Nortel Network Stock Split

[My Dream]

Not sure if it's a good thing, time will tell. Who know, I may have to go back to work.

http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/n...184.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA


http://www2.nortel.com/go/news_detail.jsp?cat_id=-8055&oid=100211299&locale=en-US

 

[crazy connie]

PARIS (AP) -- Alcatel-Lucent opened for business Friday as one of the world's biggest telecom gear makers, signaling a new push into enterprise markets eight months after Alcatel agreed to buy U.S. rival Lucent in a deal worth $11.6 billion.

Done deal now.

Whooopss I was following a different news item! Of well, I have a bit of them all! :

 

[brewer12345]

Basic rule of the stock markets: splits are meaningless. Ignore them.

 

[Nords]

Basic rule of the stock markets: splits are meaningless. Ignore them.

The marketing theory behind this split was to get the share price up above $10 so that institutions & pension funds would be able to feel "fiduciary" about buying what used to be a penny stock.

Hmmm... hold on for another six months or take end-of-year cap losses?

 

[AltaRed]

Tax loss selling is not a bad thing.

 

[My Dream]

If I sell now I'll loose to much so I'll take Nords advice and hold on for another 6 months. Thanks for your coments everyone.


MD

 

[brewer12345]

If I sell now I'll loose to much so I'll take Nords advice and hold on for another 6 months. Thanks for your coments everyone.


MD

MD, you have already lost it. Base your decisions on what will happen now and in the future, not on what has already happened.

 

[Nords]

If I sell now I'll loose to much so I'll take Nords advice and hold on for another 6 months. Thanks for your coments everyone.

If you'd ignored my advice to buy Nortel in the first place then you wouldn't even have to participate in this discussion. So maybe you should ignore my advice here, too...

I learned a few things from this stock and I'm not afraid to look at them every day:
- Don't buy a stock where we don't know what the financials really are until after the jail terms start,
- Don't buy a stock for the main reason that the (new) CEO is one of the most trustworthy men on the face of the planet,
- Don't rush in to buy a troubled stock,
- Especially don't rush in to buy a troubled stock if it looks like the troubles will be just a blip on the radar screen (they rarely are),
- If you're down 20% then you've probably reached your max asset allocation for that stock, and
- There's a reason for a stock being under $10/share. It's not necessarily a bad reason but it bears additional consideration.

I strayed way outside my (admittedly small) circle of competence on this one. The good news is that it kept me from losing (a lot more) money on MOVI, and I've more than made up the difference on subsequent stock picks. It's also helped nudge me closer to ETFs and away from individual stocks.

 

[kcowan]

We have chosen Cisco rather than Nortel ever since the pundits said that Nortel was adopting a "cisco-like" strategy. (I held Nortel from $.85 to $1.60 during its dead-cat bounce for a period of 10 days.)

I am Canadian and I really had a problem watching Nortel "grow up". All of its solid values seemed to disappear when it hit the big times. I had a friend who worked there as an executive and I got some interesting insider insights. He was a "salt of the earth" type and had huge problems with what he saw.

 

[Hamlet]

I'm a network engineer and I can't understand why anyone would want to own Nortel stock.

There are fewer and fewer companies every year that use their products (I work in the Enterprise. The story may be better in the Service Provider area, but I'm sceptical).

They seem to be really good at destroying shareholder value.

Disclosure-- I own some Cisco stock that I bought for $10/share. I am not selling it, but I don't think I would recommend buying it at current prices ~$27/share.

 

[HFWR]

Cisco was a GREAT deal at $82...

 

[FinanceDude]

Cisco was a GREAT deal at $82...

Yeah, if you shorted it...............

My brother worked there during the heyday, and when he left, he called me and asked if he should sell out his stock or let it ride..........

I told him to sell all but 100 shares, just so he can say he was still an owner. He got out of all of it at around $75, and made a killing...........I constantly remind him of that.............

 

[Hamlet]

It was a better deal than Nortel was at the peak

Has anyone seen the e-mail comparing the return of Nortel stock with the return of buying beer with returnable bottles?

Cisco was a GREAT deal at $82...

 

[My Dream]

It was a better deal than Nortel was at the peak

Has anyone seen the e-mail comparing the return of Nortel stock with the return of buying beer with returnable bottles?

Yes, I saw it and wasn't amused. :

 

[My Dream]

If you'd ignored my advice to buy Nortel in the first place then you wouldn't even have to participate in this discussion.

Nords, I always take your advice seriously, therefore I never ignored it. Unfortunately, I purchased the stock around 5 years ago, I needed your advice back then.


Bottom line, I'm going to keep it for another 6 months and start praying.

 

[brewer12345]

Bottom line, I'm going to keep it for another 6 months and start praying.

Hope is not a legitimate investment rationale, my friend.

 

[My Dream]

And I was afraid someone was going to say that. This maybe a bad decision on my part but Nortel stock is 5 % of my portfolio and I'm going to gamble. By the way, I'm not good at gambling.

 

[Hamlet]

That seems like a very high allocation to a company that is this marginal. Is there a particular reason that makes you think that things will turn around for this company?

If you had never owned this stock, would you buy it today? If so, why?

I don't mean to be a jerk. I haven't thoroughly researched this stock, so there may very well be a good reason to buy it. It just seems like you're hanging onto this stock because you don't want to admit you've made a mistake.

If that is the case, cut it loose. Everyone who has invested in individual stocks for any length of time has picked a bad stock/company. Even Warren Buffet. My particular disasters in order of money lost: WorldCom, Lucent (ESOP), Conseco, 3Com.

And I was afraid someone was going to say that. This maybe a bad decision on my part but Nortel stock is 5 % of my portfolio and I'm going to gamble. By the way, I'm not good at gambling.

 

[My Dream]

That seems like a very high allocation to a company that is this marginal. Is there a particular reason that makes you think that things will turn around for this company?

New CEO, settled lawsuits, new contracts etc.

If you had never owned this stock, would you buy it today? If so, why?

Probably not at this point in time, I would reevaluate in 6 months.

I don't mean to be a jerk. I haven't thoroughly researched this stock, so there may very well be a good reason to buy it. It just seems like you're hanging onto this stock because you don't want to admit you've made a mistake.

I asked for opinions and am willing to take criticism, and actually....... I don't want to admit to myself that I've may have made a mistake, and I still want to have hope.


If that is the case, cut it loose. Everyone who has invested in individual stocks for any length of time has picked a bad stock/company. Even Warren Buffet. My particular disasters in order of money lost: WorldCom, Lucent (ESOP), Conseco, 3Com.

I recently ER and since I don't have a large portfolio to work with, I'm hoping I don't have to take a lose on this one.

Thanks for your thoughts Hamlet

 

[brewer12345]

MD, you have already taken the loss.