HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet)
Subject: Re: Covered Calls / Options Contracts
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories,  Columbus, Ohio
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 23:18:53 GMT
Keywords: Options

In article <1993Jan20.212716.2901@netcom.com> hcb@netcom.com (H. C. Bowman) writes:
>I've been following the discussion of covered calls with some interest,
>and now a couple of questions occur to me.  First off, is there some
>canonical number of "contracts" that people expect to be traded at once?
>That is, if I call up my broker and order him to sell x number of calls,
>will he laugh at me if x is not a multiple of y, where y is the canonical


No, no laughs.  One option is certainluy tradable.

However, the percentage commission drops quite a bit if you trade 2,
and even more if you trade 5 ...


>number?  Secondly, this "contract" business referres to 100 shares, right?
>So that if I sell "a call," this obligates me to sell (upon demand) 100
>shares of a stock at the strike price?  Furthermore, when I ponder the
>issuance of a call, am I right to expect 100 times the listed trading
>price of the option? (minus the commission, of course...)


Right.

There are exceptions when the stock splits or spins off other
companies, but for the most part you are right.

-- 
Art Kamlet  a_s_kamlet@att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
From: gt@fc.sde.hp.com (George Tatge)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Act Now to Fight the Deficit
Date: 26 Jan 1993 21:09:56 GMT
Organization: HP SESD, Fort Collins, CO
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: georget.sde.hp.com
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.4 PL6]

Gordon Hamachi (hamachi@adobe.com) wrote:
: This kind of selfish attitude is a major part of what's wrong with our country  
: today:  make money any way you can, and screw everyone else.
: 
: I care about what happens to this country of ours.  I care about my job and  
: your job, and people's life savings.  If we can all work together to avert an  
: economic collapse, we will all be much better off in the long run.
: 
: Think of my call for action as an appropriate measure toward that end.

I'm sorry, isn't this misc.invest?  If the context had been misc.social.
responsibility I would have made an entirely different reply.  Maybe
this was a cross posting and I didn't realize it?

Maybe I'm to cynical to believe in selfless philanthropy.  I'm certainly
too optomistic to believe in the end of life as we know it.  In fact,
I predict that the closer we get to 1999, the more prolific the
doomsday folks become.

g (we're half way to the end of time) t

Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: tony2@prefect.cc.bellcore.com (gozdz,antoni s)
Subject: Re: Akers removal from IBM
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 93 16:49:30 GMT

In article <1993Jan27.093816.1@ulkyvx.louisville.edu> cl238240@ulkyvx.louisville.edu writes:
>What is the significance in the removal of Akers as IBM's CEO?
>Is this just a symbolic action -- signifying to shareholders 
that IBM is really committed to change?
>
************************deleted****************

The story I hear (and read) is that John F. Akers was
not REMOVED as your subject line implies, but is
stepping down after consultations (during the previous
several weeks) with several board members.

The final effect is the same, but appearances sometimes
matter more than facts (not only in business) :^).
(for comparison, look how the CEO of Oster was recently
forced out; he learned about the board's decision on
Friday night...)

Tony
tony2@cc.bellcore.com
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: hal@pollux (Hal N. Brooks)
Subject: Re: MLIS (was Micropolis (MILS)
Organization: University of Georgia
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 03:07:40 GMT

In article <22JAN199310170290@vx.cis.umn.edu> fqm6448                          writes:
>This stock seems to be trading at a low P/E Ratio. It has earnings
>over a dollar a share and is expected to do so again next year.
>It's only trading at 9$. Anyone know what up with Micropolis?
>Looks like a buy so far...
>

I haven't been following it, but at first glance this looks like
it may be a good pick.  The last annual earnings (12/91) were
reported at $0.29, but the most recent 4 quarters were $1.12.
Could it be that the market is looking at the 12/91 earnings?

Estimates are pretty optimistic, in the area of $1.25, so poor
results could be upsetting.  52 week high of 12 5/8, low of 7 1/8.
12/92 earnings should be out soon and could make or break it.

Also, I have a vague recollection of a hard drive manufacturer
in 1988 or so being accused of cooking the books.  As I recall,
they were accused of shipping bricks (I swear, that's the way
I remember it) to make it look like they were shipping more
than they actually were.  Was that Micropolis?  I'm pretty sure
it started with an M, and I remember confusing two such companies
at the time.

