Your Health & Iran

What a beautiful weekend I had.
The weather was perfect in the last few days. I went up the mountain again yesterday. We (group of about 12 people) left at 7am, reached the foot of the mountain (no idea what the name of this particular mountain is) at 8am. It takes about 2-2.5 hours to climb up, have lunch at the top (apples, bananas and other goodies) then we hike down (another 2 hours). The amount of excercise you get is unbelievable. Why hike the mountain? I will tell you.

Did you know that between 8am - 10am all tress and various vegetations release oxygen into the mountain air? Breathing this clean air is obviously good for you. Most of us do not get this kind of air to breath all life. There are basically two ways for your body to clean itself.
1. Urination - Drink a lot (8 cups minimum) of fresh water (I prefer filtered water to bottle water). Make sure you have a water filter system in your home (Culligan offers great value-call them and get one today-I already did most of the homework for you). Your kidney will appreciate this and you will feel significantly better. Please do not try to save about $200 by not getting this - especially if you have a child. Just do it.
2. Breathing - Inhale fresh oxygen & exhale all chemicals and bad gases out of your system. The problem for most people (in New York City and elsewhere) is that you do not have a chance to breath in clean, fresh, oxygenated air. Your body is consist of many (let's just say a lot) cells. These cells carry various toxins and gases which it picked up during the circulation of your body. It has to get rid of this through the filter system in us (kidney, liver and lungs). If you are fortunate enough to live near mountains or seashores, try to visit it often. All the money and fortune we try hard to get everyday means nothing if your body fails to work properly.
Trust me, health comes way (long way) before money and your job. Remember this.

Business: Look at the big picture. Step back and look at the forest not the trees. What do I see? We are in a major bull market. Like any other bull markets, we will have our share of occasional dips. These dips last a few weeks to a few months. I fully expect this to be the case in coming months. But until then, we are in a bull market. As long as this is the case, it is more risky not to be in the market than participating in it. When the time comes, we will play more defensively. For now though, we will be offensive. Full attack mode.

Iran is playing with the U.N. & the U.S.
If this continues, we all have to pay for it. Oil is still going up. Iran wants nuclear weapon. This is why I said we all have to have an insurance by having oil related investments in our portfolios. Regardless of Iran situation, oil related business is booming. In our porfolio, we now have two oil plays; OIH and MVK. Let's see how this plays out. Good luck next week!

Ebay & Maverick

Today was a great shopping day.
The whole market panicked and tanked in the morning (most of you did not even know this) but as soon as Mr. Bernanke (our new Fed. Chairman) spoke in front of the congress, the market rallied and moved up fast. Basically, Mr. Bernanke hinted that he will not raise interest rate this time. Everyone loved hearing that. So what does this mean?

The bull market just got a new fuel to run some more.
Market will be very positive near term. (Hint: Buy! buy!)

Now, do you think I went shopping this afternoon? Indeed, I did.
Here's what I bought:

MVK: Maverick Tube Corporation engages in the production and sale of welded tubular steel products, which are primarily used in the oil and natural gas industry, as well as in other electrical applications. This company is wildly profitable and it will stay this way for a while. I bought half a unit at $54 and I have order to buy half unit more at $52.

EBAY: I don't have to explain what they do. Just know that ebay is on sale right now. In January it was selling for $48, now it is on sale at $34. I just bought it this afternoon at $34.49/sh. For me, this one is a short term trading vehicle. I think this will go up a few points in the next few trading days. Just watch me.

Did you read the "Idea #2" on my note dated 4/21? Go back and catch it if you have not. In it I said to short TZOO (then at $44) and my target was $36. Well, I shorted it the next day at $46.25 took my first profit at $41 then today I took the rest of my profit at $39. The stock actually went as low as $38 today. I am now out. What a beautiful move! Can you even appreciate this kind of beauty? I hope so. TZOO might fall further but I am not greedy.

Please do not send e-mail to me directly. Leave a note in my comment section below. I will answer all questions and comments. Happy shopping next few days. I love sale!

Updates on our holdings

I don't know about you but it was a busy day for me. My chemo injection ended today (every two weeks I receive chemo therapy from Monday - Wednesday). You have no idea how good it feels to be off the chemo injection after three days of continuous therapy - yeh!

I have so much to report to you guys so here it goes:

UTK: We bought this last Friday at $14.35 (read 4/21 note) it is now at $15.90 = +11% so far. This is a long term play. If you did not read Friday's note, it is your fault. It just hit a new high!

RICK: What can I say, this stock became the largest holding I have currently. It also just hit a new high at $6.75 today. Our avarage cost was $4.80 - we bought one more extra unit when rumors of mafia involvement in RICK knocked the price down to $5.25 from $6.25 a few weeks ago. This may be able to give us 100%+ gain this year (read 4/17 note).

MATK: I like to believe that my assumption in this company proves right. This will become a much bigger company in the next few years (refer to 4/11). Our cost was $28 and it has been slow moving stock. My advise is to hold on. This is a long term play but I still expect to see over $40 this year and 2007 will be the the year for MATK.

OIH: Refer to 3/31 note. You simply need an oil related stock in your portfolio and OIH is the best. Our cost was $142 and it is now at $158. This will move higher in coming months. FYI, you can not buy under 100 shares of OIH so if your unit is smaller simply buy BJS instead.

IDWD: May 15th is the date we will receive our special dividend. This is a wild stock. Our cost was $0.70 and it is now at $1.07 ( it was as high as $1.80 on 4/13th). If you have a good stomach, you may want to get this sooner rather than later. Always place a stop loss order (10 to 20% below your cost) when you are dealing with small companies. Read 4/17 note for more info. This stock is my wild cat - it may give us over 100% gain in a few months. Let's see.

BTYH: Yesterday I told you to consider Bad Toys since its earnings will be released in 2 weeks. And the earning will be excellent. I expect the company to have record revenue and profits. Our cost was $1.49 and it closed today at $1.45 (this is a great price I think). What do I expect on this one? At least $2.75/sh this year (that's 90% gain this year). I briefly mentioned this one in 4/6 note but I will write a new piece soon. Buy.

IGLD: Although I like the company (the main internet portal in Israel) it is a real slow mover so far. I will be selling this one soon to free up capital to buy a faster mover. So don't bother. Our cost was $6.5 and we will try to exit at $6.5 as well. This will probably hit $8 this year but I am losing interst fast. I will keep you posted.

