Dear Dr Stock

Saturday, April 26, 2003 05:56 PM
question:
Dr. Stock, I have around $500 that I want to save for a vacation in 6
months. What would you suggest I do with it. Buy stock, put it in
savings, keep it in my piggie bank. Thanks for the help.
PJ, Kettering, OH

Keep it in the savings account.......

From: Clentini Thursday, April 24, 2003 01:04 PM
question:
Dr. Stock,
My wife received 80,000 shares of stock options 5 years ago as part of
her salary re-negotiation. 3.5 years ago the Co. told her that she could cash out all of her stock options at $4.00 a share or a portion and hold the rest over for when they went public. We decided to let 70,000 shares ride showing loyalty to the Co. while others that were offered stock options cashed all out and bought their Vipers, Jaguars, and Mercedes. We wanted a nest egg for our retirement.
Well, last year in May the Co. merged with a publically traded Co. and went public under my wife's Co's. name. It started out at $7.00 and had a high of $8.50 then plummeted to a low of 30 cents. Now the Co. wants to go back public. They are asking my wife to turn in her stock certificate and sign everything back over to the primary holding Co. My question is obvious.....what rights do I have and what should we do? The Co. is pressuring her to sign some papers agreeing to turn over her stock.
I feel that she should get at least what they gave out to the share
holders 3.5 years ago at $4.00/share.
Also, the Co. has had alot of lay off's over the past year. By signing
her shares over make her job less secure or by not signing??
Regards,
Charles

Once the company merged and went public then your wife had a chance to get out of all or some of her options. I understand she wants to be loyal but once the merge came about then (hindsite of course) she could have sold at least half of the options. Remember there was a chance at $4 she could have had a nice profit at $8. Options are the same as the stockmarket if you hold then there is always the risk of the markets going down and the options becoming worthless.
I would ask to see if they would at least give her $2 - $4 out of respect
but they are not obligated. As far as her situation goes don't let the
economy or these options hold her back. The company has a loyal employee and if they don't see that then she at least start looking for a job that would appreciate her. Don't Be Held Hostage By Your Job!!!!'
Just my opinion....

Friday, April 25, 2003 08:15 AM
question:
Hello, my question is on consolidation or reverse stock split.In this
case Nortel Networks stock which was given the autority ot consolidation ratio between 1 post-consolidation share for every 5 pre-consolidation shares and 1 post-consolidation share for every ten pre-consolidation shares.
presently I hold about 8,000 shares, with consolidation I assumed that amount will be divided by 5 or 10. my question is if I request all my shares in stock certificate before any consolidation,will that assure me of retaining the 8,000 shares if Nortel chooses to consolidation to the 1 for 5 or 1 for 10.thanks in advance.

You will have to deposit your shares or send them to the clearing agent once the consolidation is done. You will be saving yourself a big headache down the road because eventually you may want to sell and the shares will have to be sold through a brokerage firm and at that time all the the splits will be implemented.

Sunday, April 20, 2003 02:03 PM
question:
dear dr. stock, what is the time frame in which a broker should notify you that a stock purchase was executed. two days had passed and my broker never called so i called him and the order had went through 2 days prior to the phone call but he "forgot to notify me", by that time the stock had already fallen significantly. i paid him anyway, but wondered if i had to. what do you think?

The stockbroker is required to call you the minute the trade is executed. When you get your confirmation see if it was "timed stamp". Look to see when the trade was in fact purchased and if the time of day is on it. If the time is not printed then call the firms "clearing house", who executed the trade and let them tell you what the time of day it was done. There is a chance that the broker went to lunch and could have gotten you a better price. I would also make a formal complaint to the firms manager (supervisor) as they must sign all trade orders. I would see if they firm can "bust" the trade. Let them know you are paying for a "full service" broker and if you wanted to buy and sell stocks you could get a discount broker. If they give you a hard time i would make a complaint to the NASD in writing. They have local offices all over the U.S. and are the regulators for brokers.

From: vmarino19 Tuesday, April 15, 2003 01:38 PM
question:
Does Conseco (CNC) have any value? What is going on with them?

They look like they trade on the bulletin board at $0.10. When you get your financial statement from your broker it will tell the current price.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003 01:46 PM

question:
dr. stock should i sell my fleming stock or hold out to see if they come
out of bankruptcy ch. ll? i paid 1.11 share for it, 10,000 shares. what
should i do.

Before you buy a stock you have to know what price you are looking for on the upside as well as what price you would sell at on the downside. Usually you never take more then a 10 - 15% loss on any stock. If you believe the company will come out of bankruptcy then you may want to hold. They claim they have $100 million in cash, but i would consult your broker and see what their opinions are.