I've never used their products, so from a fundamentalist point
of view I'd like to know what customer perception is like, too.

=============================================================================
 Hal N. Brooks     Voice: (706) 546-7792     Internet: hal@pollux.cs.uga.edu
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: jhsu@eng-nxt04.cso.uiuc.edu (Jason Hsu)
Subject: Re: Dreyfus Funds
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 16:43:06 GMT

In article <C17Kp4.4Io@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>  
msingh@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (The Supreme Commander) writes:
> 
> In short, when it goes down, it goes down, and when it goes up it
> never fully recovers. I'm waiting for the time when it gets just above
> my initial purchase price, and will then pulll out.
> 
Is this pattern short-term or long-term?  And if the fund can be expected  
to perform like this in the future, why not pull your money out right away  
if better funds are available?
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: bbs.dennis@gilligan.tsoft.net (Dennis Yelle)
Subject: Re: Question: Is the market predictable?
Organization: The TSoft BBS and Public Access Unix, +1 415 969 8238
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 22:18:54 GMT

kevinc@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca (Kevin Crocker) writes:

> scc26mf@carina.unm.edu (Mark Fleharty) writes:
> 
> >Is the market predictable?  This is a question I have been wondering for
> >quite some time.  I have been fooling around with moving averages, AI, and
> 
> Depends on whether you subscribe to the predictability of stoichastic
> processes theory. Are random walks really random? Are markets truly
> efficient? etc etc.
> 
> Since I'm on the other side of the fence (I don't believe that markets
> are efficient) all I ever see is traders making money off of the
> inefficiencies and inherent lags in market activity.
> 
> I believe that prices are both endogenous and dependent, thus the
> question of randomness and predicatbility have totally different
> genre's for me.
> 
> Anyway, I've developed a theory about (what I consider to be) the real
> drivers in markets. Even had it accepted at a few international
> conferences but no journal will publish it as it strikes at the heart
> of some of the most fundamental axioms in finance and economic theory.
> 
> Oh well, at least this newsgroup is interesting.
> 
> Kevin
> --
> Kevin "autark" Crocker (Athabasca University)
> kevinc@cs.AthabascaU.CA  -or-  risk@cs.AthabascaU.CA

Do tell.  Please.  Post it here (misc.invest).  Please.
Or e-mail it to me.
We need to take a fresh look at these things.

--
Dennis Yelle (bbs.dennis@gilligan.tsoft.net)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: rs69@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Rong Shen)
Subject: Re: FAST CASH!!!
Reply-To: rs69@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Rong Shen)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 17:15:13 GMT

In article <1993Jan28.100324.17108@gibdo.engr.washington.edu> bobk@gibdo.engr.washington.edu (Bob) writes:
>  1. It is illegal.  No matter how you try to disguise it, it will
>     legally be viewed as a fraudulent pyramid/ponzi scheme.  If you
>     think it is legal than why do you insist on cash and why are you
>     posting anonymously?
>
>  2. Even if it were legal, only morons would fall for that con job. 
>     Only morons would send any money to anyone, when they could always
>     start their own lists -- someone has to start them.  Just take the
>     post and replace all the names on the list with the names of your
>     friends and family and distribute it to as many places as you can
>     and see if any suckers will fall for your scam.


	Wait a second. It seems to me that you declare the scheme
illegal only because you don't like it. What's more, there are enough
morons in the world for any one who has a little genius and who are
slick enough to slip through the loopholes in laws to profit from;
they deserve it, don't they. If you want to argue, just remember:
Survival of the Fittest and the Smartest.

	Finally, I am not advocating anything, and I am not denouncing
anything. I am always neutral.
From: sehari@iastate.edu (Babak Sehari)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Drug Stocks
Date: 27 Jan 93 22:34:19 GMT
Organization: Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
Originator: sehari@vincent1.iastate.edu

In <C1J3D6.LzB@news.iastate.edu> bible@iastate.edu (Anthony E Bible) writes:

>In article <tan.728153984@aries> tan@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Lian Tan) writes:
>>Does anybody know what's happening to the drug companies? Both Merck and
>>Lilly (which I've followed very closely) have gone down fairly significantly
>>lately. What gives??
>>

>	Anticipating governmental action to control healthcare costs will
>reduce profits.
>	Yesterday Merck said their earnings for next year would be below
>estimates.  Can't recall, but they may have reported current earnings that were
>low also.  Don't know about Lilly.