SYMC: Sold it for a small loss today. Our cost was $16.7 and sold it for $15.9 ( I just came to learn that SYMC owes IRS over $1 billion dollars). However, I want you to know that I did not sell this because I think this will go down. In fact, I think this will go up in coming months. This is a great price for this stock. If you are holding this and have over a year time frame, then keep your stock. SYMC will go up. I simply needed the fund to be freed up. You can call this portfolio readjustment.

My recent shorts such as TZOO, RMBS, KRY and HYTM were wildly profitable but this is for day-trading account only. Most of you are not a day trader so I do not mention trading stocks in detail. But as you can see from my past notes, I will mention what I do time to time. If you have any questions please use the comment section below each blogs.

How was that for an update? Does this help? Comments please...

P.S: I tried a fancy move today by buying FORD (Forward Industry) before the earnings release at 3:50pm paying $10.23/sh. Guess what, the earnings were terrible at 6:35pm. In the after market sessions the stock was trading at $6/share! (down 40% in 2 hours). I have no idea what it will open at tomorrow morning. I need a serious damage control here. This goes to show you that you need to stick to the companies you follow. I did not follow FORD, I simply wanted to play the earnings game. I lost on this one. Yet another lesson learned ...

Portfolio: For 21st Century

The stock market performance during the last few days were quite confusing. However, make no mistake about it; we are currently in a bull market. Just like four seasons, this bull will fade away too. Preparing for the next new bull market to come alive.

There is this one question I get all the time: "Isn't putting money in the stock market like gambling in casino?" My answer: "The difference between casino and the market is simple. The longer you stay in the casino, your chance of making a profit falls dramatically. Stock market however, the longer you stay with the market, your chance of making a profit dramatically increases."

Look back to the history, through all the economic recessions, wars, terrorists, diseases, natural disasters and god knows whatelse; has the market gone down or up? Statistically speaking, if you leave money in the market for 10 years, it is almost impossible not to make a profit. Lately everyone is hot on real estate investments. Of course it is important that you buy a home to live in but as an investment over the long term, stocks returned higher rate of return than real estate. Most people forgot this important fact. Real estate will cool down in coming years.

An academic answer to casino vs. stocks is this: "Casino is a zero-sum game, stock market is not." Zero-sum game means that the total amount of money (aka the pot) does not increase, you are mearly moving money from person #1 to person #2 and so on. Thus, if John made $100 then Mike just lost the same $100. As a group, they are no better off than before.

In the stock market, everyone can be a winner. When stock price increases, everyone benefits. Anotherwords, as a group we are all better off. The total amount of money (the pot) actually increases for all the players. Thus, as a whole we are better off than before.

Refer to my note dated 4/19 (what's your position) where I gave you a worry free, high performing, low risk, hands free, cheap portfolio for the next 30 years. Let me give it to you one more time: [ TMW 50%, EEM 20%, AGG 30% ] This is a truly a genius portfolio for non-active investors. I highly recommmend this model.

Refer again to my note dated 3/31 (End of 1st quarter) where I gave you a glimpse of what I think of the investments in the 21st century. Let me now give you a porfolio that carries more risk than the above but I feel will perform much better than hands free portfolio.
For the next 30 years these are the areas where serious money will be made: Asia / Biotech / Oil & Gold / Global high tech. Make sense?
Now let me give you the best investment for each.

Portfolio for the 21st Century:

10% FXI (Top 25 chinese public companies in one basket)
10% EEM (Emerging countries such as Korea, Brazil, India, Russia and more)
10% IXN (Top global technology companies)
10% PBE (Power shares Biotech & Genome related companies)
10% OIH (Oil services companies-better than oil companies)
10% ASA (Gold and Silver mining companies)
10% AGG (Lehman Brothers Bond Index-some bond is good)
10% PWC (This will outrun the SP500 index)
10% PWO (This will outrun the Nasdaq index)
10% PIV (Power shares Value Line - top U.S. companies)

So, there it is: this will total 100% and you are set.
Believe me, I have spent more hours than you can imagine going through all available investments to come up with the best, cheapest, safe and intelligent choices. Try your best to slowly add each of the above ETFs (exchange traded funds) into your 21st century portfoilio.

P.S: As you know, Bad Toys Inc. (BTYH) is one of our holdings. It will come out with 1st quarter earnings report in 2 weeks. I am expecting a blow out numbers. The stock will move up significantly I imagine. Get in if you haven't yet. The stock will not be where it is next month.

Top of 3rd inning...

I just came back from my 10th Chemo therapy today from the Memeorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. (Colon cancer: stage 4 - for those who don't know). This experience really makes me humble. Statistically, close to 90% do not make it for five (5) years from the initial diagnosis ( I was diagnosed in October 2005 - you keep the count). 10% live beyond 5 years (in cancer terms, if you live over 5 years then you are considered a survivor and indeed some live a full life as well). Every two weeks, like a clock work, I go and receive chemo injection on Monday. Then they send me home with the injection still attached - I am on this injection until Wednesday afternoon. This certainly does not sound fun but at least it gives me time to think and work if I feel OK.

Now, this is the amazing thing. I feel quite OK.
When I see other patients at the hospital, most don't look too fresh - if you know what I mean. When I look in the mirrior, I l-o-o-k freshhhh! When I get a chance, I will post my current picture in this blog. Thank you for those who prayed for me and for my family. I will beat this game as well - you watch. I was always in the top 10% of whatever I did. In schools, in clubs and associations, and at work. Why stop now? This is simply a new chellenge (too bad my life is on the line but that also makes it interesting) and I have to win it because of my son - Ace. Those of you who do not have kids - think again. There is no greater joy than having your own copy walking around. Ace is now a reason for me living.
In a way, I gave myself a present (Ace) - who knew.

At almost 40 years of age, I now realize how much my parents love me. I probably knew this before but not in this way. I have always been a confident man but now I am more confident than ever. I can do whatever I want and know that my parents will love me anyway. Oh, what a feeling - do you have this experience too? It's like understanding the Da Vinci Code. My point is this - the most important thing in your life is (other than your health) your family and friends. Be healthy (eat only the best) excercise (I get an "F" on this one) and spend as much time with families and friends (I get an "A" on this). Of course the smart way to do this is to eat & excercise with your friends and families - Got that?

Back to business: Let me explain the title of this page.
1. Baseball has nine (9) innings
2. In this game (trading) 1 and 1/2 month = 1 inning.
3. One quarter (eg: Jan - Mar 2006) = 2 innings.
4. The last quarter (Oct - Dec ) = each month is 1 innings.
5. Thus the full year is consist of 9 innings = Yeh...
I know this may sound silly to some of you but the purpose of this is to make it fun and to have you keep good records. Most investors do not keep detail records (score). Can you imagine a baseball player who do not know and keep good records of his performance? You must have a neat score sheet and know the numbers by heart. I see too many smart guys who know the exact batting average of a baseball player (millionare stranger) but have no idea what percentage gain or loss in his various investments (IRA, 401K, mutual funds, stocks etc.). Does this make any sense? or is it me?