Saturday, April 12, 2003 07:19 PM
question:
SSGI was bought out & is now SSWG. I had 1000 shares of SSGI. There was a 35 to 1 reverse split. I now have 28 shares of SSWG.Can you sell that small amount of shares? I have an account with Ameritrade.

You can sell any amount of shares you want. Ask Ameritrade what the
commission will be. Sometimes they may waive the fee because of the dollar amount the sale would generate.

From: Jetttttt2000 Tuesday, April 08, 2003 03:38 PM
question:
What is the status of USAir stock? Why was it delisted?

Once you trade under $5 a share the NYSE has the right to delist the company if they do not have enough capital to keep the company afloat. The USAIR had the right to try to apply to get on the AMEX or NASDAQ but they did not meet the requirements on those exchanges.

From: nathalie17usa Saturday, April 05, 2003 05:10 PM
question:
What are the best 4 companies to invest money right now?

In My Opinion Only:

Merck                MRK
Cablevision        CVC
Dell Computers DELL
American Airlines AMR

And one other thst trades on the OTC B.B.    Voice Mobility Intl Inc    VMII $0.22. Do your own research and consult a financial advisor.

From petermorse 2000 Wednesday, April 02, 2003 11:02 AM
question:
Hi-- another Kmart stock question: today the stock is trading at around
$0.11 (4/2/03). If indeed the stock will be worthless to the common
shareholders after the new stock is issued, why hasn't the price gone to $0?Are investors betting that there will be some sort of recompense, class action suit, or something else that will return at least $0.11 share? I don't understand. Thanks!

I feel all your ideas are valid. Plus the fact the stock is very "liquid"
you could try to make a quick penny or 2 and be able to scoop up thousands of shares and get out fairly quickly.

From: schmitindustry Tuesday, April 01, 2003 07:31 PM
question:
When I sell a stock is it guaranteed to sell? And if so will it sell at
the price after the stock is sold or at the price listed (in a low
volume stock)

If you want a particular price then you must put it in as a "market order". If for example you had 100 shares of INTEL and the bid (sell) was $17.25 you could put in to get that price for the "day". You are not guaranteed of getting it. For thinly traded stocks then it will be difficult to get a set price. The markets jump up and down so fast sometimes you are better off of you see a price you like to just get out.

From: 1boino Sunday, March 30, 2003 06:55
question:
how much would intel stock be worth today if bought on 11-10-83

I cannot give the figure other then to say if you purchased 1000 shares in 1983 and factored in all the splits your 1,000 shares would be 96,000
shares. It looks like the stock was around $5 per share. So your investment was probably around $5,000. At the close of 3/31/03 the price was $16.28. If you times the closing price of $16.28 x 96,000 = $1,562,880 !!!!! Not bad
for a 20 year investment

From: kathon526 Friday, March 28, 2003 07:12

question:
It is my understanding that under the reorganization of Kmart, all
current stocks will be worthless. Is there anyother option or legal right that we may have? I cannot believe that all current stockholders lose their value while they reissue new stock. Thank you.

Once all the creditors are paid the stock will be worthless. Unless there is a classaction lawsuit which may get investors some money back your only recourse is to just write it off.

From: giovannasy Wednesday, March 26, 2003 06:45 PM
question:
how can i find the historical price of the delisted company? e.g. IPO
price and last day closing price of "furniture.com"

I went to their website and it states how some of the former employees took over the name and website. The only thing I can suggest is to e-mail them and see who were the "underwriters" for the IPO. If hypothetically Bear Stearns was the underwriter you can call them and get the charts and info.

From: cingisingle2003 Saturday, March 22, 2003 06:06 AM
question:
I have been watching BGY for about three months and took my eyes of it for a week. All of a sudden it went from having a 52 week low of .21 cents to a 52 week low of $2.50 and is up to almost $5.00 a share. I have two questions: 1) what happenned and 2) if I would have had 200 shares at .21 would it be worthless or worth nearly $5 a share? Thanks, JH

Each day the 52 week low and high will change as it's compared to the same day last year. The energy sector was hit hard last year with the help of ENRON. The sector use to be a safe haven for investors with the stocks paying a nice dividend and not volatile.
Had you bought 200 at $0.21 your investment was $42. As of the close of Friday 3/21/03 it was worth $984.00

From: gbsmith643 Saturday, March 22, 2003 04:28 PM
question:
If you own penny stocks and you don't know how much they are or are not worth, how do you look them up?

