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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cynic 2005 who wrote (21032)	1/22/1999 2:42:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 77397

Well, in case it interests you, on a cash flow basis I show Cisco's free cash flow up about 39% over the same quarter in the prior year. Second, you seem to have no basis in fact for spreading this rumor. You do no one a service by simply spreading rumor and innuendo. It might interest you to note that some companies having received these letters, like YHOO and VRTS have experienced virtually no discernable affect on their stock prices. CTC

To: Cynic 2005 who wrote (21032)	1/22/1999 3:01:00 PM
From: Murrey Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 77397

MMV...are you sure you aren't jach ? <VBG> What other pig-stocks should I stay away from?

To: Cynic 2005 who wrote (21032)	1/25/1999 5:38:00 PM
From: Cynic 2005	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 77397

To all the the otherwise gentlepersons who disagreed with my view on cisco acquisition related write-offs as scam. upside.com <<Write-offs can be legitimate, of course. But excessive write-offs violate an accounting principle known as "the matching concept," which holds that the costs associated with revenues from a given period are expensed for that period. When a company prematurely writes off a production facility or research project that might yield revenue in the future, it clears the way for future revenue gains that will be expense-free. Merger and acquisition-related write-offs are an especially convenient sinkhole for expenses that companies want to bury. In response to an SEC inquiry, 3Com reduced its U.S. Robotics merger-related charges from $426 million to $270 million, a decrease of $156 million. The SEC is especially concerned about the high-tech industry's rising volume of merger-related write-offs being taken for in-process R&D, says Chief Accountant Turner. Buyers are allowed to write off acquired companies' in-process R&D, which reduces the amount of depreciation the buyer must take for goodwill--the amount a company pays beyond the book value of its target company. Last fall, America Online Inc. of Dulles, Va., reduced planned merger-related write-offs after the SEC took issue with its accounting practices. And MCI WorldCom Inc. slashed its merger-related write-offs by as much as $3 billion, saying it was acting under SEC guidance. Still, in some cases, buyers are writing off nearly the entire price of an acquisition to R&D. Says Turner, "When you see a high percentage of the purchase price--more than 90 percent of a business--being written off, you say, 'How is it that 90 percent of the fair value of that business was related to R&D that was under way?' Common sense would tell you that would raise eyebrows and concerns about whether the accounting is being done right." >> The term common sense is what is a scarce commodity in this manic bubble. Perhaps that is why every paranoid bubble lover will jump on someone who raises a common sense issue.