Many people respond this way: Oh, that's not my major / that's not where my interest is / I am not in the investment field / I don't care / blah- blah- blah. What man in this country, in this 21st century do not have interest in the money? Isn't that why you work in the first place? Did you know that all millionares made their money from investing? not from payroll (salary & bonus)? Some of you have to wake up. And this is my gift to you all. Take it.

According to the rule above, we are now in the bottom of 3rd inning. The 3rd inning ends May 15th. The score so far is 2:0 (AceTrader 2 : Nasdaq 0 ). For me, I do not use the Dow30 or SP500 as my bench mark (my opponent). Instead, I use the Nasdaq composit as my bench mark. Why? Look at what we have. We do not own any stocks from the DOW or SP500. Why compare apples to oranges? By the way, Nasdaq performed the best so far in 2006. In each inning if my portfolio beat the Nasdaq index I score 1 point and vice versa. When one stock does extremely well its a home run (I think we will have a home run in the 3rd inning IDWD - wait until 5/15), if many stocks go up in small moves then we have many first base hits. In any case, if we beat the Nasdaq index we score one. Let's keep it simple. By the end of the 3rd inning (May 15th) I think we will have a score that look like this:
AceTrader 3: Nasdaq 0
Isn't this fun? I hope this is not too confusing.

OIL: Probably has to take a small rest but will head toward $90/barrel (now $73)
GOLD: Too much too soon. Has to take a rest. Long term = Bullish.
Stocks: In the start of mini bull before heading lower in the summer, I think.

As you know (see my past notes), I had 2 units in Oil related holdings (OIH, BJS). Last Friday I took profit in the BJS (sold at $39.40 - bought at $35). Now this does not mean that I think BJS will go down. I still like BJS, however, it was simply a portfolio management. I want 1 unit in OIL stocks in the long run. I am still keeping my OIH (this is for long term).
I shorted TZOO on Monday (at $46.75) as I have told you on Friday. This may go up further. I still think this will fall. If TZOO reaches $53.25 then I will short again (making my cost $50/sh). This is a dangerous move so don't try this unless you are ready for it. Obviously this is my quick trade move. Not a long term investment.
I am still short KRY (went down 2.5% today).
I am out of RMBS short as of Friday. (shorted at $45 - covered at $35 in one day, read Hole i one). On monday it shot up +13% because it won a legal patent case again st Hynix (Korean chip maker - 2nd largest in the world, the largest chip maker in the world is, you guessed it - Samsung, also Korean). Even with this news, this is way over priced. I will short this again. There are just too many expensive stocks now. This summer does not look good.

My team will play defensive during 4,5,6th innings. Lock in the winning score I say.
What is considered defensive? OIL/GOLD/BIG DRUG companies/Special situations (stocks that do not follow market moves). Look in here for up coming news.

P.S: If you have questions, put them in the comment section at the bottom of this page. Don't e-mail me directly. I get too many e-mails. I am a sick man for gods sake :-)

UTEK Corporation.

As I told you yesterday, I attended a seminar which presented numerous emerging public companies this morning at the Yale Club in Manhattan. I also asked you to pray that I come back with juicy new ideas for all of us to profit from. Guees what - Someone indeed prayed.
I was able to pick one company that I think can make us some money! This is really an interesting company. Are you familier with the term "B2B" or "B2C" ? These were very popular terms used during the dot com bubble days (year 2000). "B2B" which means business-to-business, is a widely used acronym these days but do you know what "U2B" means? Answer: Univeristy-to-business. Please allow me to introduce the company I am talking about.

UTEK Corporation (UTK), a technology transfer company, enables companies to acquire and commercialize technologies primarily developed by universities, medical centers, and federal research laboratories worldwide. UTK pays money to universities with valuable research and buys the technology, then it delivers those tech to public companies who need them, UTK receives in return stocks from those companies. UTK can sell the stocks at later time to convert it to cash to fund further research purchase.

Currently UTK holds stocks from over 50 different public companies and it also has about $15 million in the bank. At todays price of $14.15 we are paying about 2 times book value (not the cheapest but reasonable). This is for an investment account (1 year+ holding period) not a trading account. I believe that this company has a lot of room to grow (expect 50%+ gain). Just so you know, I purchased UTK today at $14.35/share. I think you can get better price during the next few days. With an investment like this, I do not try to get the cheapest price (unlike my day trading account) . I want in. I suggest you look into this and get some too.

Idea number 2:
Next Monday do not look good. Chances are the market will be weak. I will be shorting Travelzoo (TZOO) in the morning. Don't ask me why but regular readers know that I am quite good at locating a potential disasters. TZOO will be a problem stock. We will profit from this situation (hopefully). This is for a quick trade only. If you are not a day-trader, don't bother. Simply watch and enjoy. TZOO closed at $44.35/sh. I expect it to fall to $36/sh. (That's a potential $8 gain per share!). You know I can't wait until next Monday. I am too excited.
Isn't life wonderful?
As most of you know, I thank god everyday. Trust me -You should too.
Have a beautiful weekend.

Hole in One ...

I need to get up early tomorrow because I have an investment seminar to attend in Manhattan at 7:30 am. This seminar is sponsored by Equities Magazine (I am a subscriber for the last 10+ years). There will be over 20 different emerging companies who want exposure of their story. By the way, I got to know RICK through this gathering. My friend Greg was with me the last time. This time John will join me. Of course, picking the real success story is skill in itself. Every company says they are going to be the next billion dollar company. Come on, you don't bullshit a bullshiter ...

Back to my title: Hole in One ( I am refering to golf not sex you pervert ).
Two days ago, I gave readers homework at the end of my blog, examine RMBS and tell me what you think. Because I had this gut feeling that it will tip over ( fall in price). Then yesterday I told you that I will short RMBS this morning. It closed yesterday at $46.60 (all time high). I shorted this morning at $45/sh. Then it crashed down to $29.52 (wow!). I covered at $35/sh. ( that's $10/sh gain in one afternoon!). If this is not a hole in one I don't know what is. As a trader, today was my personal best. This was too sweet. Oh, RMBS then came back to close at $38.50/sh. I shorted again.
Let's see what happens tomorrow (it will go up then crash again? I hope).

