Critical mass means that your business has reached a point where it has enough users and/or developers that your business kicks into a virtuous feedback loop where more users bring in more developers and more offerings from developers bring in more users. A winner-takes-all market is when only one or two or maybe three providers […]
Trade Alert – Zig when they zag
Here’s how the mainstream media works and here’s why you can make good money by just thinking and trading as independent-minded-ly as possible: Facebook Sales Top Estimates as Companies Warm to Mobile Ads 23 Oct 2012 Facebook Inc. (FB), owner of the biggest social… Third-quarter sales rose 32 percent to $1.26 billion, Menlo Park, California-based Facebook said today in […]
Trade Alert – Two nibbles, one stemming from my initial thoughts on the iPad Mini
Seems the market wanted to see a lower price on the baseline iPad Mini. Not sure the market is right about that, as margins and earnings will be huge and the $329 is probably cheap enough to bring in most of the folks who were considering a crappy $199 Android tablet. How stupid does Softee […]
Trade Alert – Your momma says you ugly: A couple small buy backs
It’s u-g-l-y, you ain’t got no alibi, ugly out there this morning. The culprit is mostly earnings and guidance coming in worse than most analysts had expected, but the headlines will tell you instead: Dow falls 200 as earnings, Europe put Street on edge Remember last week when the markets were hundreds of points higher […]
Trade Alert – A1(23) Added Flavor to the Portfolio
Good morning and welcome back to the mountain top where you can see for miles when you actually stop to look. AONE is up another nickel this morning and we’ve now got a full triple on the trade in less than a week. Wow, that’s one to remember. I’m selling the rest of it here […]
Trade Alert: Apple Bites
Wrote this earlier: Other than that, there’s the AAPL which is still acting like it’s got the flu and the tanking that GOOG took after earnings yesterday has money flowing out of AAPL too. At least for now. I’ll probably look to add to my calls in my next tranche if the stock gets below […]
Trade Alert – Taking some profits
Lots of action this morning, but let’s not let our emotions get the best of us. I sold about half of my AONE this morning as the stock opened near 11 cents per share. It was trading near 12 cents pre-market, but I didn’t get filled until after the open. We caught nearly a double […]
Trade Alert: Alternative energy bankruptcy flip
Long-time subscribers have seen me do the “Bankruptcy Trade” a few times in the past, mostly to success. Today, a stock that I long ago put as a short into the Revolution Investing model portfolio, A123 Systems, did exactly as I predicted years ago in columns titled such things as “How to trade the popping […]
Trade Alert – Two partial short covers: Can the bulls kick the door down?
Like I postulated yesterday, now that Apple has joined the rally party, a lot of folks are suddenly thinking the markets are now headed higher again. Yesterday I noted that the market had a better bid underneath it, and today that better bid continues. I’m going to cover about 1/10th of my DLTR and DG […]
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Apple’s finally not straight down on the day, for what seems the first time in months, no? Facebook, on the other hand…down today and back below $20 a share. A few weeks ago I bought a tranche around these levels and I’m not going to add again here right now, but if you haven’t bought […]
Trade Alert: Putting a hand on a hot stove
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity. – Albert Einstein Apple’s down 2% on the day which takes it down a full 10% from its recent all-time highs. Recall that […]
Trade Alert: Upticks, optimism, Apollo and Zynga
Let’s jump right in this morning. First off, let’s hit on my comments about the marked uptick in optimism at yesterday’s UNM Alumni Board meeting. I even asked the new President of the University about his concern that more austerity would further cut the UNM budget, and he said “I’m confident that we’re set for […]
Trade Alert: Three trades and must-read headlines
There’s an awful lot of angst if not outright fear out there amongst the bulls. The high-beta stocks and especially big tech have been the leaders on the way up of late, but the momentum seems to be about to run out, at least for the near-term. I’m buying some JP Morgan puts today. Thus […]
Trade Alert: More trims; PLUS Everything You Need To Know About 3D Systems Corp.
Before I jump into the hard core DDD analysis, let’s talk markets and stocks and trading for today. Feet to fire it feels like we go higher today, but again, I’m not making any moves on that analysis. I am however continuing to follow my playbook which means continuing to trim a little bit here […]
Trade Alert: Latest positions and locking in some big profits
You’ll notice I’ve lowered most of the long ratings 1 point. You know how I’ve been positioned for this kind of a bubbliciuos rally int he markets, and there will be another chance to get aggressively long again. The portfolio has had another heckuva run in the last few days on top of the other […]
Trade Alert: Headlines and finally adding to this position
Lots of headlines to run through…but hardly a move in the markets for the day so far. I’m finally adding a new tranche of buying to my FB, adding just about 15-20% as much as I already own. I’ll be adding a little common and also to my January 14 calls with strikes about $30. […]
Trade Alert: Make the hardest trade; another trim of another big winner
Well, I’ve got butterflies in my stomach. The portfolio was already on a big tear higher when we hit the huge pop the last two days. And this kind of huge move in the markets which is reflected even stronger in our portfolios is making me nervous. Two days ago I wrote this: The market’s […]
Trade Alert: Flashback to the last time we were at these levels and run from cocky stock brokers
The last time the Nasdaq traded this high, here were the headlines. See how closely you can get to the exact date without clicking through: Northern chill sends oil price up over $35 a barrel – World oil prices began to shoot past the $35 mark overnight as the first cold snap of winter hit the northern […]
Trade Alert: Economic analysis and adding to a short
I can’t bring myself to fully read, much less report to you guys, what the latest “He said, she said” so-called reports from the gathering of a bunch of bank-groveling bureaucrats from a continent’s supposed central bank whose charter, mandate and authority seems to change on a monthly basis. But the markets are up huge […]
Trade Alert: Buying puts to hedge the portfolio
A couple other trades I’m putting on today. I’m adding to my LPS and Morgan Stanley short positions via puts. Been a long time since I felt the need to be get more aggressive on my short hedging. I still think the path of least resistance for the overall markets and for tech in particular […]