The easiest way is to open an account with a discount broker and deposit the stock certificates. If you go into a brokerage firm they can look it up via a "CUSIP" number which is on the back of all stock certificates.If they have any value then the firm can open an account and you can track them via a monthly statement.

From: Brian Thursday, March 20, 2003 12:26 PM
question:
Dear Dr. Stock,
I have recently purchased shares in MCSI at a low price. Do you see any good times ahead for MCSI.
Thanks, Brian.

I do not follow the stock but the company seems to have a lot of problems based on the class action lawsuit. If it turns out MCSI did over inflate their earnings and top executives were selling their stock when the stock was at its peak then this company is in for a tough time. Just My Opinion.

From: kencam21 Wednesday, March 12, 2003 12:22 PM
question:
what happens to my money if a company i own goes out of business? where do i find the value of the stock if the company goes out of business?

If you have the "certs" or certificates then you can go to a local brokerage firm and they can look it up via the "cusip" number.
This is a number on the back of the stock certificate. It acts as a catalog number. If the stocks are already in your account then your broker will have the value for you.

Mary & Dan Dinning Tuesday, March 11, 2003 12:50 PM

Subject: Dear Dr-STOCK, kmart stock

Dear Dr. Stock,

What would be the most expected outcome if I were to buy kmart stock today. I read it is anticipated to be worth less is a feww weeks.

Thank you , dan

When you invest in a company like K-Mart or any company that has filed for bankruptcy the "risk-reward" ratio is very low. 90% of these companies rarely come back or even trade. Most times the company goes private and closes the doors on the investor. If you were to buy such a stock you can't get greedy and if you have a number of shares that you could sell for a profit if it went up 1 or 2 cents then maybe. But I tend to stay away from pipe dreams. Ask a financial adivisor before doing anything.

From: lisamariehanna Sunday, March 02, 2003 03:23 PM
question:
Dear Dr.Stock,
I was interested with a new stock that i noticed on the most active list on the Nasdaq called ftgx the volume was tremendous. What do you think about this stock?

While the volume was good you are talking about a stock that trades at $0.06, it does'nt take much money to buy 100,000 shares. What I was NOT impressed with and I would be careful is that the stock went DOWN on heavy volume. If you see a stock that has heavy volume and is going UP then something positive is happening and it would be worth an investment. But on the flip side when the volume is there and its going DOWN that is not good and I would wait before considering buying any shares. You would be better off letting it go down and if the volume becomes heavy again but starts to move up then maybe buy a few shares. Sure you may have missed some profits but at least the bleeding has stopped. Also with FTGX news came out on February 18th and it went up slightly that day but has since gone done. That usually indicates as the old saying goes "Buy on rumor, sell on the news".

From:beemermomma Wednesday, February 26, 2003 01:16 PM
question: What does it mean when a company buys share of it stocks back. What if they borrow money to complete this transactiopn?

In MY OPINION ONLY this is a good sign when companies buy back their own stock. The board members can either "exercise" thier stock opitons or gointo the "open" market and buy shares. Now it does not mean they are goingto be buying it back at the lowest price they wnat to show the public they have confidence in the company they own.

From: lisamariehanna Wednesday, February 26, 2003 02:04 PM
question:
Dear Dr.stock,

I was wondering what you think about the chances of survival for ettc.ob or do you think its headed for extinction?

There has been no news on this company in a long time. And a day after you emailed me it traded over 900,000 shares and went down. The day before only 5,000 shares traded. I don't have any opinion on the compant and suggest you discuss it with your broker.

From: rgalyean Tuesday, February 25, 2003 01:02 PM
question:
My boss formed a company with two other people. She owns 51% of the stock and the others each own 24.5%. Stock was purchased at $2.00 per share. Anyway, now the deal has fell through, and my boss wants to continue on by herself, but the two others won't sell their shares of stock. They feel if they stay involved, they can tell her what to do. This would mean not competing against them in the same business I think. Is there anyway short of dissolving this company and starting a new one to force them to sell?

The fact she owns 51% of the company means she has controlling interest and has the final say because of the addtional 1%. As far as the other 2 trying to compete in the same type business unless there was a clause set up barring them from doing so then they can do whatever they want.

From: lisahanna Monday, February 24, 2003 06:49 PM
question:
can you tell me yor opinion on ettc.ob

On a technical standpoint this stock has broken all support levels. I would be a buyer if it went back up past $0.05 and maintained over 300,000 shares a day. Obviously someone has been dumping the stock, some days you will see 400,000 shares traded or like today Feb 25th only 5,000 shares. That is to big of a spread. You need volume to come back in. JUST MY OPINION

From: bah100 Monday, February 24, 2003 08:21 AM
question:
USAir is trading at $.18. I think it's a pretty good bet that they
won't go out of business. When they emerge from bankruptcy, will they issue new shares to the bondholders, essentially leaving current stockholders with nothing?