MATK is moving up slowly. When everything fell today, MATK and RICK was up today. Remember, MATK will move up and down until news (new customer who will put DHA into their food prduct) comes out. It can be anyday. I think a cereal company (Kellogg maybe?) is looking into it. The last new product was a soy milk company called Odawalla (I only drink soy milk, regular milk gives me a diarea). Just hold on guys.

KRY (gold) also tipped over today. Gold fell $28 to $609/oz from almost $640/oz. It may rebounce a little but it will be $5xx before moving up again. Was I right on this? Read my past notes and you decide.

Buy Allergan (AGN) if it goes above $103 per share. Target $113 StopLoss $99.98

I will be away from my beautiful computer for all morning tomorrow.
Pray that I come back with juicy new ideas for all of you. I had a great day ...

Wht's your position?

As I have noted previously, we are now in a mini bull market which may turn out to be our last run before turning south. However, many investors are nervous still. I am sure you are too (assuming you are in the market). By the way, one can not learn about the market with pen and paper. You must participate with your hard earned U.S. dollars. This is the only way to learn. And unfortunately, we must pay a tuition (in the form of losses) time to time. I am always eagar to pay them; this is the only way to learn. Just know that I am with you.

In order to be a serious investor, one must take a position. No, you don't want to be stubborn and keep losing but you need to know why you placed a bet in the first place. Most people do not have a position. They simply listen to other people without thinking. This is why most people are not good investors. Even on this blog (only friends and families are watching plus occational visitors) I do not recommend you to simply listen; think for yourself whether it makes sense. If all this sounds boring but you still want to make $ in the market put 50% in the Wilshire 5000 Index (TMW), 20% in the Emerging Market Index (EEM) and 30% Lehman AggBond Index (AGG). This portfolio will probably beat 75%-80% of all investments in your life time. No thinking, no sweat, no checking everyday with good performance and most importantly the safe way to beat inflation. This idea alone is worth many thousands of dollars - trust me on this. ( I used to charge people for what basically comes down to above idea and the people not only paid me but thanked me). Now let me ask you - did you know that above portfolio beats almost 80% of all investments with better safety? Did you even know and follow TMW /EEM/AGG ? This is why I get paid.

So, what is your position?
Do you want to know mine? (if you've been reading past notes you'll get the idea).
Once and for all, here's my "Position for 2006" ( now this definately is worth money :-))

STOCKS: I expect under 10% return this year (SP500), since the market already gave us almost 4% in the 1st quarter and I expect 4th quarter to be decent, this does not leave much gains in the 2nd & 3rd quarter. This is why I keep saying that what we have now is probably the last mini bull run this year until the 4th quarter.
OIL: Who knows what will happen & when. But this is the very reason you need at least one unit of Oil related holdings. To me, it does not matter what the price of oil is; I will hold my oil stocks for a long term until there is peace in the middle east. (Oil will probably trade between $55 - $75 during 2006 with occational spikes - this is good for us).
GOLD: Long term - I am bullish. Short term - I think this has to take a rest (it is at $637/oz). I still say that it will go back to $5xx/oz before resume its uptrend. I am short gold now - will be long later.

The above, pretty much explains my own position in the market. Can it change? Maybe, but not likely. Someone was concerned about my short position in KRY (gold) now that gold is at $637. First of all, I am up on KRY as of today. First shorted at $6.15 (Apr.10th) then covered at $5.25 (Apr.11th) for a gain of +15% in 2 days. Then I shorted again at $5.3 - still holding. If it gets to $6.15 again (as of 7:58pm it is at $5.97) I will double down. That's my position.

I have covered most (90%) of my short position in HYTM. They may get additional funding and this excited some buyers. I don't need the headach. I am out for now. My position on this one? HYTM will go down, thus, I will re-visit later to short again when it goes below $7.5/sh.

Tomorrow, I will short Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Rambus (RMBS) and long (this means buy) Pioneer Drilling (PDC) and Allergen (AGN).
Pioneer because they provide drilling services to oil& gas companies (do you think oil companies want to drill more or less now that oil price is hitting all time high? what do you think?)
Allergen because it got knocked down too heavily due to contact lens scare (trust me people will still buy and wear lenses - they have no choice unless they get a LASIK surgery).

Tomorrow will be a busy day as you can see. Happy trading guys and gals.

Tide has turned

Regular readers of this blog know that I went up to the Bear mountain today. It took me more than 2 hours to get to the top (approximately 11,000 steps were needed) had an apple and a banana and came down (another 11,000 steps were used). Those of you who know me closely, know how much I used to excercise (basically none), now that I am fighting my cancer, certain things had to change (the last time I took 22,000 steps in 4 hour period - don't remember). Let's just say I am very proud of myself. It felt great.
I am going again this Saturday (market closed) at 6:30 am. What a life I have!

As the title indicates, tide has definately turned for the better. We will have our last (this is my opinion only) bull run before turning south again this summer. So, we need to squeez the last drop of gains before packing. Oil related stocks ( I have said many times you need some ) performed beautifully today. OIH (up 1.83%) and BJS (up 3.89%). By the way, Oil just hit a new high above $71/barrel. Q: Do you know how much oil was in 1998? Answer: $10/barrel. Basically Oil group will run higher until we get peace in the middle east (don't hold your breath).

Technology stocks will do very well in coming days. AAPL/SNDK/TRID/ISRG all want to go higher. When market goes up like today, any tech will do.

Many people are predicting $1,000 - $2,000 for gold. In the long run I agree. However, I believe gold has to take a rest before moving up. That's why I am short KRY. Eventhough gold hit a new 25 year today at $618/oz, KRY dropped 1% (good for me). Gold better turn back to $550 area (my expectation). You know where my $ is.

RICK: flirting with $6 everyday now - a good sign (read my previous RICK analysis)
BTYH: Yawn - no action yet (this one will surprise us one of these days)
MATK: moved up a few points the last 3 trading days - will move up in coming days
IDWD: this stock is not for the weak heart - $1.53 H / $0.91 L / $1.16 Close today ( that's over 50% move in one day - I am still holding - sold a little at $1.76 last week)

If anyone wants to know what I will be trading tomorrow (in & out same day) here's what:
International Game Tech (IGT): Short
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE): Short then Long
Apple (AAPL): Long
Avanex (AVNX):Long

I will let you know what happened.
P.S: You want an interesting stock to study? Look at Rambus (RMBS). Tell me what you think. I think this will tip down soon (PE ratio is 146).

RICK and IDWD...

