Groupon Opens Up 40%

Daily deals site Groupon opened at $28 a share on the Nasdaq, up 40% from its initial public offering price of $20. Though the company's valuation of roughly $12.7 billion is below the $15 billion to $20 billion that it originally projected, the deal is still considered a success for Groupon and its bankers.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577017773545604142.html?mod=djemalertMARKET

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AOL kills it - stock up more than 12% today on heavy volume

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aol-in-spotlight-as-tech-stocks-climb-2011-11-02?link=MW_latest_news

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Tech stocks mostly rose Wednesday, with AOL Inc. in the spotlight after the online media company reported better-than-expected quarterly results prior to the start of trading.

Waste Management’s Q3 Profit and Revenue Beat Expectations (WM)

http://www.dividend.com/blog/?p=39019

KOG

My pick this quarter is KOG. I was going to go with my other pick from two weeks ago, but it appears we missed the boat on that. I came across a pretty cheap that has a lot of upside. I was purchasing this stock in our portfolio challenge and it did very well for me. This company sits on what could be the largest shale found on our continent that will produce oil and natural gas. Here is a great article I found.... http://oilshalegas.com/bakkenshale.HTML

I think we should set a buy price of $4.50-$5. I think we should buy about 200-250 shares. This way if the stock shoots up from $5 to $7.50, we stand to make $625. This stock is at $7 now, so we just have to wait for the right drop, buy and then set a sell price we all like. I think this plan only works if we buy at least 200 shares, but we certainly could use an opportunity to get $625! This stock is only a few months old so I think we I'll se the drop we need.

You've got Mail!

I know, I know - they are the laughing stock of the tech industry.  Their outdated dial-up service is a joke, and they have missed the boat on nearly every new trend in the past decade.

All jokes aside, however, the company is still very profitable, and still owns some precious dot-com real estate.  Word on the street has been that they are an ideal buyout candidate.  One confirmed potential buyer is Yahoo - and the reason such a merger/buy-out would be beneficial is that as one unit, the companies would save $1.5 Billion a year alone in costs due to redundant tech needs.

Currently trading at under book value and being a takeover target in a market like this, I like AOL for a short-term holding, but I don't like it at current prices.  I'd look for a pullback to the low $14's as an entry point.

No, not boobs

Tata Motors (TTM), based in India, manufactures and sells compact cars and commercial vehicles internationally. With corporate offices in England, South Africa, Korea and Spain, they generated $27b in revenue worldwide last year. They have 5.9m cars on the road in India today, in addition to being the world's fourth largest truck manufacturer and third largest bus manufacturer. Their vehicles sell throughout Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Domestically, Tata's presence in the U.S. is primarily through Land Rover and Jaguar, two brands they bought from Ford at the start of the recession in 2008. The stock currently trades below $20 and is categorized in a sector that we have never purchased.

3rd Qtr Picks

I have two picks I'd like to bring to the table for discussion Tuesday. The first one is Mueller Industries (MLI). Ryan sent over a good article a week or so back regarding the construction slow down in China and the subsequent drop in demand of construction material (copper in particular). Pat brought up a good point that a drop in the cost of copper would equal profits for companies that use a lot of copper in their products. One company came to mind - Mueller. They are the largest supplier of plumbing and HVAC piping and fittings in the US and the majority their sales are copper pipe and fittings. I would bet that most of the plumbing pipe and fittings in your house are supplied by Mueller. The stock has risen considerably the last few weeks in response to this news regarding china - so we are obviously not the only ones who think Mueller stands to benefit from this. They are already a profitable company to begin with and have solid financials. I would want to see if the price drops off a bit before we get in as right now they are close their 52 week high of $47. If the stocks dips back to around 40, i think that would be an ideal entry point. Mueller is in the same sector as Alcoa, so we would have to look at the exact numbers to make sure we don't overload, but i think its a great opportunity.

The other stock I wanted to bring back to the table was CAT. As you guys know - I've been a big fan of CAT for a while now. Their stock took a little bit of a hit the last quarter with the market slip, but they just announced earnings this week and they killed it. As a result their stock has shot up a bit. They expect to do even better next year as demand for their equipment is expected to rise. Since we have some extra money in the money market - I think now would be good time to put some into CAT. I would wait for a drawback and try to get in below $90 if possible, but I would be happy getting where it stands now as i think the stock will rise going forward.

I look forward to hearing everyone's feedback on Tuesday.

My Picks

Hey guys. First of all thanks for taking care of some issues last night without me. I think it was a good that you did that so we are clear heading to the meeting tomorrow.

