The Capers Continue at Compaq

Short Positions

Quite the prediction: In his latest report to clients on Compaq (CPQ) last night, Piper Jaffray's Ashok Kumar noted that year to date Compaq's stock is down 56% vs. a 6% advance for the S&P 500. Then he wrote: "The stock's attempted bottoming process has failed. Having had a near-death experience, we are doubtful if Compaq will ever return to its glory days. Ironically in spite of all the acquisitions, there is a real threat of Compaq falling back to being a commodity player again."

Compaq officials were not available last night.

No fun and games: So, Mattel (MAT) says it did an audit of The Learning Company and found no irregularities. Can't help but wonder how it could do a thorough audit in just two weeks. The company, however, says that's just what it did with the help of a special team from the law firm of Wachtell, Rosen, Lipton & Katz and a special unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Yet the company never said just why The Learning Company -- which Mattel bought last year -- missed its numbers. Any bets that this fairy tale doesn't have a happy ending?

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Diamond in the rough: Charles & Colvard (CTHR) -- formerly known as C3 and the maker of a fake diamond called moissanite -- reported a third-quarter loss of 21 cents a share the other day. But the most interesting figure was in the balance sheet.

Before I give you that number, however, remember my interview with C&C CEO Jeff Hunter a couple of weeks or so ago? In that interview, I asked about the deal C&C has with Cree Research (CREE), which makes the silicon carbide crystals. The deal calls for C&C to buy all of the crystals Cree makes through June 2000. Considering that C&C's shipments are below expectations, I had asked, Does that mean C&C's inventory would be up? He said yes, but added, "This isn't like lettuce, something you have to use. We're thinking for the long term."

The very long term, apparently. As of the third quarter, C&C's inventory was valued at $10.3 million, or around 1,000 days -- nearly three years.

CHS calamity: Can't wait to see what news CHS (HS) has today. The company's stock was halted shortly before the market closed on Friday. No further information was available.

TSC's new design: Bravo to the design team. As someone who frequently works from home, I can now honestly say that there's no reason TheStreet.com can't be my primary source for biz news and analytical tools. If you haven't done it already, check out the button on the upper right hand side of the front page for ready access to news and press releases on all companies. (TheStreet was the only mainstream site I could find that carried the Reuters news of CHS' halt.) And I can't say enough about TheStreet's real-time quotes. Very easy to sign up for and use. Not clunky. As with the whole new design: great execution.

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