The market did not perform as I had thought (it usually does). There was many surprise moves in the various sectors in the market. But then again today is Monday. Do you know what Monday means? Especially if we had a long weekend due to holidays? Let me introduce a book (you can get this on Amazon.com) called "Don't buy stocks on Monday". Why not you ask? Because statistically speaking, Monday is the worst day of the week in terms of stock prices. So if you want to sell a stock, try Tuesday or any other day.

During this damaging day (over 190 new 52week lows in NYSE), our darling RICK went up almost 3% to close at $5.95 (it was as high as $6.33 today). If you read yesterday's notes, you will slowly understand why I have a double unit size in this RICK (Rick's Cabaret & Steakhouse). If you have not visited this fine establishment, I suggest you pay a visit very soon ( 50 west 33rd street - 212-372-0850). The lunch special is a bargain. The women are drop dead gorgeous - please don't take my word for it. RICK is basically printing money. These girls (they do look like supermodels) actually pay RICK for the right to be there and do business - daily! Oh, come on, why didn't I think of that? Do you kow Anna Nichole Smith? She was one of RICK girls in Texas and met the millionare while working. The bottom line, get some RICK before the earnings report. There is better than 50/50 chance that we will see double digit price on this baby. And I mean it babe.

One other darling in our portfolio - IDWD. Basically, this company will be separated into three (3) different companies. IDS Worldwide/ 995ad.com/ Homeland Security Division. Supposely holders of IDWD will receive new shares of the separated companies (this will happen in weeks not months). Although many of us already have over 100% gain on this one (my gain is 122% so far) the price is still a steal if all goes as planned. If you are new to this, buy it and place stop loss order at $1.10/share. Your target goal is about $2.75 per share. Let me warn you, this is a new & small company (although 2006 revenue will be over 100 million) so it will be very volatile. Hopefully volatile on the upside :-)

I will be climbing Bear Mountain at 6:30am tomorrow. People say this will help me fight my cancer (fresh oxyginated mountain air + the excercise of walking + sweating). This means that I will be away from the computer during the very important market hours. Oh, well - nothing is free in this world. Everything you do has a price. Believe me, this Bear mountain thing is very expensive...

Lastly, our short HYTM is begining to work. It fell 5.55% today. It will try to gain it back tomorrow but eventually this will die. My short position will be profitable. Just watch. Our other short KRY depends on gold price (gold hit a new 25 year high today at $610/oz) - yawn - yawn. Gold will come down soon (maybe tomorrow). If not, I have a losing position. Just watch again.
OK, I am officially tired - good night. Happy trading...

How to get Started ...

You probably noticed that I took a few days off in this blog. Generally I post every evening during the week when the market is open. But even I need some time off. Actually, I felt quite weak the last few days (chemo tends to do that people say). Important thing is that we are back, ready for an exciting week, next week. First, you remember that I said April 13th will be positive but low volume day. Guess what, it was low volume positive market day. Why is this important? Because our picks ICE, ISE, OXPS went up 2-2-1% for the day. As a trader, did you know that if you can average 1% return per day = about 250% return per year? This is the holy grail in this business. Sometimes it is so hard to get my 1% a day : -)

Why did I say next week will be exciting? Because I expect the market to be quite positive in coming weeks. As I have said in my previous blogs, this will probably be the last leg up before turning south this year. Tomorrow begins the earnings week (1st Q. of 2006). I think U.S. companies did well in the first quarter. Market will like the reports and move up. I also expect Gold and Oils to cool a bit in coming weeks (does not mean tomorrow). If not, we have a new trend and will follow the new lead. I am not stubborn, I simply follow the trend. That's how you need to approach the market.

The reason for my title is that a few people had asked me if they should buy this or that. Let me explain my thoughts regarding how to start investing in the market:
1. You need to know & determine your unit size (one unit is how much you put into one idea)
2. Personally, I think one (1) unit should be at least $2,000-$2,500 (due to trading cost; most of you can buy or sell stocks for under $10 per trade. If your trading cost is more than 1% in & out, your returns will suffer)
3. Your goal is to have a minimum of at least ten (10) units of investments in different industry (being in 10 different stocks in different industry eliminates about 90% of unsystematic risk; having 20 or more stocks will only improve this number by a few percentage points; I currently have ten but hope to add a few more)
4. Of course if you do not have enough capital to hold10 units, you simply start with one
5. Which broker? Does not matter as long as they charge under $10 per trade online (there are so many choices out there but try to stick with the big ones; less headachs later)
6. I absolutely believe in diversification but hates over-diversifying your portfolios (say if you have $100K to invest, your one unit should be somewhere between $5k-$10K resulting in 10-20 stocks; Not 50 stocks at $2,000 each!)
7. There's no way you can effectively follow fifty (50) stocks (if you disagree with me and believe in 50-100+ stock portfolios then simply buy index funds; chances are it will outperform your 50+ portfolios)
8. If you have 3 stocks and 2 go down, that's normal. If you own 10 stocks and 9 go down, we have a problem (currently among my 10 stocks: 9 up and 1 down)
9. If you have a problem and need my opinion, just ask.
10. This blog was created to help my friends and families in addition to keep my own records
11. Lastly and most importantly, have fun (paper loss is not a loss yet :-< )

BTW, sometimes if you really like an idea, you put more than your usual one unit. Currently I have two stocks with two unit investments; MATK and RICK. IDWD became the size of two units (more than doubled in March) but I invested only one originally. Trying to decide whether to sell half of my gains or let it ride - I will follow closely and tell you what I do.

P.S: I think I have created a stir in the HYTM message board. Many people are cursing me out! If I am wrong about this short position, I will let you know when I get out. For now, I do not believe in their treatment; the company will loose a lot of money. Of course this does not mean the stock will go down in the short run (too many dumb people put $ without knowing what they are buying). Let's see how this one unfolds...

The day before Good Friday

Tomorrow, market seems to be positive albit low volume due to holiday weekend. Being a professional trader, I have lost a sense of holidays. Believe it or not, this will give me a chance to rest too. If anyone thinks trading is an easy task, well - I dare you to try. The stocks I day-trade (buy and sell on the same day) do not get mentioned often here because by the time you read it I am out of it. So what's the use for you? Let me just give you a taste:

I had two (2) day trades today - I was in and out of ICE (Long) for a quick 1% gain as well as 2% gain on OXPS (Long). For me, ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) and ISE (International Securities Exchange) have been a major contributor to my trades. In fact, I will be buying (Long) both ICE and ISE tomorrow as well. For those of you who can pull up a stock chart, try to take a look. You can probably see why I am constantly in those two named above. What tickles my fancy is - volatility. Up and down is what I crave for. This is probably not for you though.