My Pick for this quarter is AO Smith Corporation (AOS). This company is right up my alley. They are a leader in the residential and comercial water heating equipment. My company only uses AO Smith water heaters on any of our jobs (unless we are attaching an indirect hot water heater to a boiler, in that case we use the same manufacturer as the boiler).

They offer every type of water heater from gas to solar to electric, and they come in a wide range of efficiencies. The gas coompanies are offering up to $1,000 in rebates right now for people who are putting in high efficient equipment. We have sold a ton this year.

Right now it is trading at $38.15 per share and everything I have read since I started watching this stock is that it will outperform the market.

I said "picks" because I also like Chimera Investment Corp. (CIM). I heard about this stock from Mark's friend whos father is a hedge fund manager. I havent had too much time to research, but he said its a long term stock. The best thing about it is that it pays a 17% dividend! It is trading at $2.91 per share.

Chimera Investment Corporation is a specialty finance company that invests,
either directly or indirectly through its subsidiaries, in residential
mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), residential mortgage loans, commercial
mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and various other asset classes.

This is something that you hold on to for your kids college education...

AKAM

We shoud keep a close eye on this stock. It is down a lot this year but has technology that other companies (google) are very interesed in. Could be on course for a buy out.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Amazon - The anti-apple?

Reports show that Amazon is set to release a tablet of their own this fall.  I know there have been dozens of iPad-killer attempts and no one has been successful to date, however I think Amazon is going to surprise everyone and be the big contender.

Amazon plans on selling their tablet for "hundreds less" than the ipad.  I'm guessing that means we're looking at $199 tablet that will be compete with the iPad in terms of performance, and appearance.  I think this will be a game changer - just look at the HP Touch Pad, which couldn't sell a unit priced at $499, then when HP dropped the price to $100 it flew off the shelves with lines out the door of every Best Buy in the country, prompting online retailers to raise their prices to $199 or even more - the fact that people were willing to line up out the door and pay double the retail price for these tablets that are basically going to be sold for parts in a year since HP won't be supporting them means that Amazon's tablet will be a huge success.

Amazon is of course hoping for sales to come in from the sale of Apps, and I'm sure their going to make this tablet their eventual Kindle replacement which is as you know extremely profitable.  If we want to get extremely speculative, I bet you Amazon figures out a way someday to integrate their e-Ink technology into their tablet making it the ultimate reading and web surfing device, even in the sun.

Some might think that Amazon might be overpriced, trading at 87x earnings, but the fact is it's a high growth stock still that is hoarding cash by the day - they consistently beat estimates and have very little debt.

I think we should look to make an entry into this stock and hold onto it for a few months to see what happens when the tablet is officially released prior to this holiday season.  I'm thinking this is going to be the hot must-have gift for Christmas 2011.

Why Steve Jobs means more to Apple than the general public
understands...

https://plus.google.com/u/2/107117483540235115863/posts/gcSStkKxXTw#107117483540235115863/posts/gcSStkKxXTw

-jL

Sent from my iPhone

Buffett to Invest $5 Billion in Bank of America

Bank of America said it will receive a $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway as doubts have grown in recent days about the banks's capital position. BofA shares surged 26% to $8.76 premarket trading.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530211731979854.html?mod=djemalertMARKET

There's an APPL for that!

With steve jobs stepping down from the CEO post apple stock is taking an (unnecessary) beating. While Jobs is the visionary, Cook has been on the front lines for years and has been groomed by Jobs to take the helm. With the iphone5 and I'm sure an iPad3 coming out sooner rather than later, and with HP folding its tablet cards, I think APPL will continue to crush earnings and make waves.

I Motion for us to entet Appl asap to take advantage of the hit it's taking due to Jobs' departure.

"Sent from my BlackBerry"

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Invest in Clean Energy - Nuclear

Since the nuclear disaster in Japan, Uranium has taken has a huge hit (Global X Uranium ETF) as could be expected. As of now, Uranium is trading at its 52 week low of about $12.90, while back before the disaster it was up around $22. I think this is a golden opportunity for us to get on URA while its at it low point and ride reap in profits as it climbs back up to where it was pre-Fukishima.

Don't believe the hype, Nuclear is not going away. Think about all the countries in the world that use nuclear power besides Japan. Do you really think they are all just going to decommission all their nuclear power plants based on one disaster? No shot. The dip in prices is solely based on the disaster and will almost certainly rebound. I think this is almost a no brainer to get in now on a great commodity before stock prices rise again in this sector.

I motion we invest about 75% of our money market into URA.

