Tag Archive for bubble

Fraud-Topia 2.0

       My politics are decidedly liberal/libertarian/fiscally conservative/anti big government (Constitutionalist) but one thing I cannot stand about the Clinton and now the Obama administration is the idea that stock prices are efficient and that poor business decisions by management at public companies should be left alone and not dealt with on a regulatory basis. Why should a guy make $20,000,000 for losing someone else’s billions? It simply seems naive to assume that managers and CEO’s of public companies have the best interests of their shareholders at heart.

       In short, we have entered the new dystopia which seems eerily similar to the 1999 dystopia — fraud is cool again on Wall Street, and that sucks. Essentially, managers who bankrupt a public company need to face comepnsation clawbacks. They should lose the same amount on a proportional level as their shareholders. This is the only way that markets can self-regulate and we all know that the current system is not working.

       As for oil prices, the OPEC announcement should make investors wonder if OPEC can actually increase production at all… When a despotic leader is behind the spigot, they will want to pump as much oil as they can before their political influence declines.

10 Best Short Ideas

So the markets are continuing to break down here, with $100 oil not letting up as OPEC decided today not to increase production. Sooner or later, markets will discount the fact that more QE will only HURT the economy due to higher commodity costs. Here are 10 good hedges for a continued crash in markets. Keep in mind markets are short term oversold, but that many stocks appear to be insanely overvalued, here are ten that come to mind:

AMZN

GMCR

OPEN

CRM

BXP

NFLX

IWM

DRN

SPG

ANF

Investment Ideas For This Crazy Trading Environment

So, we have been pretty accurate recently suggesting investors go long Gold and short overvalued stocks. Right now, I feel the long PM’s short stock trade should continue to outperform. CNBC had quite a few silver bears on the air today and the metal even sold off a bit before FED speak came on the air declaring that, as Hedgephone readers already know, America owes a TON of money to seniors via Medicare and Social Security. I view Silver and Gold as your best hedge against this debt dilemma and also against more Quantitative Easing. Commodities have been weak recently other than Gold, but I think Agriculture is likely a good long term buy at these prices. Likewise, Silver is not in backwardization which should put a tailwind behind rising prices for the metal.

On the short side, I would want to be short calls or long calendar put spreads on the IWM or QQQ or select overvalued equities. I would be very aware of the technical levels in the market, including $1300 and $1310 on the S&P 500 as well as $56 and $57 on the QQQ… $2700 is a must hold level for the Nasdaq, as is $80 on the IWM… I am a bit suprised that the markets have been this resilient but I do feel we are overvalued here in general and would not want to recommend buying a long term index fund position as much as finding cheap stocks to own over the long term. KO, MCD, PEP, JNJ, RIMM, GOOG, etc… all look like good values and I will continue to update readers on my favorite longer term large cap ideas, but remember that each investor much make up his or her own mind based on their own due diligence. This site is clearly a research and idea generation hub and not a “tip” generator.

Select “cheap” and undervalued issues also look interesting and to find stocks trading below Net Current assets, investors may want to check our “Values” page as well as Oldschoolvalue.com, Cheapstocks.net, Greenbackd.com, etc… — essentially there are several companies which are now trading at prices far below their Net Current Assets minus total liabilities…

A brief list of them includes, Voxx, HAST, VII, GBR, HWG, TBAC, and several others… For disclosure, at Hedgephone we put our money where our mouth is and will be long most of the names we talk about here, including these “cigar butt” stocks…

In essence, the short side is looking decent but we would prefer selling naked At the money or above the money call options on overvalued issues such as LNKD, NFLX, YOKU, etc… etc… while investing our cash in names that trade significantly below liquidation values here… Also, stocks trading at 5X earnings are always interesting to look at and often make good longer term investments… So, keep an eye on stocks that are unreasonably cheap as valuations are incredibly bifurcated here, with leading stocks such as AMZN, OPEN, LULU, CRM, etc… trading for bubble-like multiples while several quality businesses can be purchased for 5-8X earnings and even lower multiples on free cash flows.

All the best Hedgephones and remember to do your own Due Diligence!

Dow Lower, Bubble Stocks Higher

NFLX popping for no reason, LNKD is up but the DOW is down…

Spanish for “we are going to pump this ponzi scam as hard as we can”

when the dow is lower and the nas is slightly higher there is usually a buy program in the mix…

Watch $57.25 or so …. Me thinks they want to play the ponzi special because all of the leading nosebleeders are tryong to pop higher… I’m not taking the bait but don’t want to short with the “the wind in my face” ala Jesse Livermore… all in all a good day to hold cash

Market Update: Stocks Lower

Pomo is the tail wagging the dog these days so remember that next Monday is “just” a 1.5 Billion Dollar day and that usually these smaller POMO days end with losses or flat markets. It’s very hard to make a valuation argument for many of the more speculative issues trading today that most everyone loves, and while cloud computing is huge, it is likely not enough to create another leg up in the current tech bubble in my opinion. Additionally, several more famous market timing models have turned negative so now may be a good time to either get short 1/1 against your longs or at least to play defense versus playing offense.

Real Estate: I do think that Real Estate could eventually catch a meaningfull bid and also that Gold and Silver are decent investments for the longer term right now as well as agricultural land…

All in all, a mixed bag with equities being priced for high inflation (ie as an inflation hedge) and commodities under fire from a margin hike and regulatory/political perspective.

Consider investing in Blue Chip companies before small cap value stocks: Here are 10 of the best Blue Chippers to own:

KO

PEP

MCD

BRK-B

RIMM

PM

XOM

COP

ACE

UNP