No one knows what ANY company will do after filing for bankruptcy. But its a safe bet it will FAVOR THE INSIDERS........Beware of companies who have filed they are historically a bad investment.

From: bakersully Saturday, February 22, 2003 06:04 AM
question:
How can I find out who is holding a specific stock certificate? We
have a copy of the certificate, but do not know what brokerage, transfer agent, etc. is handling the stock.

You can contact the company and ask them who the transfer agent is as well as all publicly traded companies have a list of shareholders.

Thursday, February 13, 2003 07:00 PM
question:
What happens to my stock if and when it drops to zero in value.

You can't sell it. But you will be able to write it off as a tax loss. Ask
your broker for a "worthless stock certificate" and have your accountant off-set it with any gains you may have had. If the stock should ever rebound and you do sell it there will be a captial gain. It's almost like the stock is just sitting on a shelf and one day maybe it will have value and surprise you.

From: Calvin Thursday, February 13, 2003 03:51 AM
question:
Will Etoys.com trade again on the stock market?

It does'nt appear so. Unless there is a total restructioning and then with all the creditors that have to be paid back will there be any money left. In my opinion its a writeoff.

From: Counselorcorbin Tuesday, February 04, 2003question:
I have purchase some shares of Kmart. (KMRTQ.PK) When it emerges from bankrupcy will they be worthless? I have recently read an article that said it they will "cancle the pink sheets and issue new shares when it comes out of bankruptcy" Help?!?

If that happens there will be a war with the investors. K-Mart can file the paperwork with the SEC but if the creditors are paid back and the stock starts to pick up steam and get to a respectable price then they should at least apply for NASDAQ listing.
K-Mart can also try to issue new stock with the investors like yourself and redeeming them for new shares. I think they may do a reverse split.

From: Sunfun50 Monday, January 27, 2003 08:19 AM
question:
dear doctor, what historically happens when a company like kmart
emerges from bankruptcy_? more or less, is the stock valueless or is the judgement by the bk court favor the prior stockholders? What is the percentage of judgements in either direction? Is it possible for you to comment on this right away? We are in a bit of a bind, and need an unbaised opinion.
thanks

The creditors will get paid first. Then bond holders followed by preferred stock holders and then the common stock holders. And this is based that after all is said and done that there is money left over. I read an article a few months ago that some professor I think from Yale or Harvard tracked companies that filed for bankruptcy. The findings showed that over 90% of the companies went out of business or their stock became worthless.
You can ask your accountant advice on this strategy: Call your broker and request what is called a "worthless stock certificate" form. Your
accountant can take the money you put into K-Mart and write it off. The stipulation is that if for some reason K-Mart straighten themselves out and they go up in price and exceed your cost average you would have to pay taxes on the capital gains as well as what was written off.
Example: You invested $10,000 into K-Mart, with your cost average at $10. The accountant fills out the form and writes off the $10,000 as worthless stock. You will still hold the stock in your account, you are NOT going to put in a " SELL " order. It will just sit there. Now in a year K-Mart gets their act together, pay off all the creditors and investors are coming back to buy the stock It goes up to $15 and you decide to sell.
Normally you would have a $5,000 profit to declare, $10,000 invested
minus $15,000 sale price nets a $5,000. But because you wrote off the $10,000 on your previous taxes you will now have to declare the original $10,000.
Essentially it almost becomes a wash but at least you got your $10,000
back. Or you can just sell it and write off the amount, but I feel if you could get the worthless stock certificate at least you have a chance of
recouping your money. JUST MY OPINION................Again I STRESS ask your cpa and broker!!!!!!!!!!!

from: Margaret Wednesday, January 22, 2003 07:35 AM
question: I have stock in Safeway what happens if Wallmart or Tesco etc by safeway ie what value does my stock have

Whatever Wallmart decides on as the buyout price.
For example when AOL bought out Time Warner, Time Warner was trading at around $50 a share. When AOL made a bid for their company they offered $70 a share. You have to hope whatever your cost average is the buyout will be above that price.

Hello Doc i am interested in a stock Applied Digital Solutions ADSX . I have heard a lot of good and bad things about this company is it worth buying ??? Thanks

I have no opinions about this stock.....sorry

From: Marvin Thursday, January 16, 2003 03:19 PM7
question:
Hi Dr.Stock,
While I understand how the stockholders of a company liquidated in a
bankruptcy would have no value. I don't understand how a company that emerges from a bankruptcy in tact can write off the people that have invested in that company over several years by cancelin their stock and issueing new stock. Can you explain?
Marvin Wade

Unfortunately there are no rules to combat it. The government for whatever reason allows this to happen but will try to justify it by having theoriginal ownership either go to jail ie: Enron or banned from doing business as a publicly traded corporation.