If you guys want to do some more reading - here is a good article about it.

http://www.streetauthority.com/a/invest-clean-energy-prices-double-458295

LB Foster and TM?

With a decent balance in the money market - discussing other possible investments for TM is a good plan.

I want to bring the company LB Foster (FSTR) to the table for discussion. I was talking with a guy I work with about investments and companies that might stand to gain when the construction industry picks back up and he mentioned LB Foster.

L.B. Foster is a manufacturer, fabricator and distributor of products and services for the rail, construction, energy and utility markets. As you guys are probably well aware, our country's infrastructure is a state of disarray in desperate need of upgrades and repair. This includes bridges, highways, rail, water and sewer. Bridges and highways probably being highest on the priority list (case in point; the bridge collapse in MIN). Obama has also made it pretty clear that improving the country's rail road system is a top priority.

Well it just so happens that railroad and bridge/road construction products are LB Foster's specialty, not to mention a sizable list of other infrastructure related construction products.

I just wanted to bring this to the table to see what your thoughts are on FSTR as a possible investment. These guys are top name in the construction industry and solid company financially from what I have read. This could be a good long term investment which could bring some quality returns as construction picks back up here in the US.

Can't own facebook yet? Oh yes you RENREN!

Let's face it.  Facebook will be offering itself to the public - but it's going to be at least 12-18 months or even longer before we see something like.  With valuations over 50B on the low end (currently) it's going to be a HUGE IPO and likely will be quite pricey.  Recent statistics have shown that Facebook is already accounting for 30% of ad impressions online in the US - a stunning figure (simply stunning).

Well we can't own it yet unless we buy shares on the secondary market.. however we can own the next best thing.  Facebook currently can't (and won't for the foreseeable future) open their business in China - as we all know the largest market and by some estimates soon to take over the #1 spot as soon as 2016 for GDP - putting the US in 2nd place for the first time in --- well nearly forever.  Estimates show that China will surpass us and never look back - and these estimates are based on cold, hard, facts.

China has it's own Facebook - it's called RenRen (the Everyone Network) and it just had it's IPO, debuting at $14/share on the NYSE.  In the first day the stock surged nearly 30% and is currently up again in after hours. I motion that we move some money market funds into RENREN tomorrow and never look back!

Monster

My pick for this quarter us Monster.com. We all know about the website that our Pike brother has created. My interest was peaked by an analyst on MSNBC so I decided to research. Monster has had steadily increasing U.S job postings and strong growth in Europe and Asia. The sector overall is also showing stronger performance. Unemployment is decreasing and companies are spending more money in 2011 on online recruitment than previously predicted. Monster just ended 2 for 1 promotions, replacing them with 25% off offers, which should increase revenue. They are currently trading at $17.78 per share.

Q2-AMD

My selection is AMD. AMD is a semiconductor maker that competes with companies like Intel, but is only about $8.70/share. They are sent to launch a set of microprocessors for their server market based on a new design that allows for more processing power to be packed on a single Chip. Right now, their market share for processing chips is very little, so even a modest gain of say 10% of market share could drive the bottom line much higher.

I read an article on Morningstar.com and the general consensus of the microprocessors from AMD is that they have a better design than their competitors like Intel, which could lead to AMD taking more market share than expected.

I think the play on this selection is more short term, 24 months or less and give it the chance to hit $16, maybe sell along the way if the market calls for it.

We Can Do It. You Can Help.

Home Depot caters to both the weekend warrior as well as the everyday contractor. With over 2,200 stores nationwide, Home Depot has a tremendous footprint and our portfolio lacks a solid retail store presence. In addition to the typical over the counter purchases you'd expect, Home Depot has also increased revenue through their installation services and credit card finance programs. At about $37/s, the stock pays a dividend and is 72% institutionally owned, which means investors believe in the company. As the spring turns to summer and people begin chipping away at punch lists, Home Depot's transactional business will thrive and fit perfectly into our well-diversified portfolio.

Mr. Trash Man

My pick for this quarter Waste Management (WM). They are the largest solid waste management company in the US. Good chance some of you have a barrel in your basement with their logo on it, so I'm sure most of you are familiar with their services (garbage collection, recycling, landfill storage, and waste to energy production). The majority of their revenue is from government and municipal contracts.

I was looking for an industry leader, a stock that has potential for return, but at the same time is stable. If you look at their stock prices during the recent recession, they did have much of a dip. The services these guys provide are always going to be needed, and they have a pretty sizable market share on this service which i don't see being overtaken any time soon. They are a well run company and profitable.

The stock is trading close to its 52 week high ($38.50), which can be a red flag. However, the warm weather typically means more profits for WM because of the increase in waste resulting from construction projects starting up - so now might be a good time to get in.

