Applied Materials (AMAT)

[Stock]

gottfried -- Imagine you are GSCO sitting on 150M share short position at 17.20 a share today -- would you:

1. Buy everything every time the thing gets below 17.20
2. Hedge with options and hold the stock between 17 and 17.50 and take advantage of decay in the options
3. Downgrade the stock and the sector to take advantage of those that will think things look "toppy" and cover even lower
4. Get MLCO to do your dirty work and downgrade the sector
5. Pray that the next few quarters are bad for a company you advise (which they do)
6. Wait for the next business cycle to play out and hope you can cover in 2011...

What other options to they have?

If I were GSCO, I would hide on the order book buying thru and ECN like EDGA and EDGX and NDAQ and never show my face on that bid... get the short position under 50 million and wait the rest out... you know they hedged the hell out of this short before they sold the company that 150M buyback...

I hope AMAT beats by a dime next Q on the reduced share count! I want GSCO covering on the way UP at $21!