Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    Since it went public in 1986,there has hardly been a bad time to but
    Microsoft. The company is truly the American high tech success story.
    Despite its enormous appreciation,there are many who believe there is 
    more upside to the stock.
    
    If you buy MSFT,you should be willing to absorb some violent downswings
    from time to time. But for the long term you should still outperform
    the market although the appreciation may not match the past 5 years.
    
    Some Microsoft caveats:
    
    1) The computer world is littered with Microsoft casualties.
    Borland,Lotus, and IBM to name a few. There are a lot of large forces
    that would love to see Microsoft fail.
    
    2) The FTC is considering breaking up the company because it dominates
    the PC OS market with a 95% share.

    
    re: .0
    
    Using PE and especially earnings growth is good, but you might want to
    read up on both Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis techniques
    (two leading - and sometimes competing - "schools of thought" in investing).
    
    My preference is to use combinations of both.  Check the books topic
    for some suggestions.
    
    - Phil
    

     Microsoft is down from ~93 to ~87.  What is the cause of this drop?
     Is it likely to continue?
     
                                       lance

    MSFT was up as high as 98 three or four weeks ago.  I've been in MSFT
    for a while now.  10 pt swings in a week are not uncommon.  The trading
    range in the past 3-4 months has been 78-98 or so.  Volume on MSFT
    is usually >1M shares/day.  Lofty PE's such as MSFT usually are 
    associated with this type of high volatility.
    
    I try to catch anything in the trade rags or WSJ on MSFT.  I haven't
    seen anything fundamentally that would push the price down other than 
    the usually NT hot/cold stuff.
    
    -Brian
      

Paine Webber initiated a buy on it today....that should drive it up in the
coming weeks.

/mtb

    Although it probably is a good buy long term, it also sounds like a
    good trading stock, given its wild swings. I saw it at $94 in December,
    then saw it go to $76 or $77, and then back up to $98 recently, and now
    it is around $87.
    
    /Kc

I was thinking of purchasing some Microsoft
stock - it closed yesterday at 96.5 which is 
high.  The local paper had an article speculating
a split since Microsoft likes to keep it's price
under 100.  It has split 4? times, about once
a year since 1990.

Any comments or speculation on this one?

> Any comments or speculation on this one?

	At least one analysts believes it's a 50/50 chance that the Justice
	dept. will prevent the shipment of Windows 95 with the Microsoft
	Online Network bundled in.

re: .8

Since it is customary to give a company 20 days to prepare for
charges filed by the Justice Dept. and Windows 95 is shipping
on the 24th, the Justice Dept. only has a few days left to do
anything that would affect the upcoming release. 

To be honest I don't see why the investment community is getting 
so anti MSFT. Even without the MSN and Internet connection stuff
the prospects for Windows 95 (MS projection of $2 billion in revenue) are 
quite possitive. 

IMHO I think MS will continue to be the dominant software vendor 
for quite some time. I'm currently holding a fair amount of MS 	stock.
It's been tough watching go up to a high of $109 and now closing yesterday 
at $90.50. I'm hoping for a rebound when the einvestors come to their 
collective senses.

Pat

> Since it is customary to give a company 20 days to prepare for
> charges filed by the Justice Dept. and Windows 95 is shipping
> on the 24th, the Justice Dept. only has a few days left to do
> anything that would affect the upcoming release. 

	This is supposedly why the Justice dept. dropped some initial
	charges or something at which they had called Microsoft to
	testify.  By dropping that part of it, it speeded up that
	process.

	Can't the justice dept. still file charges after shipment?

> To be honest I don't see why the investment community is getting 
> so anti MSFT. Even without the MSN and Internet connection stuff
> the prospects for Windows 95 (MS projection of $2 billion in revenue) are 
> quite possitive. 

	I agree.  I'm looking for the bottom and may buy in myself (if I
	don't miss the bottom).

> It's been tough watching go up to a high of $109 and now closing yesterday 
> at $90.50.

	Welcome to the world of investing :-)  I've had several stocks
	that I should of sold when I had the chance but got greedy and
	had the stock retreat (sometimes making my investment a loss).
	And then on those many stocks that I do sell without being greedy,
	I then sit and watch other people get rich on those same shares
	I sold way too soon :-(

	Knowing when to buy seems to be the easy part, knowing when to
	sell is where I always go wrong ...........

