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Non-Tech : Philip Morris - A Stock For Wealth Or Poverty (MO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: don kramer who wrote (3493)	3/31/1999 7:40:00 AM
From: Ralph Bergmann	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6439

Don, I can follow your argumentation, regardless that I do not like to hear it, I think your words are wise. Nevertheless, I don't see a material change after yesterdays decision. I see that the sentiment is very negative now, but I think it is rather clear that this verdict will be overturned on appeal. There will be always individual lawsuits which will be won and some will be lost. In average a fixed amount of money has to be paid by the company over the years to satisfy these lawsuits. More important in my eyes is the federal lawsuit. cnbc summary: netcognizance.com Ralph

To: don kramer who wrote (3493)	3/31/1999 10:26:00 AM
From: Racso	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6439

Your analysis on MO seems sober at first glance but is fundamentally wrong. - The prudent man rule of investment is for the courts to interpret, Investing in MO is not more imprudent than investing in companies with huge potential or actual liability claims. Any professional money manager can make his/her own independent decision on this issue. - Your contact at the money management industry, as impressive as it may be (and I guess myself and many others in this thread could claim similar contacts) is just an investment opinion unrepresentative of the market. - The market expectation was for MO to win the Oregon case at the jury level. As Morgan Stanley said, it was an easy case to win. Hence the market reaction to the adverse news and, particularly, Morgan Stanley's recent downgrade. -MO Price behavior yesterday and today resembles the market reaction at the beginning of February after the California Superior Court case. -Let the panic settle down but ultimately cool heads will prevail. To begin with, the irrational punitive damages assessed by the jury only strengthen MO's appeal case.Let's not forget that the tobacco industry has had all prior jury awards reversed on appeal. Only if and when this pattern changes I will start to worry about.