Posts Tagged ‘stocks’

Time to Short Solar Stocks

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 01.06.2008 (11:22 pm)

SPWR – SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq) – (Closing Price on Friday 1/4/08 – $126.12) 

Stocks related to solar power made a tremendous run in 2007 but they are currently grossly overpriced and overdue for a pullback. The insiders of most of these companies have been dumping shares like crazy which is never a good sign. Also, the market is expected to have a turbulent year so I think now is a good time to short some of these companies.

My solar pick to short is SunPower Corporation. SunPower Corporation has shown strong growth over the last year but it currently has at a trailing PE ratio of 631 (that is ridiculously high). For growing companies a trailing PE is less important than the forward PE but SunPower’s forward PE is also astronomical (126 based on the high range of their forecast of GAAP earnings between $0.85 and $1.00 in 2008).

While investors have been buying, the insiders of SunPower Corporation have been dumping a huge amount of shares. Insider selling is never a good sign and the amount of selling that has taken place at SunPower should cause a lot of concern. (more…)

The Stock Market in 2008

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 01.05.2008 (3:14 pm)

Last year I made the prediction that the “market will end the year essentially where it began or down on the year. If the market is up on the year I don’t see it being up very much.” My prediction proved to be prescient as the S&P 500 finished with a 3.53% gain, the Dow with a 6.43% gain, and the Nasdaq with a 9.81% gain.

If you take away the Santa Claus rally at the end of the year, which has now quickly evaporated, my prediction of flat growth would have been proven correct. This is in contrast to most of the stock market prognosticators who where predicting another strong year (15% or greater) even though there were signs of a slowing economy and the housing bubble was beginning to deflate.

This year I have noticed that not many commentators are predicting how much the market will gain or lose this year. I guess they didn’t want to eat any more crow like they did last year. They are mentioning that the stock market is in for another volatile and challenging year. I agree. (more…)

Is There Any Money in Internet Search Stocks?

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 12.31.2007 (4:45 pm)

One of the first stocks I owned was Ask Jeeves (bought out by IACI – formerly ASKJ) which I bought after the tech bubble collapsed. It was trading at a little over a dollar and the company was quickly growing revenues and earnings. I sold the stock too early but I still made over ten times my money in that stock, a ten bagger in Lynch speak.

Ever since then I have followed the internet search sector to see if another small player could follow a similar path as Ask Jeeves. I’ve followed the second tier search companies for a couple of years and frankly I don’t think there is any money to be made investing in these companies (from a fundamental perspective).

The smaller companies like Looksmart (LOOK), Copernic (CNIC – formerly Mamma.com MAMA), Miva (MIVA – formerly Findwhat.com FWHT), and Local.com (LOCM) are nowhere close to making a consistent profit. If you have ever used their websites you know why. They simply don’t deliver relevant search results. (more…)

Is LJ International a Good Buy?

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 11.20.2007 (10:17 pm)

JADE – LJ International (Nasdaq) (Closing Price – $2.18) 

I recommended shorting LJ International earlier this year for a 17% gain. I recommended to cover too soon but my short recommendation was ultimately a smart recommendation. JADE’s stock price rose as high as $13.15 earlier this year but it has now dropped all the way to $2.18 (at today’s closing price).

So what happened to LJ International and is the company worth a buy at the current price?

The problems started for LJ International when they didn’t report their fourth quarter earnings report for 2006 (they were supposed to report near the end of March). In a show of complete disregard for the investors in their company they didn’t even issue a press release stating why they didn’t report earnings. For some reason this didn’t deter investors in the company and the share price of JADE kept going up. (more…)

STRM – Q1 2007 Earnings

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 07.01.2007 (12:00 am)

STRM – Streamline Health Solutions (Nasdaq) (Closing Price on Friday 6/29/07 – $4.19)

Streamline Health released first quarter earnings on May 21 and once again they reported disappointing results.

Streamline Health reported revenue of 3.78 million and a loss of 0.05 per diluted share. They blamed the disappointing results on “protracted negotiations on two large system sales.” However, they said they were confident the sales “will successfully conclude in our second quarter, allowing the company to meet its first half expectations.” (more…)

MCZ – Update

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 05.13.2007 (12:00 am)

MCZ – Mad Catz Interactive (American Stock Exchange) (Closing Price on Friday – 05/11/07 – $0.90)

There have been many positive developments since my last post on MCZ.

Madcatz started shipping wired and wireless controllers for the Playstation 3 in March. They announced a new agreement to produce accessories for Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. They renewed their license agreement with the NBA to produce a new line of controllers and other accessories. Also, on Friday they announced an agreement with Microsoft to produce faceplates for Halo 3. (more…)

STRM – Update

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 04.23.2007 (12:00 am)

STRM – Streamline Health Solutions (Nasdaq) (Closing Price – $4.87)

The stock price of Streamline Health has rebounded nicely from its lows after fourth quarter earnings. The reasons for this increase were a press release announcing a new customer and a favorable report by an analyst.

The press release was good news but Streamline mentioned in their last earnings report that they had already closed one transaction in the first quarter. The press release probably was referring to that agreement. (more…)

STRM – Q4 2006 Earnings – Hold

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 04.04.2007 (12:00 am)

STRM – Streamline Health Solutions (Nasdaq) (Closing Price – $4.01)

Streamline Health reported disappointing results for the fourth quarter of 2006. They reported earnings of 0.03 per diluted share on revenues of 3.84 million. This was well below the revenue guidance they had given in the previous quarter.

Streamline did not meet its guidance due to delays in finalizing several significant contracts. However, the company stated one of these contracts was already closed in the first quarter and the others were near completion. The CEO also stated “that should the remaining agreements be completed as anticipated, we expect record first quarter revenues.” (more…)

MCZ – Initiation of Buy Recommendation

By: ispeculatornew | Date posted: 12.13.2006 (12:00 am)

MCZ- Mad Catz Interactive (American Stock Exchange) (Closing Price $0.65)

Mad Catz (ticker: MCZ) is a speculative play on the release of the next generation game consoles (the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3). This company has improving fundamentals and will benefit from the hype surrounding the new game consoles.

Mad Catz sell peripherals such as controllers, racing wheels, and console accessories. Consumers will buy these products when they purchase their new consoles. The initial release of the consoles will help increase sales for MCZ but the biggest benefit should come after a year or so after the consoles have built a consumer base. (more…)