Howdy folks, let’s rock n roll. Hit the drums, I’ll find a groove to lay on top. We’ll jam like the Grateful Dead.
At the end of this video you can see me jamming with Bob Weir. He taught me to play Friend of the Devil on his 1936 Gibson accoustic guitar as he jammed on 1930s Martin. That weekend was a highlight of my life, frankly. Grateful Dead Friend of the Devil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XacvydVrhuI .
This is the video that has some clips of me jamming with Bob Weir at the end. http://youtu.be/qmr0MgPEviY
Fast fwd to 2:45 to see Bobby. http://youtu.be/qmr0MgPEviY?t=2m45s
Q. Cody – When we put the $BKS short into play on June 10 you mentioned this was your first tranche plus you planned on adding puts in the coming days or weeks. Last week $BKS hit a 52 week high. What are your current thoughts on a second tranche and the puts?
A. I’ve been looking at $BKS everyday as its risen since we put on the first tranche of the short. I’ve tried to give it a little room to run on the Nook spinoff, as the analysts are likely to ride that for a bit. I’ll probably add the second tranche to my short position in the next few days. Might even do some longer-term puts as this pop makes them more tempting.
Q. Hello Cody, I read that the CBOE is expecting to begin trading $GPRO options on Monday, July 7. I believe you had indicated that you might consider shorting $GPRO if it reached the 40s, however since shorting is not permitted until the end of July will you look to buy some puts? I assume that they will be very expensive. What strike/expiration would you be looking at if the common gets back to the high 40s as it did yesterday?
A. I’ll certainly look at the $GPRO puts when they start trading next week, but we’ll just have to see where $GPRO is at that point and just how expensive the premiums on the puts are to see if I’ll risk any speculative capital on buying the puts.
Q. Those $AAPL calls you gave us have been fantastic. I have just a few left- Will you wait until the last minute to sell?
A. I’ll just have to see how $AAPL trades between now and the expiry of those calls we have left which will expire in the next couple weeks. We’ve taken a lot of profits out of the trade already, but I’d like to squeeze a few more dollars out of the remainder options.
Q. Any concern about a possible buyout of $BKS brick & mortar by Riggio?
A. Always worried about a buyout of any stock I’m ever short. I just don’t see how they could get the cash to flow models to show support for taking it private and I don’t see any publicly traded companies shopping for a declining revenue retail brick & mortar company.
Comment: Thanks for the answer on $BKS, it’s what I was hoping you would say!
Q. Do you think if market pullback’s a little, will Gold go up? Looks like Gold is going up with market for now.
A. Hmm, not sure how long any perceived or real correlation between gold and the stock markets will continue. Gold still seems like it’s ready to run into year end, but so does the market, though I’d like to see a big stock market pullback at some point to embolden my contrarian senses at some point! I do think any sell-off in gold would be muted for now.
Q. Cody, Thank you for the great trades in Twitter and in Yandex. I have trimmed most of the Twitter, but am still holding the Yandex. Have you trimmed yet or are you still holding?
A. I don’t think I’ve sold any $YNDX call options from that trade yet. I probably will take partial profits before this week’s out if the stock can just give us another dollar or two. Thank you for subscribing and please tell some friends/colleagues about our service!
Q. When and what price are you thinking of buying your 2nd tranche of $IXYS?
A. Two weeks in a row, I’m getting this very question about $IXYS. Like with $BKS, I’m just spreading out my cost basis and moving slow on the trade. One is a short that went up after our first tranche and the other is a long that went up after our first tranche. Steady as she goes, I’ll be adding to both positions soon and of course will let you guys know as I do it.
Q. Do you have any thought to give us about Alibaba next IPO ?
A. I want to short $YHOO into and/or right after the Alibaba IPO. I have no interest in trying to game the foreign stock Alibaba though. Valuation, growth, and trust of management and laws overseas is too risky for me on that one at the price and time it’s coming public here.
Cody: Six months into the year, and we’re but half way through the trading year. Twenty years into my adult life, and I’m but 1/3 the way through my investing career. Any more questions?
Q. Breaking news (??) Facebook is buying LiveRail, owner of a video ad tech platform that connects publishers/content providers such as Gannett, Dailymotion, A&E, and the MLB with video ad inventory. Any immediate reaction?
A. Nothing new, just complimentary to the video ad revenue stream that $FB’s got ramping up so quickly. I don’t know anything about LiveRail, so I can’t give you anymore than that. Good find, btw!
Q. If you are bullish on miners and gold, any reason you aren’t buying $GDX calls like you used to?
A. I might add some $GDX calls at some point if and when the gold rally gets more entrenched. We’ve had some wins and some losses in the past with riding long-term $GDX calls, as I recall and I’m not keen on trading that asset right now. Art more than science in this answer.
Q. Any thoughts on adding to $IBM short now that the price is back up?
A. I hadn’t considered it but looking at $IBM now that you asked, I could see adding at short $IBM tranche here. Maybe shorting some call options would be the best trade in $IBM, as I don’t think it can run above $200 anytime soon and it could fall to $160 by year end.
Q. Any new positions cooking, Cody? Any hints in direction?
A. I’m always working on new position ideas. I’m still working on $LOCK but haven’t gotten comfortable with management or the numbers yet. I need to clean out a few positions before adding many new ones, as my portfolio’s a little unwieldy at this time with my short-term call options in $YNDX, $TWTR and a few baskets, etc.
Cody: Okay, uno mas pregunta.
Q. If no one else will, I’ll go tactical…January 15 $BKS puts too soon?
A. Depends on your risk-tolerance and the strike price. I could see throwing a TINY bit of SPECULATIVE capital at the January 2015 with $22 strikes or the $20 strikes if you’re really feeling risky. CAREFUL WITH SHORT-TERM PUTS THOUGH!
Comment: I think many of us, particularly longer term subscribers, would really appreciate a complete overhaul of the web site. I find that I never know if there are no posts or the site is not responding. – – and the problem seems particularly acute when there are a large number of subscribers/visitors on at the same time. It was just now 2:20 and despite having refreshed the page 3 times in the last 5 minutes the most recent post was from 2:12. Then, finally an entry at 2:21. I know that you have promised something; I just want to say that we need something better and it can’t come too soon.
Comment: x2 on website very annoying for awhile now.
Cody: I know, and I 100% agree. I’ve just had so much on the plate with the baby, writing, trading, investing, researching, traveling, building Scutify, networking, and so on that I’ve not gotten around to redoing this site, which is so badly needed. How about we give me and the team a deadline of end of August to have the TWC revamp done and up. Yes. I’m sick of the TWC site and its slowness and 2005 feel myself.
Comment: Thanks Cody looking forward to the revamp. As stated it can’t come too soon! But end of summer seems reasonable. We will quickly forget what once was….
Comment: Yuppers- Gracias.
Cody: Gracias, todo el mundo. Hasta la vista.
Comment: Que tenga buen dia, Cody!