All-Time Highs
(Reprinted from the GTI of May 2, 2003)

Just for the fun of it, while I was waiting for the
economy to recover, I looked up the all-time
highs of some of our favorite stocks.  (I really
know how to have a good time.)

I omitted the bankrupt brigade, EXDS, GX,
GSTRF, MFNX, NOPT (had enough?) because
their histories were hard to find.  I wound up
with a baker's dozen of old-time Gilder stocks.
But if you smell toast, blame the stocks, not
the bakery.

The table below starts with the 12/31/98 price
(when the GTI began).  It then shows the
all-time high closing price; the % rise it
represented; the subsequent low; the % fall
that represented; and, finally, the current
(5/02/03) price; all adjusted for splits.

I never could find a single source for this data,
so I had to do a lot of digging.  If I've missed
anything, please let me know.
    Start  High   % Rise  Low % Fall  Now
ADI 15.69 101.38 546% 18.29 82.0% 33.33
ATML 3.83 29.75 677% .70 97.6% 1.96
BRCM 30.19 273.62 806% 9.70 96.5% 18.84
CIEN 7.31 149.50 1,945% 2.45 98.4% 5.33
GLW 15.00 113.33 656% 1.10 99.0% 5.43
JDSU 8.67 146.53 1,590% 1.62 98.9% 3.17
LU 54.97 82.28 50% .58 99.3% 1.83
LVLT 43.13 130.19 202% 1.98 98.5% 5.71
NSM 13.50 85.00 530% 10.51 87.6% 19.71
NT 12.50 87.00 596% .44 99.5% 2.69
QCOM 6.47 179.05 2,667% 23.75 86.7% 32.00
TERN 18.50 138.81 650% 1.17 99.2% 2.00
XLA .16 105.53 65,856% .31 99.7% .87
             
GTI 10,000 59,760 498% 3,548 94.1% 5,959
NSD 2,193 5,049 130% 1,114 77.9% 1,499
S&P 1,229 1,527 24% 777 49.1% 928

Look at Excelera, up more than 650 times.
Probably even Janis Joplin herself never got
so high.  Nor woke up afterwards with such
a splitting headache, only $300 left for every
$100,000 at the top.

(It's unlikely any of us ever had Excelera
at 16¢.  It didn't join the list until 2/17/00, and
it came in at a split-adjusted price of $50.  It
was only $33 or so when GG decided to add
it to the list.  The rest was the "Gilder Effect,"
in this case, a 50% jump as soon as the
report came out.)

Will any of these stocks ever again reach
an all-time high?  Most have about as much
chance as Janis does.  On the other hand,
ever is a long time -- if you stay alive.