You should definately go to arbitration. Plus look to see after some of the stocks were sold did the broker buy you other stocks. If he did then they were "churning" your account. This means buying and selling without your authorization just to make commissions.

From: shwhati  Friday, July 16, 2004 03:40 PM
CAN U TELL ME HOW K_MART STOCK IS around $70.00, it driving me crazy, becaus
over a year ago i sold the the stock at $4.00. thank U

Answer:
If you had the " original " K-MART stock which traded on the NYSE under the symbol KM you were LUCKY to get $4. The company filed for bankruptcy and the stock KM went to ZERO!!! All the shareholders who were loyal over the years got nothing in return.
The stock you currently see at $70 is K-MART but trades on the NASDAQ and why anyone would buy this worthless piece of junk is beyond me.  My feeling is that investors think they have no more debt and is essentially a new company but the same snakes are still involved.

From: Taryn Hodella 
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 3:45 PM
My mother has a lot of stock certificates dating back to the 70's.   I tried to see if they were on the stock exchange but with no luck.  Perhaps these companies have been bought out by another company or has closed their doors.  Is there a way to research these certificates to see if they have any value?
thanks for your assistance

answer:
I suggest you open an account with a local brokerage firm and deposit them. At that point the back office will locate the transfer agent to see if the companies still exist, were bought out, splits etc. In a few days to a week the account will have a dollar value or no value.
On the back of each certificate is a "CUSIP" number which is like a catalog number. This is how firms research the past history.

7/13/04: question:
What happens t ocommon stock when a company goes through chapter 11

answer:
If the company files chapter 11 the company has to pay their creditors, then the bond holders, preffered shareholders and finally the common shareholders hopefully get paid.
The common stock as was the case for K-MART  went from the NYSE to the pink sheets and finally became worthless. The stock you see trading now was new stock issued and trades on the NASDAQ. Basically all the loyal shareholders got screwed.

7/13/04: question:
Can you buy stock directly from walmart

Answer: Go to www.walmart.com
and email their investor relations department

From: portsusan Friday, May 28, 2004 06:23 PM

Dear DR 32 years ago I workes for K Mart and purchased stock through payroll deductions. I would like to know how I can find out about this stock. I no longer have any paperwork regarding this. Thank You Sue Porter

Hi Sue,
If you did not sell the shares then you should be receiving a statement from K-Marts retirement bank. But as you know K-Mart filed for bankruptcy so I doubt if those shares are worth anything. I would call K-Mart at their corporate office and see what brokerage firm or bank is handling their investments.

Hey Kirk,
If they were in fact transferred the broker can contact their back office and they would have records of who sent the shares over. They can at least get you the transfer agents name you call them and they have the dates and records. But in my opinion the broker should be able to print out each time stock was sent over and what the price of the stock was because your statements would show an increase to the block you already had.

Did you have other brokerage accounts and then decided to consolidate the shares into one account? If that is the case the back office can still see where the shares were transferred from.

I have 1200 shares in a company that is about to go incahoots with another company with the same type product. They are developing a new product together. However the company that I dont own stock in is not listed on the NYSE. Will the team work hurt or help my stocks? Thanks

Unless the 2 companies are going to merge with each other it won't make a difference if one is on the NYSE and the other trades on the NASDAQ. If they feel they can bring to the public a better product then I'm sure there is an agreement which shows how much profit goes to each company. Just as long as the sales of the product add revenues and profits to the bottom line then you are fine. If things work out well then I'm sure a buyout could be looming and if you hear rumors then in my opinion only you should pick up shares of the other company.

If the price of a stok that i have options on is currently trading below the option price and i exercise my option, will it cost me any money out of my pocket?

You always have to lay out the cash in order to execrcise your options so it would be wise to wait until the stock is trading above the strike price.

HNP (Huaneng Power Intl Inc was trading at about $83. Today it listed for about half that. Did it split? If so, at what ratio? Is this a good investment now? Thanks JKH

The stock did recently split. I do not follow the stock.
In my opinion only: I usually sell 50 - 75% of my postion after a stock split. The reason is  there are more shares in the float to buy and if the stock starts to slump it will take more buying power to recover. Look how many times Microsoft split now its been trading at the same level for 2 years.

what do you think of the stock vrso? it is nearly at its 52 week low and has negative earnings released.

If you like the company then you have a great buying opportunity. I don't personally follow it but like the old saying " Buy at the low and sell at the high". Looking at the chart if VRSO can break $2.25 bid then the next level would be $3.50. One of the problems I see is that there is alot of shares outstanding over 130 million shares which tends to dilute the price.

I bought Kmart stock on ameritrade when it was .33. Now its over 40.00 but all my stock has disapeared. Why?

The original shareholders got screwed. The rules protect everyone but the small shareholder who held and believed in K-Mart. Once a company files for bankruptcy then everyone gets in line to get paid but the pecking order dictates that bondholders, Prefered stockholders and the companies that sold products to K-Mart get paid first and then whats leftover goes to the shareholders. You should have received a letter from a lawfirm which has taken a "Class action" lawsuit against K-Mart but don't expect anything. You are better off asking your stockbroker to send you a worthless stock certificate form and have your accountant write it off.

From: lazylady Tues. 5/11/04 12:02 PM

Dear Dr.Stock,