From: watanabe@cs.uiuc.edu (Larry Watanabe)
Subject: Re: Any Information on I-STAT
Keywords: Information I-STAT
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 17:30:51 GMT

rdaniels@ieeefin.ieee.org (Robert Daniels) writes:

>I have a doctor friend who just called me with a 'hot' tip.  Since I
>rarely pay any attention to hot tips, I didn't think much of it.  I did,
>however, call a broker I know, and he seemed interested, and asked if I
>could get more information.  The doctor I know is working on that, but I
>thought maybe someone on the net might also have some information.

>The name of the company is I-STAT, and the stock trades on the Nasdaq
>National Market, currently around $15.  They are located in Princeton,
>NJ, and make a hand held machine that apparently almost instantly will
>give up to 6 blood readings.  The obvious advantage of this is to give
>blood analysis quickly, without sending blood work to a lab.  It could
>also be used in a patients home, as I understand the cost of this
>product is not expensive.

>If you know of this company and have any opinion as to the value of this
>'hot' tip (no flames, please) any information would be appreciated.  You
>can post to the group, email me or phone me.

>Thanks, 
>Rob

>#######################################################################
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"Hot tips" can be quite dangerous. The reason is that people can 
make money by buying a position in a stock, and then attempting
to spread a hot tip to boost the price of a stock, then selling
out when the price rises.

That being said, it would be a good idea to go to your local 
library, look up the S&P stock report on the company, and
also check out value line. Our university commerce library
also offers a CD rom database of investment reports and 
articles on companies; if you have access to something 
similar, then check it out. You might also try posting to
some newsgroup with a medical bias 
(misc.medicine.bloodtest.devices.handheld?) to ask about
the market for such an item. Also, how difficult is the technology:
could some other company make similar items in big volume? 
Or does that company have a patent and no competition?

You might also ask other doctors, or ask some medical
students at your university, or some nurses ..

In other words, get some solid information on the company
before you invest .. don't just rely on more "opinions" 
from the network.

My opinion: doctors are bad judgements of investments,
because being a doctor is such a demanding occupation
(my sister and brother-in-law are doctors) that they are
either bad investors or bad doctors. 

Also, I have the following feeling: my guess is that the
device is easy to duplicate, and if the idea is any good,
then this is what will happen. My guess is that since
you have a technical background, you might be able to
evaluate this for yourself. Why not ask how the device
works, then ask an engineering friend about it?

By the time you do all these things, the stock will probably
have gone through the roof, or dropped through the floor,
or gone through the roof then dropped through the floor :)

-Larry Watanabe watanabe@cs.uiuc.edu