For my investment account, the superstar this week is IDWD (up +68% in 3 days). If you want to join in, I would wait for a small discount before plunging in. You know that my cost on this was $0.7 per share (see note dated 3/30) I now have a gain of +120% (bought it in March). Obviously this is not the norm. We simply hit a home run. This story will get better and I will tell you as it unfolds.

Tomorrow, our Fiber Optics group will probably do well. TXCC (Transwitch) will continue the trend it set today (up +9.5% today). I told you I will be buying ISE. The larger picture is this:

Gold/Silver and Oil needs to take a rest; before moving up again.
This will be positive for stocks temporarily; before moving down.

That's why we are currently short KRY (Gold mining stock). Befor long, if and when, gold comes down to $550 area (currently $600) we will be buying gold related stocks for keeps. I am currently shopping for the best gold stock for us. I have three to choose from. I will tell you which one becomes our Idol soon.

On a personal note: My dad survived a triple by-pass surgery this morning. Doctors said that it went smoooth. I will take his word for it. My hope is that with three new arteries that feed my dad's heart, he will live many more years until we grow old. Those of you who prayed for our family, thank you. I will try to pay you back in this pages.
I love you dad.

Tough but very profitable day!

As per my blog last weekend, I said this week will be a tough one. And boy did it turn out exactly that. Basically everything went down. Very few escaped the damages of last two days. Except of course yours truly and some of us. Here's what happened:

1. One of our holding IDWD went from $0.92 - $1.30 in two days for a gain of 41.3% ! (IDWD will be selling part of its business via IPO soon. A group of investors wished to buy a minority stake in this venture but the company rejected the offer for being too low an offer. The investors then raised their offer three (3) more times as of today. Believe me they really want a piece of this business. If you are interested please check it out yourselves at www.995ad.com IDWD shareholders will receive shares in this new company. Alright!)
2. You also know I shorted KRY at $6.15 on Monday as per my weekend notes. I have covered today at $5.25 for a two day gain of 14.6% ! (Although I think it will go lower, I could not resist taking 14.6% in two days. And this afternoon, I have re-shorted KRY at $5.30; Gold will head lower before heading higher. KRY will be lower still. Don't you smell the $?)
3. I did not have the chance to short HYTM yesterday as per my last note. I was in the hospital remember? But I finally shorted it today at $7.6; Yes, I know I could have done this yesterday at $8.5 making a quick 10% in one day but I believe it won't matter much down the road.

On a personal note, my dad went into the triple by-pass heart surgery about 3 hours ago in Korea. My dad is a dedicated physician who I have infinite respect for. Who I am today is very much shaped by him. If you like me, you will like my dad more. I know that this types of operation takes about 6-7 hours to complete. By tomorrow morning I will hear the results from Korea. Please pray for us and wish our family luck.

Back to the business: The gold is trading now at almost $600/oz (25 year high) but did you know that it was selling for $850/oz back in the early 80's? By the way, adjusted for inflation that comes out to more than $2,500 in today's money. So what does this tell you? Even though gold just hit a 25 year high, it has much more room to go up. I am sure you all know that the Chinese, Indians, Koreans, Brazilians even Russiana are all prospering very nicely all over the globe. Guess what these people like to buy when they have money? GOLD. We will be adding a gold stock in our portfolio soon. I am just waiting for it to come down a little to maybe $540/oz before heading up again. By then I would have done my homework and will offer you a beautiful yellow gold stock. Please wait patiently.

Lastly I would like to mention Martek (MATK) before closing. I fully realize that many of you have this in your protfolios (it is my second largest holding still). During the last month or so MATK has been slowly coming down. Some of you are getting a little nervous ($34 to $30 that's about 13% paper loss in a month - it won't kill you). Mark my words, one of these days you will make this up in a day or two. Because the general market is weak and the company does not have any fresh news to offer, this may fall another 10% or so. If that happens and you have some cash, buy more. I will tell you when I buy more too. From the beginning, I have told you that this is a long term holding (1-2 years). When I loose the confidence in this company I will tell you. But until then hold on tight. I have done my homework on this one. Few years from now, infants to senior citizens will all be taking DHA & ARA on a daily basis. MATK has almost a monopoly in this market (70%). Do you feel better now? Just thank god I have told you about this one. Can't wait till tomorrow until the market opens. I love my job!

Trading 101

The market was terrible today. But we did very very well today!
Anyone who read my blog yesterday and act on them made serious $ today. Those of you who are not in the market do not understand the feeling of being up when the market is down. Let's just say it feels fantastic! I had placed my orders (with stop orders of course) in the morning and I left to receive my ninth (9) chemo therapy at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (by far the best cancer center in the world-nothing but the best for yours truly).

One of our holding (refer to the welcome section dated 3/30) IDWD hit a home run today.
Let me recap what happened today:

IDWD - Up 29.35% to $1.19
KRY - Down 6.75% to $5.66 (this one is new & that's right, we shorted)
HYTM - Down 7.89% to $8.05 (we shorted this per yesterday's notes)

My last article was titled "Investment 101" because I wished some of you to have a realistic view and expectations when approaching personal finances. If your goal is to mearly perform at the market average rate, then you need not bother with learning & trading. You simply invest your money in the Wilshire 5000 index (this covers all stocks in the U.S). By the way, I do not suggest mutual funds (higher fees) instead buy an EFT (exchange traded funds: VTI). This will be your best all weather, no worry, sleep tight, better performance than 75% of all funds type of investment. Actually, most average passive investors are better off with VTI than trying to act fancy with hard earned money. Maybe I should be better off with VTI as well; time will tell.
But I have so much fun, why stop?

Back to why I have titled this as "Trading 101".
To remind you once more (avarage person forgets things unless they hear it five different times) the market will give you 8% maybe 9% including the dividends (if you bought VTI) annually. Your savings account gives you 4% in a year. Now think about this; answer the question:
Q: If my stock gave me 5% to 10% in a few days what should I do?
A: If you are a trader, take the profit off the table. You probably can buy it back at lower price.
For example, my reccommendation KRY (short) yesterday gave you almost 7% profit in one afternoon. Although I feel it will go lower in coming days (profit for us) I will not stop you from taking the profit. This is the rule: If you are handed a yearly profit in one day, TAKE IT ! So far, I gave you many such trades. Good luck.

Some of you missed IDWD's 30% up move today (30% in one day!). Few of you called me to congratulate me and to pad themselves in the back (some made serious $ and I hope receive few meals on them). Mark my words, in coming weeks, same thing will occur with RICK and BTYH.

