More on Ancor and Checking Back on MedImmune

Wednesday's Wince

All in a day's hype, er, work: A $14.8 million investment by Intel (INTC) yesterday helped Ancor's (ANCR) market cap grow by about $650 million in this wacky, fundamentals-don't-mean-anything kinda market. Nothing changed at the company. Nothing!

Nothing but the receipt of an investment from Intel regarding a so-called InfiniBand product that, if developed, is two years out. Yet Ancor's stock zoomed on the news, and as you might guess, the Hostile React-o-Meter was spinning outta control in the wake of yesterday's Ancor item. (Actually, it was also spinning because of the MedImmune (MEDI) item, but that's another story.)

Oh, and by the way, SunTrust Equitable analyst Mark Kelleher, an Ancor bull, lowered his rating on the company to attractive long term from strong buy for three sensible reasons.

The first was the most obvious: valuation. "While we continue to believe the company's prospects are strong, driven by the growth of the [fiber channel] market," he wrote in a report to clients, "we believe most of the good news is now priced into Ancor's stock, and the risks ... now outweigh the possibility of continued strong stock price appreciation."

The second was also obvious: The Intel investment does not call for Intel to take any product or generate any revenue.

His final point -- something that has been pointed out here (from the dose-of-reality department): Kelleher noted that the higher Ancor's stock price goes, the less Ancor makes on its much-heralded order from Sun Microsystems (SUNW). Sun, you'll recall, has warrants in Ancor stock that translate into a discount for Sun as Ancor's stock appreciates. The higher the stock, the steeper the discount. His bottom line: When Ancor's stock reaches 74 1/2, the Sun deal actually generates negative revenue under generally accepted accounting practices. Ancor closed yesterday at 85 7/8.

Of course, there was a time when investors were bidding up Planet Hollywood (PLHYA). Speaking of which...

Hooray for Hollywood: Many people were hoping that "The Prince" -- Prince Alwaleed bin Talal -- would bail out Planet Hollywood. In fact, in Andy Serwer's excellent story on adventures of the prince in the Dec. 6 issue of Fortune, the prince says he's convinced Planet Hollywood will rebound. Maybe, but according to an amended 13-D filed yesterday by the prince, from Nov. 8 to Dec. 3, he sold 3.4 million Planet Hollywood shares at prices ranging from 22 cents to 8 cents. Of course, he still owns 12.8 million shares, and he is the prince, so who's to quibble?

Herb's Latest: Join the discussion on TSC message boards.

What, me bullish? Who started this rumor, anyway? Some comment I made on our Fox News Channel TV show a few weeks ago, I suppose, saying I thought the Nasdaq would go higher. What a lucky guess! Now Kansas (as in Dave, not the state) is writing, "Greenberg finds himself inexplicably bullish. Capitulation on Herb's part?" No. No capitulation! The market will come unglued here, I just don't know when and I'm not stupid enough to stand in front of a speeding locomotive. I just wait for Ancors to land on my head. For a full explanation on why you could never say I've capitulated, go back and read my Monday column, or take a look at my personal email box or the message boards and some of the hostile reactions I received from investors in Ancor and MedImmune.

MedImmune misstatement: I wasn't alerted to this by MedImmune, which still hasn't returned my calls, but by some guy who posted it on my message boards on TheStreet.com. Yesterday, in an item about MedImmune, I said one shot of Synagis costs $5,000. Make that one course of treatment, which equals five shots.

While on the topic of message boards: Late Monday, JJC questioned whether TheStreet.com's boards should allow anonymous posts. Sorry, Jim, I'm agin' it. While the veil of anonymity may give insiders the freedom to post pertinent info, anonymity also encourages pump-and-dumpsters and other rah-rahs to spread misinformation without fear of reprisal. I realize anonymity would help page views, but it will erode the very qualities that are supposed to make TheStreet.com's boards different.