>Regards,
>tony

Nevertheless, they got the beating already.  This means any bad news would be
considered good news for them, since everyone is assuming the worst now.

Also, Drag sector is one of those areas that need to pull US economy up.
It is among few good paying jobs in the economy, and has positive trade
surplus.  So, only takes a fool to shoot himself in the foot.  

                       With highest regards,
                            Babak   Sehari.




--
From: jimo@cisco.com (Jim Oneil)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Bankruptcy by 1995..
Date: 26 Jan 1993 06:07:01 GMT
Organization: cisco Systems, Incorporated
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: stout.cisco.com

In article <4259@master.CNA.TEK.COM>, mikeq@freddy.CNA.TEK.COM writes:
|> Actually, isn't it a wee late to even start trying to pay off a $500-trillion
|> debt in just two years? It will take at least that long for us to fight over
|> whose taxes to raise and whose subsidies to cut!

The problem is not to pay it off in 2 years, but to stop the increase in
debt and begin paying it off.  The deficit is the biggest problem since it
continues to fuel the fire, increasing the debt each year.  We need to turn
the tide and start reducing the increase in debt financing by the US government.

|> 
|> How about just letting the whole system collapse and see what rises out
|> of the ashes?  There's a buck to be made in any economic situation, even
|> national economic/social disintegration!

Someone will probably do OK, but after a bit of thought, and looking at 
countries that have this problem, I don't think there are enough winners 
to make this a viable alternative.  

This probably is the wrong place to discuss the ramifications of social 
disintegration, but there are modern day examples: lebenon, somolia, and
LA (obviously stretched somewhat).  I don't want to live in a place that
has complete anarchy personally.

In a more invest orientation:

Much of the debt is "owed" to people in the US via social security, T-bills,
and savings bonds.  Is it possible for the government to avoid some of the
Bankruptcy 1995 scenarios if there are selective defaults affecting only 
US citizens?  If nothing else is done I expect that any accounts with foreign
currency will be converted to US $$ at the "official" exchange rate, the
government can change the rules at any time.

|> 
|> Besides, American democracy can't possibly survive anyway. Our problems
|> are too overwhelming; our people too ill-educated, nonproductive,
|> dependent, and apathetic; our government too corrupt and self-serving.

I prefer to look for solutions.

|> 
|> Okay, call me an optimist!
|> 
|> Mike

-Jimo
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: mcmillen@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Mark McMillen)
Subject: Synoptics (SNPX) Taken out back and shot. Film at eleven.
Organization: Boeing Computer Services
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 00:29:55 GMT


All of us who follow Synoptics were shocked to see it hammered the last 
couple of sessions after reporting fantastic earnings.  IBD said today
(1/27) That they had a conference call with a group of analysts and told them
that they were having trouble with component suppliers.  This led some 
of the analysts to revise their earnings.

Is this problem really bad enough to hurt sales/earnings?

Anybody care to voice an opinion on SNPX?  Anybody hear anything?  


--Mark (mcmillen@bcstec.ca.boeing.com)

-- 
Mark McMillen                   
mcmillen@bcstec.ca.boeing.com     
                              
                             
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: sandeep@microunity.com (Sandeep Nijhawan)
Subject: Re: Act Now to Fight the Deficit
Distribution: usa
Organization: MicroUnity Systems Engineering Inc.
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 23:21:50 GMT

In article <C1HDGE.KD9@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jhsu@eng-nxt03.cso.uiuc.edu (Jason Hsu) writes:
>	According to the book The Wall Street Gurus by Peter Brimelow  
>(which I highly recommend reading), Charles Allmon, author of The Growth  
>Stock Outlook newsletter, said that when he attends a  
>world-is-coming-to-an-end conference, he offers to bet the speaker $10,000  
>that the apocalypse will not happen.  Nobody ever accepted his bet.

	The speaker appears to have logic on his side - If he really believes the 
world is going to end what would he do with 10,000 bucks ?  :-)

Sandeep

Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: thomasr@cpqhou.se.hou.compaq.com (G. Thomas Rush)
Subject: Re: Act Now to Fight the Deficit
Organization: Compaq Computer Corp
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 16:04:46 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.213107.20770@kodak.kodak.com> guiguizi@kodak.kodak.com (Paul Guiguizian x79315/AT/2-49-KP) writes:
>
>[...]
>The deficit is not a problem unless the rest of the world calls in our
>loans.
>
>These are not the opinions of Kodak; they are those of Ben Steele.
>steele@sun1ais.kodak.com

(Well, they are somebody's opinions; I admit I don't know _whose_.)