Yesterday I already told you this will be tough week or two. It started today (I am this good). Finally new fresh lows (115) was higher than new highs (91). As you may know, this does not look good. We are in for a ride. NASDAQ, SP500, Gold, Oil all looks to take a rest. Only special situation stocks with its own special news will move ahead. Vast majority big name stocks will stall. The easy $ has been made (we are up over 20% in the first quarter) it will take more time & energy to produce decent results in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Please allow me to try. You simply rest and watch! I will disclose all my buys and sells.
P.S: As per my last blog I have shorted KRY at $6.15 this morning. I already have 7.67% gain in one day. Normally I would take the profit but I was at the hospital getting my chemo. Also, I believe this will head lower as gold price moves lower. The Wall Street just issued (today) a buy reccommendation on KRY with target price of $9.5! I fully agree that it wil get there, it is just that I feel it will go lower first, then move up. Why are they asking people to buy just as it hits an all time high of $6.25? Let's watch. (refer to the Apple article dated 4/5)
PPS: HYTM fell 8% but I could not get in (my resources are limited too you know). I will be in this short play this week. My target for this stock? First stop at $6.5 next stop at $4.50 then who knows what will happen. My gut tells me this is worth 50 cents if that. For those with investigative mind try googling [Hythiam Post] and [Chalem Hythiam] then [Chalem CITA].
I guarantee you, you will get shocked! Isn't this fun? This will make you money :-))

Investing 101

I hope you had a good weekend. As for me, I spent a quality time with my family(my son Ace), saw a movie (Vendetta-quite good), weather was beautiful and on top of that I had a profitable week( :-}). After getting my thoughts together, I am now sitting in front of my computer (9:15pm Sunday) trying my best to advise all of you regarding what to expect in this sea of information. I believe, there are too many people who places $ in the market without any form of understanding as to what to expect in the market. Therefore, I named this article "Investing 101". This will help set your expectations.

During the last 100 years, I mean the 20th Century (for those of you who are confused its the year 1900-1999), the Dow (come on, you know the Dow30) went from 66 to 11,500. Pretty impressive eh? Guess what this comes out to on an annualized basis. Any guess? The answer is 5.3% compounded annually. (You probably need to add about 3% of dividends to this number for the total return). Now, how about the 21st Century? From the year 2000-2099, if we were to just simply perform at the same rate as the last 100years, the Dow would become - 2,000,000. Yes, that's two (2) million on the Dow. Can you now sneez at 5.3%? Most investors I know, do sneez at 5.3%. It's as if 10%+ is a god given right. Oh, by the way, if you think 5.3% seems too small, guess what we have had so far in the 21st Century? (January 2000 to today)? During the last five (5) year and three (3) months, we have had basically less than 1% annualized gain on the Dow. We need to get 10%+ for the next five years to simply perform at the average rate of, again, 5.3%. Now, please adjust your expectations.

As a private investor and a trader, our goal is to beat the above number. Believe me, this can be done. Although for many people, this may be too much work. Most people simply do not have the patience or the knowledge to do this. In fact, most do not even enjoy trying this at all. If you are reading this, congratulations, you probably enjoy learning this process. I will try my best to educate as well as entertain you. Why? Because it makes me happy knowing that I can share some of my knowledge hoping it can help them in some way. I thank god everyday for this opportunity. I am blessed in more ways than you can imagine.
(P.S: The numbers above were calculated by none other than Mr. Buffett. Yes, Warren Bueffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Oh, by the way, I will be attending his annual shareholders meeting in May in Ohmaha, Nebraska. Trust me, this is one more reason I love America. )
(PPS: Mr. Bueffett's record is about 22% compounded annually for the last 40 years! For those of you who do not know how to calculate 22% comp. for 40 years; it is simply too big a number for most people to comprehend. Mr. Bueffett is a superstar, an american idol as far as I am concerned).

We are approaching a short term top soon. Be careful not to be too risky with your trades. Always have a mental stop to protect your investments. As for upcoming actions:

I will be Shorting HYTM $8.75 (refer to my 4/3/06 blog; updates are coming soon).
I will be Shorting KRY $6.07 (Gold will take a rest after a big run and this will fall).
Oil will be taking a rest as well. If you are thinking of adding Oil realated stuff (OIH $150.8), wait for the discount to enter. Expect a tough week or two. Happy trading...

RICK's Cabaret International...

Those of you who acted on yesterday's notes made a hansome profit today. Of the five stocks mentioned in the field of Fiber Optics play, all five went up in price. Guess which one went up the most? AVNX of course! (if you have not read yesterday's message, shame on you). AVNX went up 8.6% today. And yes, it is a one (1) day gain. Needless to say I took my profit off the table. I will be in it again. Remember, these stocks jump. But they are in a fabulous business. One person asked me why I picked AVNX among the five, eventhough all five are OK.
The truth is I don't know. It is simply a gut feeling. I got lucky again.

On a personal note, you all know that my dad was sent to the hospital (from my past messages), he is still in the intensive care and we know now that he will have to go through a triple bypass heart surgery. Wish him luck and pray for us. I know he will be OK.

Back to business:
1. Anyone who holds AVNX please follow this instruction. Place a stop loss order at $2.88 and our target is $4.75 (+50%).
2. Shorting HYTM is difficult. Call your broker to find the shares for you to short.
3. Many of you own RICK. They just came out with a fantastic earnings. March was its record month as far as profit goes. Ka - ching! (Do you hear this sound? I do). The price of RICK almost touched $6 again. It will definately do that. You all know that I have doubled up last time it went down to $5.25. My average cost is now $4.75 and RICK is officially the top holding in my portfolio. I will be selling half position at $6.25 because it became too big in my portfolio. I still expect it to reach double digits! Most of you bought this in the $4 area. Just be happy.
4. MATK is becoming boring. This is my second largest holding and you know what? I am comfortable. My target for this outfit is $48. You heard me. If price goes down further, you should be happy. You can buy more. I will not sell this anytime soon. DHA and ARA is a must product for infants as well as senior citizens. It helps develope three organs in our body. Brain (this one is really important) Eyes (we kinda need this one too) and Heart (oh, this one you really need). Get it? Got that? Kabish? No more said in this matter.
5. I feel that couple of you will kick themselves in the xss later for not buying BTYH. I can not promise you but this one will run away from you. Act soon if you are ever going to act.
6. If you are new to this blog I forgive you. If not, I assume you have some oil related holdings. It doesn't matter if it is China oil co. or Brazil oil co. or whatever. I have OIH. Once again, if you do not have some of your $ in oil, I feel sorry for you. Please get the insurance.

