad press on Viagra or multiple stories VVUs misses another opportunity...this short position is the quickest way to recovery not being quiet planning the ultimate comeback story...its taking way too long and id bet the short position is down below 5 million shares now....my question who had a better plan and where did they get the info ?????? sAs

To: VLAD who wrote (17938)	1/19/1999 8:38:00 PM
From: Greg22	Respond to of 23519

VLAD...you are off here on the accounting, but close. <<Anybody understand this book keeping on this material write off better than I do? >> According to GAAP, a company can write down inventory only when it becomes crystal clear that the present value of inventory has fallen below its book value, and this drop must also be irreversible. Basically, the CFO is saying that the inventory is not worth what was on the previous quarters balance sheet, and then takes the charge against present net income. It is important to realize that this charge does not effect cash flow, or cash position, but provides the company with a tax shelter for future earnings. When do companies usually do this? When they are going to miss expectations. A good CFO will take all the charges they can, and then show the greatest loss that s/he can, to shelter future earnings. This "cleans the books" for the next quarter, when hopefully things will turn around, and then lowers the effective tax rate. The street usually applauds write-downs when they are used this way. Hope this helps...