“While such numbers weren’t exactly frightening, the mass
defection of VA Linux investors during Monday trading was. By day’s
end, company share prices had fallen 42 percent, throwing a company
still best known for its record opening day IPO performance into
the dog pound with the rest of the dotcom mutts. By midday Tuesday,
it had gained a smidge, 25 cents to 17.62.”
“How bad was the exodus? Even some of the company’s most loyal
supporters were showing signs of weakened faith….”
“[Keith] Bachman [open source analyst with ABN Amro], the
analyst who came closest to guessing the company’s financial totals
in the past two quarters, said he decided to downgrade his rating
for the company to ‘hold,’ the lowest official rating in the ABN
Amro system.”