From Doris -Wednesday, January 15, 2003 9:03 AM

Subject: Question for Dr-Stock

Hello,
I own stock in kmart, we were told our stock is at zero. Does this mean my stock is useless? Can it ever be worth anything again? I'm not understanding any of this. Since the company filed bankruptcy, do I even own the stock?
If you can help me understand any of this I would appreciate it.
Thank You, Doris

Hi Doris,

KMART does trade but on the "pink sheets". On Wednesday 1/15 it traded over 59 million shares!!!!!!! The last trade was $0.16 a share. If your stock is held at a brokerage firm you will see it does trade by looking at your statement. Technically you can ask your broker for a "worthless stock certifcate" and have your accountant write it off. BUT A WORD OF CAUTION: Since the stock does trade if for some reason with the closing of addtional stores and bankruptcy protection if the stock did rebound you would have to pay taxes as it would now be considered a capital gain. IN MY Opinion Only: I would hold and hope they can turn things around, if they can't you will still will be able to write it off. Consult your financial advisor or accountant. If you go to YAHOO FINANCE the symbol is:
KMRTQ.PK

From: Tony Thursday, January 09, 2003 01:41 PM
question:
Dr. Stock -
I read a question dated August 27, 2002:
i am in a stock market simulation game at school, i start out with
$100,000 what stocks should i buy

> > >>I love:
> > >>Cablevision -    CVC       NYSE   UNDER $9.50
> > >>EMC CORP-   EMC       NYSE   UNDER $ 8.00
> > >>DELL COMP.- DELL     NASDAQ UNDER $27.00
> > >>EBAY               EBAY    NASDAQ UNDER $56
> > >>LEVEL 3          LVLT    NASDAQ UNDER $5.75
With the exception of LVLT, these all seem to have performed excellently since August. What stocks do you currently love?
Tony

Right now there is a OTC Bulletin Board stock I am agressivley buying. The name is Voice Mobility Intl Inc. Symbol VMII Last trade $0.24. The company is involved in " unified Messaging" or one number dialing.
Go to there website at: www.voicemobility.com
In laymans terms the company will give you "one phone number" to use so that you don't have to give someone your home, business, cell phone or pager number. With their software you can check off where you are going to be and when someone calls your "VMII" number the system will track you down. You are given a "voice mail box" similar to the one you may have at work but the features that are included is:
When you access your mail box it will say you have "3 messages, 4 e-mails and 2 faxes- do you WANT TO LISTEN TO THEM". Thats right it has "voice recognition" software built in so if you wanted to hear your emails it will read it as well as a fax. Another great feature is that if you are in a restaurant and someone sent a fax you can punch in the resataurants fax number a have it sent there. The other feature is if you were in Europe and your cell phone did not work you can rent a local cell phone with a web browser and retreive the VMII software and key in the new cell number but everyone will still call the one number you gave them.
The biggest reason I love the stock is because LUCENT is getting out of the "messaging" business and their phone systems are going to be obsolete. VMII can switch that system without causing any delays to your company. IN MY OPINION ONLY: This stock has a chance to explode into double digits $10 +++.
Go to the website and request an investors package. I feel you will be very happy in the next 3 - 6 months.

From: dhenry
Thursday, January 09, 2003 12:37 PM
question:
My question is when a large company buys a bankrupt company where the stock is selling for say 10 cents per share and you are a shareholder in that company, what happens to those penny shares you own after the purchase?
First of all do they go up or down and how are the shareholders paid or compensated for the shares they have? Is it wise to get out first or wait and hope the stock goes up? Thanks Dave

Hi Dave,
Just as long as the company still has stock that is being traded whatever the agreed upon price between the 2 companies is what you will get. But you did state the company was bankrupt so once all the creditors are paid the bond holders and preferred stock holders will get paid before the common stock shareholder.
Example: for a company who fell on hard times but did not declare bankruptcy but their stock once traded as high as $50 but is now at $1, once a buyout price is agreed upon say for $10 that is what you will get.
Example 2- the same company had declared bankruptcy now you have to get on line and whatever is left after paying everyone is what will be divided up. Usually a bankrupt company does not trade and is delisted so you won't actually find an establish buyout price like the above example . ie traded at $1 but was bought out at $10.

Consult your lawyers