I will talk in more detail about it on Wednesday, but take a look and let me know your comments/questions.

Still time to own a piece of Genzyme!

Back in March Sanofi-Aventis closed on it's $20B purchase of Genzyme (GENZ).. paying out GENZ stock holders about $74/share. For those that had purchased the stock in July 2010 when the rumors started flowing, that represented about a 50% profit on their purchase price - a nice payday.

Believe it or not there is still a chance for everyone else to own a small piece of Genzyme though! When Sanofi-Aventis purchased Genzyme they valued certain parts of GENZ business far lower than what GENZ did... so something called Contingent Value Shares (CVR's) were issued. These CVR's are directly tied into the success of certain drugs and technologies that GENZ is working on. If GENZ meets certain goals and milestones with a few of it's rare disease drugs and multiple scleroris drugs these CVR's will rise accordingly and give holders of each CVR an opportunity to share in profits and one-time payouts.

The CVR's are trading in the mid-2's under the ticker GCVRZ. This is a risky play, but it has substantial short-term potential payouts if Cerezyme, Fabrazyme, and Lemtrade earn profits beyond what Sanofi-Aventis valued them at. (as an example, Sanofi predicts Lemtrade will sell around 700k, GENZ estimated $3.5 Billion - big difference). Every dollar above $700k in revenue that Lemtrade produces will have a positive effect on GCVRZ share value.

A risky play for those of you that think Genzyme still had plenty of zip left in its step with these final drugs it was working on prior the acquisition.... there is plenty of reason for them to do everything they can to make them successful, and Sanofi has the money to make it happen.

Japan... land of opportunity?

The devastation in Japan is unbelievable. The threat of a nuclear disaster is upon them and there is much concern over what happens if there is another disaster in line with what happened in Chernobyl.. most experts say that there will not be anything to that maginitude, however.

I do think that there is opportunity in some companies to make huge profits from this disaster and that is worth us looking into. I know we already hold a stake in CEMEX and after doing some research it is evident to me that CX did enter the Japanese market however they have not gained any significant market share. The largest market share of the cement industry in Japan goes to Taiheiyo Cement Corp. There has been some volatility in this stock which trades under ticker THYCY, however my main reason for this post is to challenge our group to start thinking of other industries that stand to benefit from this tragedy. Keep in mind Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world, they will rebuild, they have the money to do so and the manpower to pull it together... let's try to be on the WINNING team!

Can't See the Forest for the Trees

I think good idea to take a hard look at our entire portfolio and evaluate where we stand on the rest of our holdings.

We are spending all this time analyzing the shit out of RAX and BJs when we have many other securities at 52 week highs. Where is the sense of urgency with these other stocks? Should there be one?

BOA and NCR are almost up 40%, why aren't we talking about banking a 40% profit there? News Corp and Alocoa are up 20% and 30% respectively - why aren't we talking liquidation?

We really need to take a step back and look at the big picture here. What sectors are we confident in for 2011?

Border Patrol

If you haven't heard yet, chances are high that Borders will be filing for chapter 11 come Monday this week, shuttering hundreds of stores. Who's the likely winner in that event? Sources say Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google among others.

Out of those 3 top benefactors I have to think that B&N will benefit the most, as they have brick & mortar storefronts unlike the other two and I think prior Borders customers will seek out B&N stores to fulfill their appetite for a local bookstore.

I think it's something to keep an eye on, and potential worth liquidating an asset or two to buy a ticket on the B&N express that may be heading for a big year in 2011 due to this unfortunate turn for the worse at Borders.

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:BKS

BJ's revisited

What are the groups thoughts on cashing in our short-term profit gains and setting a buy back price? Any appetite for risk, or should we hold on for the ride? Curious to see what you all think.

Bad Apple?

With Steve Jobs announcing yesterday that he is going out on medical leave indefinitely to treat the after-effects of his pancreatic cancer, Apple is already down 5% early. I think our MM acct is empty, but if the company falls below $300/s (from $347/s), it'll be worth scooping even a single share).

Thoughts?

The Rite Stuff

My pick is Rite-Aid (RAD). I've watched this company in my IRA for 18 months and I'm baffled as to how low they trade. With over 50,000 employees and hundreds of locations, they are currenty valued below $1/s. With Walgreens, CVS, Longs and other pharmacy outlets continuing to thrive, Rite-Aid has struggled since merging with Brooks. This company has a huge footprint and I recommend it as a high-risk, AXAS-like quick turnaround to buy 200 shares and jump off whenever we can bank a positive profit. I apologize for being short, as I'm on the road, but I will inject more later this evening.