    
    I'd wait awhile before buying MSFT, since Hi-Tech is selling off
    viciously today... Only Tech stock not declining is DEC up 1 point.
    
    Symbol        : MSFT         Exchange    : NASDAQ
    Description   : MICROSOFT CORP                               
    Last Traded at: 88.5625      Date/Time   : Aug 01 11:10:10
    $ Change      : -1.9375      % Change    : -2.14   
    
    Volume        : 3589500      # of Trades : 4579     
    Bid           : 88.5000      Ask         : 88.6250  
    Day Low       : 88.5000      Day High    : 90.7500  
    52 Week Low   : 51.5000      52 Week High: 109.2500 
    
    

> MSFT a buy at 85/share .. IMHO

	Now you tell me!!  I just bought in this morning at 89 1/8th

    I have a question for those of you who are thinking about buying MSFT,
    does the high P/E ratio (arounf 30 I believe) of this stock concerns
    you a bit? I have no doubt that Microsoft is a great company and it
    has the dominance of the PC market. But, how well do they have to do to
    just keep-up (actually, down) with the average P/E ratio of the market? 
    I personally see INTC to be a better buy. And, they too have the dominance
    of the PC market. 
    
    just my $.02
    
    Mike

if the high price leaves your wallet dry, but MFST options.
actually, go for leaps (> 6 mos 'til expiration).  i just
bought INTC JAN 97 90s.

with the recent fall in INTC, i may pick up some more.

> if the high price leaves your wallet dry, but MFST options.

	options can also leave your wallet dry as well :-)
	(with commision, how much did it cost per contract
	for those INTC JAN 97 90s LEAPs?)

re        <<< Note 334.16 by NETRIX::michaud "Jeff Michaud, That Group" >>>

>	options can also leave your wallet dry as well :-)
>	(with commision, how much did it cost per contract
>	for those INTC JAN 97 90s LEAPs?)

something like $675 / contract for 100 INTC @ 90
with the drop of INTC recently, you can probably get these for
under $500 /contract now

symbol is ZNL

    re: .15
    
    Leaving my wallet dry is only one of the problems. :-)  The other is
    the very high P/E ratio on MSFT. And also, like Jeff said, buying
    options can leave your wallet dry, too. The biggest risk with option is
    the time factor. And, that is the hardest one to predict.
    
    Mike

    Anybody know how many outstanding Microsoft shares are out there?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Les

   291  FLYWAY::WALKERN       8-OCT-1992     1  MICROSOFT QUARTERLY FIGURES?
   334  WAREGL::CHANDRASEKHA 18-DEC-1992     6  Microsoft as investment?
   746  DECWET::KARMALI      21-JUL-1994     2  Microsoft shares weak

    -< Do we really need another seperate Microsoft topic? >-
    
    Previous two notes moved by moderator.

I seem to recall a current market capitalization of MSFT at ~$35B

Dividing that by an approx share price of $100 would result in 
~350,000,000 shares outstanding (figger +/- 50,000,000 :-)

SteveS

    Does anybody recall when was the last time and at what price Microsoft 
    stock split?
    
    Thanks,
    Krish 

The last time (you know what I mean) it was around 100.  MSFT
says it has no plans to split at this time.

What does it matter when it split the *last* time.  I'm
interested in when it will split *this* time. 

	Well Goldman Sacks today downgraded Microsoft (I didn't hear from
	what to what, but my guess would be from Buy to Hold).

	Stock has been down all week, what has Bill Gates been saying to
	the people at COMDEX this week????????

Symbol: MSFT (MICROSOFT CORP)
Last Trade: 90.3750, Change -3.6250 (-3.86%) at Nov 16  1:22:04
Bid/Ask: 90.3750 / 90.5000 (spread 0.1250)
Low/High: 89.6250 / 91.8438 (spread 2.2188)
52 Week Low/High: 58.2500 / 109.2500 (spread 51.0000)
Volume/# of Trades: 2463000 / 5095 (483 shares/trade)

Goldman Sachs, not Sacks.

Microsoft to Adopt Rival Technologies, Including Sun Microsystems' Java

By DON CLARK Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. announced a broad Internet strategy using the
technology of rivals, including Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp., as
well as its own, while turning Internet capability into a free feature of
existing software products.

