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Technology Stocks : SIEB Siebert Financial Brokerage -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Randy Elder who wrote (249)	4/16/1999 1:51:00 AM
From: James C. Mc Gowan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 284

Randy: yeah the valuations on virtually anything with and E- in it are beyond my ken; I've always believed that you should look carefully at P/E and PEG and fundamentals to evaluate companies, but a funny thing happen to me last Fall. My old SSB broker, who is from the "old school" started talking up AOL, even tho at the time the valuation was , by any historical standards, absurd, and they had a history of lousy service to boot( I still use it; a creature of habit). It was at this moment that I realized that something was happening that defied my old way of looking at these issues, using valuation metrics that were no longer relevant. I believe that the internet, and by some intangible, but functional association, the stocks of internet companies are a market unto themselves. The old broker was almost embarrased to have to try to pitch a stock that he had earlier dismissed as a passing fad, or mania. The people that use I-net brokers to trade I-net stocks have created a phenomenon which has created a different reality, and trading these stocks is the only way I can get my mind around it. I realized I was using my Email more than writing letters or even calling friends to communicate, when I had given up on trading with the live broker and gone almost exclusively to the net for trading, and I was doing all my work related research and professional communications on the net/efax; all of this changed in less than one year for me. These stocks correct every 6 months or so and drop up to 50% in value, then go on to new highs, splits, etc. So I trade for points on earnings/sector upgrades/split plays and use some of the profit to buy investment postions in the best, at zero cost, then forget about these shares. To me it is sort of a "parallel universe", this internet; it is reality, but different, and some of these net companies are the future of the world's communication and commerce. Valuations matter for old stocks, but not for the new market SCH market cap exceeds MER, I understand, but MER had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to the point of offering clients Etrading options. Who is to say that underwriting IPO's won't be thru net brokers, offered online, soon? Then, will the MER's of the world be able to hang on? Sorry to go on, good luck with your trades James