...During 2002, eBay issued 17 million options, equal to 5% of its shares outstanding, to reward many of its 4,000 employees. In contrast, many big companies keep their grants to 1% of shares outstanding. As noted, eBay's 2002 earnings would have been just 23 cents a share, against its reported 87 cents, if it had expensed options. That means eBay shares trade for about 400 times option-adjusted 2002 profit...
found nice poem ebAY poem : Holding long ebAY? just so that your wealth, may totally drown one dAY? tell me who the insider is here to stAY? all masters of virtualizing a yard-sale, know very well the concept of a-dime-for-a-dollar, and reversed it for their personal options, where the enrichning-factor is, hundred bucks for a penny, while the bagholders will be here to stAY, isn't this wonderful, shouldn't I sAY? Let all the option-expensing, swaps and buyouts, keep real profits permanently in grEY, when the chart is rising, who will dare to muddle the wAY, who will worry about the real tomorrow, when mutually-beneficial ws-gangs are here todAY? Oh my Lord, its not the real milk, but simply the whEY, you may find to your dismAY, surely one fine dAY, when you care to look, behind the curtain and the displAY! Thousand pumpers are here, to make you swAY, 5 cents a post here, what a sprAY! For your own little dump, if you still want to delAY, that may still be okAY, simply more profits to shorts, such actions portrAY, but your networth will simply dwindle awAY, little by little everydAY, just look at the forever growing, insiders' planned-to-sell queue, indeed a very long arrAY!
Attention all EBAY shorts: Now would be a really good time to cover your shorts. Rather than go through it all, let me just ask one question: Has anyone out there EVER made any money following a Barron's story? Which do you think is more likley, that the big shorts and hedge funds will read Barron's and say wow, why didn't we think of shorting an unknown low profile stock like EBAY? Or, will they say, well another good job by our PR flacks and our lackeys over at Barrons, now we can cover before EBAY goes to 100?
Yes, hedge funds know what to do and they will act at the end of the day. Take a look, maybe you can learn something.
For today I#m also using single stock futures in Ebay to such an extent that any risk manager would cry because of fear.
AAA, are you actually a trader, or just an investor in ebay, because your comments sound a lot like the yahoos on the Yahoo boards, where the shorts try to scare the longs into selling and the longs try to scare the shorts into covering? You seem dead set on the idea that ebay will be a non stop ride up, which is fine if that's your belief, but as a trader one never knows where a stock is going for sure, one just trades based on what it actually does. FWIW, I have no current position in EBAY after hitting my stops. I will go long if it can close above 91, and short it again if it moves below 84.34.
Price action even on supposedly "bad news" suggests that EBAY will run up to earnings. Still many buyers lurking buying the dips. Earnings are already in the bag. And how many people have factored in a stock split? Cant wait for the massive short covering... High probablity trade is to wait AFTER earnings (and stock split). Short on weakness when there are no fresh buyers and its about to roll down..