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Ah, poor Dave! His frizzy head in the clouds and his feet firmly
planted in quicksand!
Ever hear the word "shakeout"???? That's when a bunch
of companies that really didn't deserve to exist get their comeupance
and fail, causing investors to lose confidence in that segment of
the market. This is exactly what's happened to tech stocks.
Many of the dotcoms and software companies that were created to
take advantage of the tech boom in the mid 80s and early 90s are
going bye-bye, leaving investors with worthless pieces of paper
and, unfortunately creating a backlash that is hurting bigger, more
reliable tech companies.
Also, money grubbing investors that worship the gods of buy low
and sell high will continue to keep stock prices in the crapper
as they move to grab quick profits when the market begins to recover,
sending it spiraling down again.
Obviously you'd think that, with most of the underfunded dotcoms,
etc. gone, we'd see a recovery, but that really won't happen until
there's a massive restoration of confidence in the market and folks
begin investing for the long term. And, although I'd like to see
that happen soon, it may still be many moons away.
Also many of the bigger tech companies threw their money away trying
to render Microsoft toothless, spending millions of dollars on briefs,
attorneys and poorly conceived PR campaigns that resulted in no
more than a slap on the wrist for Uncle Bill and the Boys from Redmond.
That money would have been better served if it had been invested
in the creation of superior products.
Take a look at how much money companies such as AOL/Time-Warner,
SUN and, yes, even Oracle, threw away funding that suit, when those
megabucks could have been used to shore up a sagging bottom line.
Wake up and smell the coffee, frizzy-dome. Oracle and others like
it won't turn their stock prices around until they wise up and show
investors they're more concerned about delivering a superior product
than bashing the competition!
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Tech sector stock prices aren't the only thing dropping
-- checkout Mike's waist. The last time he saw his toes was in 1978.
That was then and this is now.
Most of the big name tech companies like Oracle, IBM, Microsoft,
Siebel and SUN seem to be suffering the same fate -- a dropping
stock price.
Why? Many experts are quick to blame it on a slowing economy saying
that companies aren't spending money.
What do I think? I think that the problem is that there's a slowing
economy and many companies aren't spending money.
What does it all mean? It means that the experts all followed my
lead because I am the man!
Now from my perspective, I'd like to see this pick back up. I won't
reveal what company I work for, but I'll give you a hint -- it starts
with an O, ends with an E and has RACL in the middle.
Companies can only do so much when it comes to cutting costs. You
can only lay off so many people and cut so many corners before running
out of space to maneuver. It has to get better. It just has to!
With recent corporate scandals at MCI, Enron and Andersen Consulting,
the government is starting to step in to ensure that either the
CFO or CEO signs off on quarter ending results. It does make a difference.
CEOs can no longer be off playing golf or sailing ships. They need
to be more in tune with what's going on. Further, steps are also
being taken to make sure that everything's accounted for including
those precious stock options some are lucky to have. This could
be bad and put many companies in the red.
I know the company I work for will turn things around. I'm sure
of it. I'm willing to put Mike's job on the line as well as Larry
Ellison's America's Cup.
You can quote me on this:
These companies will turn their stock prices around within the
next year and make a full recovery. They have to, they just have
to!
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