While you just _may_ be right about the deficit (other things being
equal), you are _very_ wrong when the debt is taken into account.
For the past several years, not counting last year, interest on the
federal debt had been running pretty close to equal to the annual 
deficit.

Last year, we turned the corner, or bent the knee for the graphically
inclined: we paid more money in interest than that year's deficit. 
Now, interest as a percent of expendatures can start to grow faster
and faster, sucking more and more money away from whatever legitimate 
purposes you believe government has.

What happens when interest is 50% of the federal budget?  75%?  My 
newspaper this morning says that the deficit for fiscal first quarter
is running 44% _ahead_ of last year's record -- 44%.  How long can
we keep this up?

thomas rush			compaq computer corporation	
thomasr@cpqhou.compaq.com	their employee, not their opinions.
By my belief that government should be minimized, I swear to oppose
the unrequested intrusion of government into the lives of individuals
From: tucker@shiva.edsg.hac.com (George Tucker)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Conservative investment
Date: 26 Jan 93 02:36:34 GMT
Reply-To: tucker@shiva.UUCP (George Tucker)
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA

In article <C1Dz7w.FF0@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jhsu@ih-nxt05.cso.uiuc.edu (Jason Hsu) writes:
>There aren't many good choices outside cash equivalents.  Stocks are at  
>some of the highest price/book ratios ever, and the prospect of rising  
>interest rates (which I consider certain) foretell a crash in stocks and  
>bonds.  Your two best choices: cash equivalents and U.S. EE Savings Bonds  

WSJ last week cited a study showing that if you switched between long and
short-term investments based on the consensus economists' predictions of
interest rates at six-month intervals, your average annual return would
have been (numbers may be off a bit):
	>13% betting they were wrong.
	< 8% betting they were right.

What is the consensus opinion today?

	 George Tucker        tucker@shiva.hac.com
	Signature line awaiting FDA approval.
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: byu@sys.toronto.edu (Benjamin Yu)
Subject: Re: Pick - Northern Telecom
Organization: University of Toronto
Date: 28 Jan 93 12:57:22 GMT

In article <1993Jan27.201117.4145@spectrum.xerox.com> root@vinevalley.mc.xerox.com writes:
>
>I see a pick by Benjamin Yu for Northern Telecom ... tell me a little about the 
>company ... I may get a job here in Rochester with them.
>
>	John Burkard

I used to work for Bell-Northern Research, the research arm for Northern Telecom.  
Great company, innovative, demanding.  Their switching machines are selling very well 
in Europe and Japan.  In Canada, I believe they dominate the majority of the market 
aside from the west coast.  I am not sure about their penetration in the US market
though.  I bought the stock at 44 and sold at 47.  Last week I was going to buy again
at 52 but I didn't have enough cash.  On Monday, they announced new contracts with
Japan and it shot up to 55 and then to 57.  Yes I bought it eventually at 57 1/4, ... 
and yes, I have lots of confident with this company.

Benjamin Yu
byu@sys.toronto.edu
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Recessions, real estate, and such
From: gary@cdthq.UUCP (Gary Heston)
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 21:05:16 CST
Organization: Garys' Home for Obsolete Computers


The latest issue of Fortune Magazine has an interesting graphic in
it, on page 86. It has to do with cutbacks in government programs,
and how many jobs are expected to be lost in the top 10 states with
Pentagon programs. Might be a good indicator of where real estate 
and unemployment will be disasters in 4-6 years. Briefly:

State:                  Jobs lost so far:       Expected by '97:

New Jersey              13,000                  44,000
Pennsylvania            15,000                  55,000
Florida                 18,000                  56,000
Ohio                    19,000                  62,000
Connecticut             20,000                  54,000
Virginia                23,000                  76,000
Massachusetts           26,000                  70,000
New York                30,000                  90,000
Texas                   32,000                  98,000
California              75,000                 245,000

Looks like RE in Ca, Tx, and NY will be *real* cheap in 3-5 years.
However, of all ten, there's maybe two states I'd consider living
in (or even owning rental property); Ohio and Virginia. NY, NJ, and
Pa form one armpit of the US, along with Taxachusetts; Florida is
full of retirees that vote in high taxes to support their retirement;
Ca has some of the retiree problem along with having what appears 
to be most of the former Soviet Unions' policymakers, and Texas is
nearly as bad. 

