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Biotech / Medical : ARIAD Pharmaceuticals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rkrw who wrote (488)	2/8/1999 11:13:00 PM
From: Mike McFarland	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4474

I'm afraid those of us here on the Ariad thread probably don't have enough resources to do the squeeze...do we? Heheh. So, any bullish case out there, you always hear about how large short positions are a positive because shares have to be covered, but I suppose this does not apply to a case where conversion is ongoing? (Since nobody will be buying existing shares to cover) Did I get any of that right? Most of the recent conversation went over my head.

To: rkrw who wrote (488)	2/9/1999 7:51:00 AM
From: Dr. John M. de Castro	Respond to of 4474

The surge in short interest for January (actually 12/16 to 1/15) is significant. My guess is that the Series "C" preferred "investors" used the opportunity of the publication of the Science article to short as much as they could. This could also account for the rapid erosion of the gain produced by the publication of the Science article. This would make a tidy profit; selling around 200,000 shares at 2 1/2 plus and buying it back upon conversion at less than 1 1/2. This would produce a quick profit of over $200,000. All the while pushing the price down and diluting share value for the current share holders. What a scam this is! It will be very interesting to see the 1/16 to 2/15 figures. They'll come out around 2/27. My guess is that we we see an even larger jump in short interest. John de C