On the actual conversion rate - I'm kind of neutral on it - if I get less of a number of shares of a stock that's worth more or more of a stock that's worth less. Whatever. Also - any existing common I hold already at the time will be worth more (or less).
I know there are a lot of diehards out there that want nothing less than par+. I am not one of them. It would be nice to get par on all classes I have but expect the cheapies to take a haircut. As I still hope for a post conversion common price increase - I would be willing to take less now and make it up on the common. But as a small fry I got no say. I still think - at these prices - I would definitely be a buyer of either common or preferred at this point and I am planning to pick up more common in the near future unless it takes off on me.
Be aware that as the news start coming in and the commons start spiking, the returns on the pref conversion may not be as good as you may think
This assumes that the common price will actually go up over time. That's nowhere near guaranteed. Your argument could have been made (and was) a couple of months ago when the commons were trading above $3. Exchanging the juniors for commons at $3 now would represent a double from today's prices; it's quite possible that all the good news between now and the exchange wouldn't push the common price above $3.
Of course a lot of it still has to do with at what price you picked them up at.
I disagree. When it comes to choosing what mix of commons and prefs to own right now, cost basis shouldn't matter.