Bill writes:

> I was talking with my broker. who is very conservative - my portfolio is of
>  course down like most of yours being heavy in tech stocks like Intel -
>
>  But bottom line -
>
>  She said at $18/share it is at the bottom no matter how the merger goes - I
>  believe in 5-10 years time - which is my window - that will be looked at as
>  a very smart move - $18/share...

I don't tend to listen too much to brokers. They have an agenda all their
own. But what I do pay attention to is the behavior of the corporation and
its executive staff.

Based on those indicators, if you remember, I publicly suggested selling your
Enron stock last July, when its value was still hovering around $60 (it later
fell to 24 cents before it was delisted from the exchange). Similarly, in
January, I suggested selling your Arthur Andersen stock, and just this month,
Andersen has been indicted by the Justice Dept, its overseas partners are
abandoning the company, as are its primary clients. Andersen has been
desperately trying to sell itself for the last several weeks to one of the
other four large accounting firms. All have said no other than KPMG, and the
talks there do not look promising. Andersen may not survive another 30 days.

Large companies can fail surprisingly quickly. Both Enron and Andersen were
about the same size as HP (80-100,000 employees). While I haven't yet gotten
to the point of suggesting that it is time to sell your HP stock, based on
the behavior of Fiorina, the board, and their recent decisions regarding
commodity products and services, I'm certainly teetering on it. I consider HP
to be a company in deeper crisis than most people are giving credit. The
merger, if it actually occurs, significantly increases the risks of HP
failing.

Wirt Atmar

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