Microsoft's move to license Sun's programming language is considered a key
gesture, since Java had become a rallying cry for Internet competitors
aligned against the software giant. Microsoft said it would include Java
technology with its software for browsing the Internet's World Wide Web
pages, so Microsoft customers will be able to read pages of Web information
created with Java.

Microsoft also agreed to swap Internet technologies with Oracle, another
major software rival.

Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, said a new version of Microsoft's
Internet Explorer browser will be offered as part of a free add-on product
next year for users of Microsoft's Windows 95 and Windows NT operating
systems. Microsoft also will include its Internet Information Server,
previously code-named Gibraltar, as part of the server version of Windows
NT at no extra charge. The company had been expected to sell the product
separately.

Although Netscape Communications Corp. said it welcomed Microsoft's plans
as a validation of Netscape's own strategy, some analysts saw the plans as
a threat to Netscape, the leader in Web browser and server software.

Netscape's stock, which jumped 24 points in the first three days of this
week, Thursday fell $28.75, or 18%, to $132.50 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Microsoft slipped 12.5 cents to $90.50, Sun's stock gained $3.375 to
$93.125 and Oracle climbed 50 cents to $44.25.

The Internet's Web, which allows people to inexpensively publish electronic
data and graphics, is widely seen as a new platform for software
development that could loosen Microsoft's control over key technical
standards. Netscape, Sun and others have attracted thousands of software
developers, in part because Web browsers work on several operating systems
besides Microsoft's.

Microsoft, until recently, has largely been pushing proprietary Intel
products and development tools that were expected to work only on its new
Windows 95 operating system. Thursday, however, the company announced
several steps in the other direction, including shipment of test versions
of its browser program for Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh system, as well
as Windows 3.1 and Windows NT.

The adoption of Java, which Mr. Gates and other executives had attacked in
the past, is a particularly dramatic shift away from proprietary standards.
Netscape, whose browser software uses Java, gloated over Microsoft's
switch.

''In a fight between a bear and an alligator, what determines the victor is
the terrain,'' said Marc Andreesen, Netscape's vice president of
technology. ''What Microsoft just did is move onto our terrain.''

Sun was more diplomatic. The whole deal ''avoids a huge war over standards
on the Internet,'' said Eric Schmidt, Sun's chief technology officer. He
added: ''Microsoft wants to be an excellent Internet player. They want to
support all the activities on the Internet'' including Java.

Among other things, Microsoft agreed to make Java work well with Windows 95
and Windows NT, and then give the rejiggered code back to Sun. From there,
either Sun or Microsoft can license the code to third parties.

That means that Sun will always own Microsoft's latest version of Java, and
vice versa, so the companies won't end up developing different,
noncompatible forms of the language. That kind of split has resulted in
several different flavors of the once universal Unix operating system for
large computers.

Informal talk about a deal began a month ago, and accelerated last week
when a Microsoft executive called Mr. Schmidt. The negotiations continued
through Mr. Schmidt's flight Wednesday to Aspen, Colo., and ended on
cellular phones and faxes at midnight.

With Oracle, Microsoft agreed to license Oracle software called
PowerBrowser OCX Software, which is based on Microsoft's OLE controls
technology. Oracle said it will license Microsoft's Visual Basic Script to
include in future Macintosh and Windows browsers. Marc Benioff, an Oracle
Senior vice president, said it was the first time Microsoft had taken
technology from the Redwood City, Calif., company. ''The Internet makes
strange bedfellows,'' he said.

Microsoft's briefing featured numerous demonstrations of how the company
intends to integrate Internet capability in its operating systems and
applications programs, such as word processors and spreadsheets. One
technology, to be included in the Internet add-on product next year,
allowed two people to simultaneously edit the same document over the
Internet. The product also is expected to allow voice communications.

Other products included Visual Basic Script, a shorthand language for
linking and automating elements among Web pages, based on the OLE controls
technology and ActiveVRML, a previously unannounced language for creating
three-dimensional effects on Web pages. Microsoft said it would seek to
collaborate with other companies and industry groups to turn both into
freely available standards.