Cloud....of smoke and some RAXs

My selection for Q1 of 2011 is Rackspace Hosting. The company specializes in cloud computing. I think cloud computing will take off this year and strongly believe we will find great value in this company over the next 12 months. Rax (rackspace hosting inc) recently purchased a development company in san francisco (which is a good sign for us) and the stock is very low compared to its competitors in the market. They compete directly with VMware, thought i would mention i choose them as a stock with i worked for the IT company in early 2009, hehe. Take a look at how all of their competitors stocks have done since, including VMware. All sectors have profited, but the companies below have really picked up a lot more coin. I think we will see another growth with the advancement of cloud computing. Also, i clipped an a few paragraphs from different resources and pasted them below too.
Many of their competitors:

• Citrix Systems
• VMware
• Salesforce.com
• Amazon.com
• Google, Inc
• Microsoft Corp
• Akamai Technologies
• Brocade Communications System, Inc
• NetApp
• Oracle Corp.
  

Best Cloud Computing Stocks to invest in 2011

With the economy getting back stable, investors are readily hunting down the best Cloud computing stocks to invest in 2011. This article provides you with some insights about cloud computing stocks that are advisable for investment. What makes the stock from these cloud computing companies is that the cloud technology is being rapidly adapted by both big players as well as small business alike. The exceptional features such as mobility, scalability and pay-as-usage model have introduces unforeseen flexibility in infrastructure deployment. With the official step-in of cloud computing leaders like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Service, Google etc have already established it as a mulit billion dollar industry.Apart, from that job hunters are specializing especially on virtualization and cloud computing foreseeing its demand. With all these happening world-wide its definitely a wise move to sort out the hottest cloud computing stocks and invest in the one with maximum return potential.

BJ

My pick for Q1 2011 is BJ's Wholesale Club. If you have been living under a rock the past quarter and are unaware, BJ's is prime for a takeover/buyout and private equity companies are chomping at the bit waiting for them to make a deal work. The stock has seen an increase from speculation, however I do not think it's seen anywhere near enough of a valuation from the speculation so far. I think there is significant short-term value to gain from the purchase of this security, especially on news yesterday that BJ's was closing 5 stores in the southern US as well as rearranging senior management. The 5 stores they are closing are historic underperformers and as their CEO mentioned they did not believe those stores had the potential to turn around sales. These moves point to one thing for me - they have a buyer ready to execute a deal as long as they can make smart moves to satisfy a potential suitor.

I motion we immediately buy into BJ's and hold it waiting for a buyout bid to be made within the next 60 days. Even BJ's spokespeople have said that they were waiting till after the holidays to annouce any potential deal.

This one seems to be a no-brainer. Even if all deals fall through, we're looking at a profitable company with strong balance sheets and strong management - so if no deal happens, it's a win-win.

1st QTR Stock Picks

Big meeting for TM this quarter - with four figures available for investments and the market on the rise, we have quite an opportunity here. I have two stock choices for this quarter - I know its not standard practice, but I figured with the added money to spend, why not? The two stocks are Entropic Communications (ENTR) and Omnicare (OCR).

Entropic Communicatons makes semiconductor chipsets that operate a home-networking system called MoCa. That's the technology behind the multiroom DVR players (in all the commercials for DirecTV and Verizon FiOS ) that allow you to record a TV show in one room and then watch it in another. DirecTV and FiOS already install MoCa in their new HD set-top boxes, and the three leading cable companies -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications -- have announced plans to add Entropic chipsets to theirs in 2011. If multiroom DVR capability does become standard on new HD set-top boxes (and that's where the experts think the market is headed) the payoff for Entropic would be enormous. It currently controls 85% of the MoCa market. Its currently trading around $12 share.

Omnicare distributes drugs to nursing homes and assistedliving facilities. Basically Walgreens for institutional customers. The P/E ratio is pretty high because Omnicare has had some debt problems and expensive acquisitions. But from what I've read, they seem to have got things back on track and its got a hefty cash and growing customer base. The baby boomers will all be senior citizens soon. The senior population in the US will grow from 39 million in 2009 to 52 million in 2014. That's alot of gray hairs in nursing homes that will need drugs. This would be a long term stock choice.

Ok that's it for now. We can talk more about it this weekend. However, if the balls fall in our favor tonight, TM may have quite a bit more to invest.....

Good Looking Face

Goldman drops a bombski on Facebook and the market is up in 2011!

Our first four-figure spending spree. Picks and pockets due Wednesday?