Overall, things have been going well so far in terms of trading in 2013. The one weaker aspect had been my long & short tech stock picks but that is coming back as my average trade has returned 2.40% so far this year which is above my objectives. Of course, that could change but so far it’s been good. I will be making a few more picks hopefully but as has been the case in the past years, I will not open new long & short after the end of August.

You might have seen that I currently have my maximum of 7 live trades so to open a new one, I will be closing one. I will close the trade on Long TripAdvisor (TRIP) and short OpenTable (OPEN) which currently stands at +35.28%. I did like this trade obviously but I don’t love being short OPEN so I’m more than happy taking today’s gain off the table.

Today I’m back with a new long & short trade with two fairly familiar names.Let’s start off by looking at the numbers:

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And the quarterly Y/y revenues growth:

TRIP Revenue Quarterly YoY Growth data by YCharts

Long TripAdvisor (TRIP)

I’m closing a trade on TRIP today as you know but I remain a major believer in the company’s longer term prospects, even at its current valuation. A big part of that is being a leading social stock but there is much more.

Next earnings release: November 1 2013

Short Pandora Media (P)

Most of you know that I usually like to compare P/E ratios with the growth in revenues and earnings and find opportunities or discrepancies. This time, I’m shorting the fast growing Pandora. Why? Because as I’ve said many times, I’m a skeptic in its ability to make a lot of money out of such a competitive industry. So can Pandora make it? Perhaps. But I strongly believe that the competition will be a major issue for Pandora, especially once Apple jumps in the mix.

Next earnings release: August 22nd 2013

Disclaimer: Long TRIP (which will be closed) and no position on P