The company also said it will accelerate a repositioning of its Microsoft
Network on-line service as a gateway to the Internet. Mr. Gates said the
company will establish a programming budget that will acquire some
information content that will be available exclusively on MSN, while other
content will be delivered over the Internet for free or at a discount to
MSN members, he said.

Mr. Gates, in kicking off the event, issued a thinly veiled warning to
Netscape and other upstarts that included a reference to the Pearl Harbor
attack on the same date in 1941. He recalled Admiral Yamamoto's fear that
his country had awakened a ''sleeping giant'' by attacking its stronghold.

Some analysts said the counterattack seemed surprisingly potent.

''The giant has not been sleeping on the matter,'' said David Readerman, an
analyst at Montgomery Securities. ''The stock market has tended to vote as
if Microsoft is not going to be a player in this thing, but the reality is
they will be a player real fast.''

''They've changed the company,'' said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga
Information Group, a research firm based in Cambridge, Mass.

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, then overrun 'em.

    
    	Microsoft spends more money on marketing than the entire revenue
    steam of Netscape, Spyglass, and UUNET combined. They don't compete,
    they bury...
    
    
    		the Greyhawk

    INSGY (Insignia Solutions) seems to have Microsoft firmly by the
    balls.  Anybody know what their royalty scheme is?  Do they get
    paid by the NT kit?  With NT accelerating to a current 30k/month
    clip, that could be some nice bucks.  PowerPC (i.e. System 7, but
    no included emulator) sales are also thru the roof, moving from
    7% to almost 10% PC market share in the last quarter.  Kratz

    What does Insignia Solutions sell? I see they are a new company within
    the past 12 months. Not particularly volitile (range 12 - 18 since they
    went public), especially in this market.
    				Jim B.

Insignia Solutions sells SoftWindows, SoftPC, etc. as well as RapidCD and at 
least one other utility, all of which run on various off-brand computers 
with which you're probably familiar (Mac, SoftWindows? also on Alpha and 
possibly other platforms).

    I believe Insignia is a tiny company, however, so if a handful
    of the technical people leave, IMHO there would likely not be
    much left.  Not a stock I'd buy, myself, given that.
    

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| D | I | G | I | T | A | L | I n t e r o f f i c e  M e m o r a n d u m
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

To: Bob Palmer, AEC Steering Committee, AEC Core Team,
    Ilene Lang, Rose Ann Giordano
                                          From:      Robert Bismuth
                                          Group:     Microsoft/Digital Alliance
                                                     for Enterprise Computing
                                          Mailstop:  LJO2-C10
                                          Telephone: 508 486 2526 dtn 226
                                          FAX:       508 486 2013 dtn 226
                                          Network:   bismuth@ljsrv2.ljo.dec.com

                                          Date:      18th March 1996

Subject: Microsoft message to employees concerning the Internet.

                            Digital Confidential.

The following mail was sent to all Microsoft employees throughout the world,
approved by Bill Gates and their Office of the President. It was generated
after Microsoft's annual Executive Staff retreat which this year (jhelp Feb.
22nd throuh 24th) put the Internet on top of its list of strategic issues and
opportunities.

In summary it indicates Microsoft's absolute commitment to moving into the
Internet market and making that market an extension of their existing market
and market share. They are going to bet their business on doing this.

Via our Microsoft account team, I have cleared this memo for distribution
within Digital.

Attachment/...

One of Microsoft's core success factors is that we like to take a long term
approach to our business.  This means that we are willing to invest huge
amounts for research and development in areas that we view as important, but
which take years to achieve success.  The best historical example of this is
the long term investment we made in user interface and windowing technologies.
The first version of Windows was introduced in 1983 -- yet it wasn't until
Windows v3.0 was shipped in June, 1990, that the world finally took note of our
work and as they say, "the rest is history."  Today, over 100 million
people around the world use Windows, and Microsoft is viewed as the leader
in software development.

It is important for every employee to realize that our business is based
on placing big bets on new technologies.  This risk-taking characteristic
is core to the future of any technology company.  In this context, 1996 will
be remembered as the year that we placed one of our biggest and most
important bets ever:  Our investment in the Internet.

The Net is the Bet.

Bill Gates has stated quite clearly that the Internet poses the greatest
threat AND the greatest opportunity that Microsoft has ever faced.

