经典重译之股票大作手回忆录(407)
(原文第二十一章第一桥段)
原文(437):
I AM well aware that all these generalities do not sound especially impressive.Generalities seldom do.Possibly I may succeed better if I give a concrete example.I'll tell you how I marked up the price of a stock 30 points,and in so doing accumulated only seven thousand shares and developed a market that would absorb almost any amount of stock.
It was Imperial Steel.The stock had been brought out by reputable people and it had been fairly well tipped as a property of value.About 30 per cent of the capital stock was placed with the general public through various Wall Street houses,but there had been no significant activity in the shares after they were listed.
From time to time somebody would ask about it and one or another insider—members of the original underwriting syndicate—would say that the company's earnings were better than expected and the prospects more than encouraging.This was true enough and very good as far as it went,but not exactly thrilling.
The speculative appeal was absent,and from the investor's point of view the price stability and dividend permanency of the stock were not yet demonstrated.It was a stock that never behaved sensationally.It was so gentlemanly that no corroborative rise ever followed the insiders' eminently truthful reports.On the other hand,neither did the price decline.
Imperial Steel remained unhonoured and unsung and untipped,content to be one of those stocks that don't go down because nobody sells and that nobody sells because nobody likes to go short of a stock that is not well distributed;
其他版本译文(437):
我知道,这些通用的规则是不会让人产生多深刻的印象的,它们就只能这样。如果我举个实实在在的例子,可能会说得更清楚些。我要对你讲,我是怎么通过只买进7000股就将一只股票的价格抬升了30个点的,我创造了一个了不起的市场,它差不多能够容纳任何一只数量庞大的股票。
这只股票名为帝国钢铁,是一群很有声望的人推上市的股票,也做了非常好的宣传,被认定为资产股。华尔街上的几家公司拥有这只股票的百分之三十,用以销售给广大股民。只是它挂牌后,一直交易萎缩,有时候也会有人问到这只股票,就会有一两个股票承销公司的内部人员说,这家公司的盈余比预期要好,前途非常让人兴奋。说得一点儿没错,确实如此,只是没那么让人兴奋,又没有什么亮点诱发投机。从投资角度看,价格是否稳定,能不能持续配股,都没有确定。它就一直没有过引人关注的走向变动,表现太中庸了,即便在公司内部发布了真实报告后,依然没有引起多少上涨,同时,股价也没有多少下跌。
钢铁一直处于这样没名气、没人追捧,也没人传播内幕消息的状态之中,是一只没有人卖出,所以不会下跌的股票。没人卖出,是因为谁都不想放空股权相对集中的股票。
我的译文(437):
我非常清楚,光讲大道理,让人听起来会摸不着头脑,泛泛而谈很难让人印象深刻。倘若我举一个具体实例,或许效果会更好一些。
我曾经只吸纳积累了7000股的筹码,就把一只股票拉高了30个点,但我这样营造出的市场,却几乎可以派发出任何数量的股票。
它就是Imperial Steel公司。其上市发起人颇有声望,小道消息对其资产价值也颇为肯定。大约百分之三十的股本,经由多家华尔街券商配售给普通大众投资者,但该股挂牌上市之后,一直没有出现过明显的活跃行情。
时不时会有人打听这支股票,然后这个或那个内部人——也就是原承销财团的成员——就会说这家公司的盈利状况超出预期,发展前景更是令人鼓舞。
这些说法的确是真的,就其发展来说也很好,但也的确没有达到令人惊艳的程度。一方面不能吸引投机者,另一方面投资者又认为其股价稳定性与持续分红能力尚待验证。
总之这是一支从无惊人表现的股票,走势太过不温不火,不管内部人的消息多么确凿靠谱,它也没啥明显的上涨,从另一方面说,它也没有下跌。
Imperial Steel 始终无人追捧、籍籍无名、也没什么小道消息流传,唯一的特色就是跌也跌不下去,因为没人做空它,而没人做空它是因为它的筹码太过集中,没人喜欢放空这样的股票。
引用依据:
1. Edwin Lefèvre: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
2. 《股票大作手回忆录》([美] 埃德温·勒菲弗 著,汤前燕 译)
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