Short takes. (Wall Street West).

The topic of employee stock ownership plans, addressed in this column twice in recent weeks, still has readers' passion. The suitably named Adam Smith, financial analyst with ESOP valuation firm Sanli Pastore & Hill Inc. in West Los Angeles, wrote that ESOPs "are the only way many owners can sell their companies" given timid banks and current market conditions. Other pro-ESOPers hint that Wall Street types don't like ESOPs, despite obvious benefits, because an ESOP is not a Wall Street transaction, and takes a company out of circulation, usually for good...Mike Nichols, founder of Westwood-based Windward Capital Management, thinks the investing public has stomached the bad news on corporate accounting, and is ready to belly up for seconds. "The media has been playing up the corporate accounting scandals, and as long as it gets ratings, it will continue to play them up. But sooner or later that story will fade, and the economy appears to be recovering," said Nichols, who thinks financial stocks have a good run in them.

Contributing columnist Benjamin Mark Cole writes about the local investment community for the Los Angeles Business Journal. He can be reached at [e-mail].