I'm glad this area has been diversifying away from the space program
somewhat....

Gary Heston, at home....                ...in Huntsville, Alabama,
gary@cdthq.uucp                         the "Space Capital"....
From: masimo@netcom.com (Michael Maas)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Sequoia
Date: 27 Jan 93 17:16:19 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1k4d8jINNg7t@gap.caltech.edu> ojvind@chagall.cns.caltech.edu (Ojvind Bernander) writes:
>
>In the last few months (after the stock price crashed down) there has
>been _major_ insider buying -- I believe in the millions of shares.
>There was a law suit that is waiting to be resolved.  As soon as it
>is... wheeeh!
>
Where are you getting this information.  I just checked DowJones News last 
night and didn't find any evidence of insider buying.

As far as I know, they are currently investigating new sources of funding
after a major fiasco on the part of some of their senior management about
misrepresentation of growth.  That management is now gone.

I recently read that Tandem was recommended on the basis that fault tolerant
computers will be one of the higher growth hardware areas.  Hopefully this 
will help Sequoia as well.  Moreover, HP oem's Sequoia boxes, and I don't
think HP will let them go under.  

I do think they have positive future prospects, and insider buying would only 
confirm that more but I can't find any evidence of such insider buying taking
place.

Mike
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: hal@pollux (Hal N. Brooks)
Subject: Re: MLIS (was Micropolis (MILS)
Organization: University of Georgia
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 05:13:47 GMT

In article <14041@optilink.COM> brad@optilink.COM (Brad Yearwood) writes:
>In article <C1AE0s.4n7@athena.cs.uga.edu>, hal@pollux (Hal N. Brooks) writes:
># 
># Also, I have a vague recollection of a hard drive manufacturer
># in 1988 or so being accused of cooking the books.  As I recall,
># they were accused of shipping bricks (I swear, that's the way
># I remember it) to make it look like they were shipping more
># than they actually were.  Was that Micropolis?  I'm pretty sure
># it started with an M, and I remember confusing two such companies
># at the time.
># 
>
>NOT!  It was Miniscribe which was accused of cooking the books and shipping
>bricks.  Under the esteemed leadership of the aptly named Q.T. Wiles.
>

Well, thank you (as well) for clearing that up.  As I pointed
out, my recollection was vague, but I was pretty sure the
company name started with an 'M'.

It seems I'm not the only one that has trouble keeping all those
'M' companies straight, because Gary Hester seems to think it
was Micro Science.  

I'm sure you must be right, too! :-)

My advice: just to be on the safe side, never order a hard drive
of a manufacturer whose name starts with an 'M'. :-)

=============================================================================
 Hal N. Brooks     Voice: (706) 546-7792     Internet: hal@pollux.cs.uga.edu
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: bucknerb@bnr.ca (Brent Buckner)
Subject: Re: Act Now to Fight the Deficit
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ontario, Canada
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 17:20:43 GMT

In article <C1HDGE.KD9@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jhsu@eng-nxt03.cso.uiuc.edu (Jason Hsu) writes:
>	Figgie is correct that the national debt is a major problem.   
>However, I agree with a Business Week book review that if Figgie's  
>apocalyptic prophecy fails to come true, deficit fighting may lose its  
>credibility.

Of course, that reviewer presupposed that the deficit will be
held in check (and indeed will decrease).  Figgie talks about
what will happen if the deficit is allowed to grow unchecked
(as per the projections of the Grace Commission Report).

-- 
at Bell-Northern Research
voice:        (613) 765-2739
Canada Post:  P.O. Box 3511, Station C, Ottawa, Canada, K1Y 4H7
I do not claim that BNR holds these views.
From: ishay@53iss5.Waterloo.NCR.COM (Ishay Friedman)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Financial Planners
Date: 26 Jan 93 17:51:43 GMT
Organization: Imaging Systems Division, NCR Corp, Waterloo, Ont., CANADA

Has anybody has any experience with Regal Financial Planners ( Canadian
company, headquartered in Waterloo). I was very impressed with the
planner ( actually his expertise was funds) after the first meeting.

Ishay