Our mate under fire again __________________1. RENE RIVKIN - NO...

Our mate under fire again
__________________

1. RENE RIVKIN - NO PAN INSIDER TRADER

It's official - Rene Rivkin is not an insider trader. How else do you explain tlamboyant stock-picker Rene Rivkin crowning his career last week with a disastrous buy recommendation on dodgy pill producer Pan Pharmaceuticals which looks likely to leave his subscribers baying for blood.

Just a few days before the national recall of Pan products, Rivkin issued an exquisitely-timed buy recommendation that will cost his hardy subscribers plenty.

Throwing its weight behind Pan, last week's Rivkin Report urged readers to go out and the buy the stock with their ears pinned back. He gave Pan short to medium-term buy with a confidence factor of 4 out of 5.

"Basically, what is happening is that the company has become a cash cow and it is on this basis, apart from the yield, that I like it," said Rivkin.

And it looks like Rene has picked the stock at its peak. His subscribers will be delighted to have been pushed into a stock that peaked at $1.43 and fell to $1.20 before yesterday's suspension. Happy new Pan shareholders now face the prospect of seeing their money swirl down the spout - and possibly disappear, as the chances of the company trading again look dim.

"Whilst I haven't spoken to the company, a good friend of mine has spent hours with the company and this friend is in funds management and is very positive as well," Rene wrote last week. "He is one of the few fund managers whom I respect as being highly innovative and highly thorough."

Rivkin's half-baked stock tips cost subscribers $800 a year. Sloppy, poorly researched pieces of "analysis" like this are sure to cost them plenty more

Check out the genius of Rene here:
http://www.crikey.com.au/business/2003/04/29/20030429rivkin.html

Then again, this is surely conclusive proof that Rene is no insider trader as he clearly had no idea what was about to happen.

The key question is whether Rene was smart enough to get through the exit before the stock was suspended yesterday.