Conference 7.286::digital

The sale price used is the average of all sales over the day, not a FIFO.
But I have had past experiences where the sale price cannot be supported by
the range of prices over the day, and Investor Services refuses to respond
to questions on it.

					Steve

    
    	By the way, I placed a call at 7:45 yesterday morning, and the IS
    touch tone service said "You have 0 shares" indicating my shares had
    been sold...
    

    
    	But if it's sold at 7:45 in the morning, it's sold at the starting
    price...the ESPP price was established by the starting price, not by an 
    average price.  You do this over 15.7 million shares traded yesterday,
    and you get the following:
    
    difference between starting price   $35.875
    and average                         $34.942
    					-------
    					$  .933
    
    So 15,700,000 x .933 = $14,648,100 pocketed...
    
    This should buy plenty of Porsches....

I agree that the sell price you quote for yesterday seems a bit low, but
you're mistaken on some of your other assumptions:

1. Yesterday's price has nothing to do with the ESPP plan period just
ended; that was set by Friday's price (average of high and low for the
day, multiplied by .85, rounded up to the nearest quarter dollar; should
have been $30 even).  There is often a drop between the price-setting day
and the buy/sell day; in fact, last December is the only one I can remember
that wasn't that way.

2. Everyone who sells on a day gets the same price, which is not guaranteed
to be the opening price.

Even if the price drops on the sell day, it's not so bad, for a couple of
reasons.  First, the loss is a capital loss, and is therefore tax deductable
(usually).  Second, a low price on the sell day has the potential to make
for a low buy price for the next ESPP, since that day is one of the two that
determines that price.  It looks like the highest the ESPP plan price will
be for December 1, 1997 is $30.25.

				-Michael
 

    
    I was always under the impression that stock was sold at noon est on
    the sell date (being June 1 was a Sunday, that meant Monday's price at
    noon). VTX STOCK at noon said the price was 35 3/8. 
    This has pretty much always held true....though I won't rule out a
    coincidence!
    

>    Investor Services as of this moment refuses to give out the ESPP price.
>    By simple math (My contribition for 26 weeks / # of shares sold), it's
>    easy to figure out that the ESPP price is $30.50.

	The ESPP price was $30.  I got this from Investor Services
	Touchtone at 07:00 BST (over 30 hours ago).

	~Ian.

re .3

>    So 15,700,000 x .933 = $14,648,100 pocketed...
>    
>    This should buy plenty of Porsches....

Interesting logic, poor math.  The way I read the numbers it was 1,570,600
shares sold, not 15.7M.

tim m.

    I went to http://fast.quote.com/fq/excite/quote?symbols=dec 
    and looked at their one-minute chart for yesterday. 
    
    There was a largish volume traded (~100000 shares) at the open,
    blips of around ~50000 shares around 1:00, 2:30, 3:45, and 4:30 PM,
    and a very large volume (>200000 shares) around 4:00 PM. The later
    trades were all below $35. Assuming these blips were the ESPP shares 
    being traded, my eyeball says ~$34.9 is probably about right. (The
    4:00 trade seems to be the one that drove the day's low price.)
    
    Dave

    It's lower today; I wouldn't bitch too much.

      I just called IS and the division gives me $34.79 so it's 15.2 cents 
      less than .0 Why?

about -.1; the division probably does not include broker fees which might be the reason you are
seeing a lower effective number. If you added the broker fees...

	You're probably right. I'll wait for the cheque to cross the pond.

	Joel

    Given the new trading rules, when might a paper check be put in the
    mail from a sale Monday? 

    Re: paper check
    
    You can have direct deposit set up.  The email I got from them says the
    direct deposit happens on the settlement date (June 5th), so it has to
    be faster than snail mail.
              

re: .5

>    I was always under the impression that stock was sold at noon est on
>    the sell date (being June 1 was a Sunday, that meant Monday's price at
>    noon). 


Just to be ultra-picky, that would be noon EDT (not EST) since the east 
coast time zone is currently on Daylight time......

    
    >>I was always under the impression that stock was sold at noon est
    >>on the sell date
    >
    >Just to be ultra-picky, that would be noon EDT (not EST) since the east
    >coast time zone is currently on Daylight time......
    
    
    	Just to be incredibly and oh-so-retentively picky, once a year it's
    	sold at noon EST and once a year it's sold at noon EDT.
    

The commission fees are deducted separately, they are not factored into the
share price.

			Steve

>        Just to be incredibly and oh-so-retentively picky,

Should that be hyphenated?

;-)

    
    	It's not what I'd consider "acceptable English" when not hyphen-
    	ated.
    

re "oh-so-retentively picky"

It's not necessary sold at noon, either EDT or EST, It's sold sometime during
the business day, perhaps in multiple lots

--RS

re .14 direct deposit quicker than snail mail!

where else in Digital can this be done (Other than the US)?

It certainly is not possible in the UK.
I did hear there was some form of option in Valbonne to get it
paid direct...

If this is discussed in the Digital_investing notes file then 
please provide a pointer and i'll chase up there.

thanks in advance,

Bob

The money showed up in my DCU account this morning (6/4).

Art

    
      >	It's not what I'd consider "acceptable English" when not hyphen-
      >	ated.
    
    Although your opinion is interesting (and I agree), it would be more
    authoritative with a reference to the Chicago Manual of Style, a copy
    of which I do not have handy, though it is certainly on most noters'
    desks. :)
    

Um, I was kidding...as in "Is Anal-retentive hyphenated?"

tim

    
    	Well, I didn't find it anywhere in the CAHD.
    
    	Does that count for anything?
    

    
    	RE: .18/.24
    
    	Oh.  [Sheepish grin] I missed that one.  8^)
    

>Um, I was kidding...as in "Is Anal-retentive hyphenated?"

>tim

    Completely understood (he said, as he continued the sub-thread within a
    thread).  Haven't you ever been in a grammar war (unhyphenated) before?
    ...Not even in a little punctuation skirmish?  :) <-- unnecessary
    shielding-smiley (incorrectly hyphenated adjective-turned-noun).