Why a threat?  Because a very smart, very good competitor has stepped forward
as the current market leader.  Netscape has taken pages from our book in
their product development, evangelism, public relations, marketing and
overall operating strategies.  They are quick to respond, focused on the
customer, and expert on their products and markets.  We have seen in the
past that success in many of our markets is determined by market share.
Our success in the Internet market will be heavily impacted by our ability
to gain share.

Why an opportunity?  Microsoft is recognized and respected around the world
as a leader in the delivery of tools and services that help people get their
work done.  We have the opportunity to leverage our first 20 years of work
in a way that will allow us continued leadership well into the next
century.  The Internet provides the launch vehicle to accomplish many
exciting technical goals which will result in new ways for individuals and
companies to access and organize information.

The Status Quo is no Mo(re).

A few weeks ago, we restructed the Product Groups so that more specific
focus can be placed on the Internet.  And this week the company has made
a number of exciting product and relationship announcements related to
our Internet strategy.  This high level managerial and organizational
approach to the issue is important -- but the real work begins with each
employee, wherever he or she sits in the company.  Netscape will use its
small size as an advantage.  They will "turn on a dime".  They will avoid
overlaps and redundancies.  They will not waste corporate resources or
money.  They will work as a team to move forward as quickly as possible.
All at the expense of big, big Microsoft.

To the degree that we are unable or unwilling to respond, they deserve all
the success they achieve.  But Microsoft is only big and unresponsive if
we choose to make it that way.  So this is our internal challenge:  To
discard the status quo and the comforts of a large company so that we're
as hungry and as vigilant as a small Silicon Valley startup.  To be wiling
to cut costs, avoid unnecessary spending, and treat every dollar as if it
were our last.  To mobilize our energy, our creativity, our abilities,
and our teams.  To learn all we can about the opportunity and the threat.
To put forth the effort (including, if necessary, extra hours) to assure
stunning success.

A Test of Character

Microsoft has always been a company famous for results and individual
excellence.  But it's been a couple years since we've had a direct
competitor beating us in a key, strategic market.  We welcome this
competition because it forces us to sharpen our senses.

We need to listen to our customers -- for they have a story to tell.  We need
to use our size as an advantage.  In many cases this will mean that teams
from various parts of the company will need to rely on input and help
from other teams.  These cross group efforts can, if not tended to, become
overly complex and lubricated with molasses.  Let's not let this happen.
Let's have a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities; let's insist
on clear communciations and follow-up; and let's pitch in when a helping
hand can make all the difference.  Microsoft has a famous recruiting motto:
"It all starts with a great hire."  We now have almost 20,000 "great hires"
throughout the world.  As we unleash the creative power of this company
toward this new goal, there is great reason to be optimistic about our
future!

The Surf is Up

Many of you are already using the Internet or the internal intranet site
(MSW) as a tool in your jobs.  MSW has become the starting point for
most people internally and its receiving thousands of internal hits.  The
Library is providing a valuable internal service by offering Internet
training sessions on a regular basis.  We are super encouraged by all this
activity.  In an effort to further integrate the net into our work lives,
we are asking the Human Resources department and other internal
administrative groups to move appropriate employee-based applications and
tools to MSW.  The result will be the ability to find information and
transact business on a "self-service" basis for things like benefits, stock
transactions, internal job opportunities, travel information, etc.  As
life on the net becomes a daily activity within the company, we will all
become more aware of the competitive threats and opportunities.

Summary

Nothing in our business is guaranteed.  We are each responsible for making
a positive contribution to the company on a daily basis.  We are blessed
with great talent -- from Bill Gates at the top to the many outstanding
employees througout the company.  Let's surprise the industry.  They want
us to stumble.  Let's move forward with great thinking, great execution,
and great products and services.  Let's earn our way into the next
century and maintain our role as leader in the software industry.  We're
already off to a great start, but there can be no letting up because:
The net is the bet!

    I though Digital confidential material is not to be posted in public
    conferences?
    
    Wim

> I though Digital confidential material is not to be posted in public
> conferences?

	It says it is cleared for distribution within Digital.  If someone
	decides to distribute it outside Digital then they'll pay the reaper...

>> Via our Microsoft account team, I have cleared this memo for distribution
>> within Digital.