So much for a revolution!

From Flyyoufools.com … I love these comics

iPod for stealing data

Corporate Security… Are you listening?

BANGALORE: Just a month ago, a Bangalore-based construction company lost a multi-crore tender by a thin margin. Baffled company officials vowed there was no way the rival firm could have come so near to their bid.

Soon, investigation proved them right and it was found the tender documents were leaked. The company was in a dilemma to find the mole. Only a few persons were aware of the tender details and they were the mosttrusted ones. Also, such an incident had never happened in the company.

Computer forensic tests revealed somebody had accessed the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port to download the tender documents. What surprised the company’s top heads was that one of their employees had used his iPod to download the data.

The data was then passed to the rival company for a price and to evade detection, the file was promptly deleted from the iPod. Investigators , however, retrieved it using advanced data-recovery software.

EXTR doing fine; stock selloff overdone

Barrons says the company is doing fine and the the stock selloff is overdone. As of FY087 EXTR had $225M in cash vs a current mkt cap of $350M. EXTR also owns is HQ in highly desireable Santa Clara, CA. Barronss states after backing out the tangibles, the core business is only vlaued at $100M. $5/share upside target.

[ Source ]

The art of saying "NO"

Rajesh mailed me this… Could be taken as a lesson in management….

It was a hot meeting at the office conference hall. All the people from the department had been called. The VP was looking much tensed.

The mood was so bad. One of them said -”Hey, what is this meeting all about? The other one said -” May be they will decide on when to have the next meeting “. People around smiled at each other.

Then the VP started talking. It was about the recent attrition rate that was so high. Around 10 people had put in their papers. All experienced guys. It was quarter end and so work was huge. If we do not complete the work on time, we need to be paying heavy penalty said the VP. The VP turned to the manager and told “Hey – take how much ever resources you want. Recruit or take them from other departments. But complete the work in another 25 days. Take people and complete it man “.

To this the sweet manager replied “Sir! Give me one wife and nine months and I shall show you results. Don’t give me nine wives and one month. I cannot do anything.” Everyone looked at him blank.

The VP was not prepared for any answer……

Reliance IPO – reason for all that hype?

Ok. So, here’s a different perspective at the Reliance IPO… Read on. Really interesting.

It is unprecedented, even if you call it plain euphoria. Nowhere in the world has an initial public offer of shares by a new company evoked as much response as the Reliance Power issue that closed on Friday.

To put in perspective,

• Reliance Power is yet to commence business or show income from operations,
• investors from across the world placed bids worth $200 billion for its shares worth $2.9 billion on offer.
• Retail investors have put in 5.1 million applications for shares worth $47 billion or Rs 188,000 crore.( the collections are a fourth of the total direct tax collections for last year. )
• The IPO was comppletely subscribed from the minute of its opening, as if the shares would come on a first come first serve basis!
• 10 Lakh new Demat accounts were opened in just five days!!Such was the hype that everybody wanted to be a a millionaire!!
• Reportedly, Applictions have been sold for 10000 bucks in the gray market!!
• Gray markets of Gujarat have reportedly started trading the stock at a premium of Rs300-400.

The stock had a max price of 450 with a discount of Rs20 for retail investors, also given an option of partial payment of Rs115/share for a min of 15 shares.Meaning, that most retail investors(RI) have filled applictions for 225 shares worth Rs 25875/- (115*225).

Now that the issue has subscribed to about 15 times for RI, they are expected to be allotted 15 shares,i.e. worth Rs6450,with a refund of Rs.19425. So the question of RIs with partial payment not being able to sell immediately is not applicable anymore.

With an expected premium of Rs300, one is expected to make about Rs4500 out of the deal, not taking into account the opportunity cost.

So, whats’ the HYPE for?
what about those who have taken applications for 10000 bucks!!I guess its time for stop cheque payments….

As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be queuing up for sale on the listing day too, with lakhs of others, and pocket the five thousand.A 100% return in a month is not that bad actually!!

The other man smiling(read ecstatic) is one Mr.Anil Ambani,who might well trounce BILL GATES to become the richest person in the world on the listing day….if the stock lists at Rs900.

[Source: Original Post ]

Investing in IPOs – fast facts

I came across this post by Saurabh. He give’s a pretty elaborate picture of the basics of an IPO. I found it very interesting. There’s a whole plethora of stuff i have never understood about stocks and trading. His post can sure get one started. Nice read.

I have got calls from at least 4 people asking about Reliance Power IPO. What is different about these calls is that all these 4 people have nothing to do with financial markets and they have been lured by easy money to be made with Reliance Power IPO. There might be many more people like that. Assuming that they are as new to the stock markets as my friends, here is a fast fact guide about IPOs for absolute novices.

IPO refers to Initial Public Offer. In simple terms it means that the company issuing the IPO needs some money for a specific purpose and they are approaching the public to offer shares and get money. For example if Cafe Coffee Day wanted to expand from 500 cafes to 1000 cafes and they needed money for expansion, they could either take a loan or issue an IPO. The objective of IPO would be to raise money to buy stores at premium locations and open new cafes. (And no, Cafe Coffee Day is not coming out with an IPO, that’s just an example).

Investor categories. There are different types of investors. HNI – High Networth Individuals, FII – Foreign Institutional Investors. Most of the individuals investing their hard earned money would fall under the category of Retail Investors. A retail investor can not invest more than 1 lakh in an IPO.

Demat account: Account for trading shares in dematerialized form. You need to have a demat account to trade in any kind of securities. Demat account with any broker with do. It could be an online trading account or an offline one.

Subscription: Simply put, this is the number times the shares of the company were applied. For example if RPL had 1000 shares in all to offer, and 10,000 people applied, the IPO would be over-subscribed by 10 times. In this case, RPL is offering 260 million shares. If only 260 mn shares are applied for, the IPO would be fully subscribed. If people collectively apply for 520 mn shares, it would be oversubscribed twice. So on and so forth.

Partial Payment: Simply put that for applying to the IPO, you dont have to put 1 lakh (assuming that you are a retail investor). You have to put just 25% or 25000 to apply for shares worth 1,00,000.

Listing Date and Price. Once these applications are made, the company would allot shares in proportion to number of applications. There is a complex formula but for fast facts, lets assume that it is oversubscribed 10 times. Each investor would thus be allotted 100/10% (or 10%) of shares applied for. If you applied for 100 shares, you would get 5 shares if the IPO is over-subscribed by 20 times.

After allocation, these shares would be listed on stock exchanges. Listing simply means that the shares are now available to trade on exchanges. People can buy and sell them in a typical barter manner.

Issue Managers. This is simply the set of bankers that manage the issue. They have nothing to do with allocation, subscription, pricing, buying, selling from a retail investors perspective. They just manage the entire process and in return get a fat fee. Dont be swayed by calls that say that they are the managers and you can only invest if you have a demat account with them.

And in the end, please think hard and consult someone who knows the markets before you invest your hard earned money.

While at it…. Check out the basic tutorial on investing in an IPO @ rediff.