I am looking for some gold play. Gold just became $600 per once. I used to always have some $ in gold. I don't know why I don't have one now. I will do the homework and tell you which one is my favorite. Just know this: Gold is the only real money. An once of gold bought a fine men's suit 100 years ago, today an once do the same. You can take an once of gold anywhere in the world, you will be able to buy fine men's suit. Gold is forever - diamond too.

Don't you get excited trying to fit nice companies into your portfolio? I get excited too easily. Among the eight (8) stocks I carry in my beautiful basket, all are profitable except for one. Internet Gold (symbol IGLD). I will introduce IGLD to you later. Just know this, I am not selling it yet. This one is interesting too. Good night.

Buy Fiber Optics now...

A favorable legisltion has been passed by the Congress. Basically, it opens up phone companies like AT&T to start sending video signals/contents as well. Guess what you need to do this? You are gonna need "Fiber Optics " because it can deliver much more at faster speed. How much fibers do phone companies need? Very - very - much.

Who are the players you ask?
Symbol Price Size of Co. PE ratio(07') Avg.Volume
JDSU 3.94 6.6 BILLION 78 56 MILLION
CIEN 4.85 2.8 BILLION 70 19 MILLION
FNSR 4.64 1.4 BILLION 30 13 MILLION
AVNX 3.03 450 MILLION 42 11 MILLION
MRVC 4.00 420 MILLION 95 2 MILLION

You need not thank me for this convenient chart. It's for me.
I know you want to buy everything but you need to take your pick.
I am buying AVNX. Don't ask me why.
Trust me you all ned some Fiber in your portfolio now!

P.S: All these stocks above more than doubled (that's more than 100%) last couple of months. Unless you can stomach such moves, don't bother. If you buy, please have a sell stop protection 10% below your cost. That's what I do. I actually have tighter stop at 8%. Happy hunting!

Great lesson learned - AAPL

No matter how much you tell your kids not to touch the hot plate, they will touch it until they get burned. The real issue is how badly do they get burned when they get burned. As a parent, if you really want to protect your child, you might have to take their hand and burn them lightly. They will then remember what it means when you say "hot - don't touch!".

I got burned, eventhough I knew better. Let me explain and let this be a lesson for you as well. The truth is that you will not understand it fully until you get burned too. But here it is anyway.
Little over a week ago I bought Apple (AAPL) at $60. Recently it was as high as $86. Now, we all know Apple is a very successful company. Their computers (i-mac) and (i-pods) are awsome products. I am sure you all have one in your family. The stock however, fell from $86 to $60 in 2006. I said to myself this is way overdone. Now, it is trading at a reasonable price. I bought. (You may refer to my first note titled "welcome" to know what I had at what price)

Yesterday, three different major (I mean Major) brokerage houses lowered price target for Apple reasoning that Apple's business may slow down. Investors sold based on their reserch. When I heard the news, I too, did not wish to be with a company that will slow down. ( I trusted the Wall Street guys again). The stock went from $64 to $61. I sold at $62 for a small profit but disappointed that it did not reach my initial target at $72. (refer to my notes two days ago). Many others sold too (trading over 33 million shares!). Then today, suddenly news comes out that Apple will be able to run both Mac operating system as well as MS Windows system! The stock jumps at the news and closes today at a price of $67 per share!

OK, let's calm down. Let's think this through like an intelligent being. Let me ask you a question. Do you actually think the major Wall Street firms did not know that Apple will announce a big news like this 24 hours later? I mean these guys have dinners with the CEOs every other day! How can you get many shares at reasonable price? Make other people sell at cheaper price. So here is the logic, two possibilities are found: #1. These major brokerage firms actually did not know the news were coming and said business will slow and lower the target price for Apple one (1) day before the actual news. #2. They knew but they still lowered the business prospect for Apple anyway and lowered target price (basically asking people to sell).

Either way it does not look too good.
As I have said before, they have an agenda different than yours.
I knew this but I stil got burned again (well, in the form of lost opportunity anyway). Trust me, I will be more careful next time. I hope you will too.
In the end, the truth is that whether these major firms are right or wrong we need to listen. Because they have the ability to move the tide temporarily. There are enough people out there that will blindly do whatever these firms say. And that's a lot of money.

The only way to win this battle, is to have a longer vision. Not be swayed by daily news. Unless your initial plan was flawed, you stick to your guns. I should have stayed.

P.S: This is what's happenning to MATK. I will further advise you on this tomorrow.
PPS: MATK is currently my largest holding. (this is for long term guys). Good night.

This will be a good year for me...

Just got a call from Korea. My dad(67), a physician, was sent to the emergency room at Assan hospital in Korea. He had a heart related problem. It is fixable. I think that after the surgery (these days doctors do this kinds of surgery like you and I eat lunch) my dad will be a lot better. To be precise, he's had this issue for sometime. An artery leading to the heart got blocked but amazingly a new (totally new) artery was formed to feed blood to the heart. Can you believe it? Your body sometimes make totally new blood lines to survive itself. Let's take a moment to thank god for this gift. Anyway, my battle with cancer made me realize one very important thing. I hope you can all take this with you.
"Don't blame god for what you don't have that you want; thank god every day for the things you don't have that you don't want"
Let me ask you, do you want cancer? Just thank god.

Back to business; this was a great day.
SYMC went up nicely (business is on fire, I hope you bought it few days ago when I said Buy). It is up 5% in 5 days (nice :-)) Oh, we sold Apple today as well for a small profit. Apprently the Wall Street thinks Apple's business will slow, lowered target price for AAPL. I am not going to be around to find out if they are right. Take a small profit and move on (refer to my quote yesterday).

One of my holding BTYH (full name is Bad Toys Inc) just released great earnings. It will split the company and issue you a stock on the new company soon. I think it is under valued. It could potentially double (I mean 100%) from here within this year. I do think you need to get in on this. If you have read my first note, you know exactly what I have and what I paid for them.
Follow with me.

As I've said in the title I think this will be a good, no, great year for me. 1. My cancer will slowly die and I will be much healthier 2. My dad's health will improve dramatically so he can continue to see his patients and help them 3. I have as much time as I need to see family and friends 4. I have finally started to learn Golf 5. My investments will do well 6. I have a lovely home, lovely wife who makes a lot of money, I also have a beautiful son named Ace and I drive a black long Mercedes S class.

What else can a man ask for? Thank you god!
What else

Finally ICE melted ...

Those of you who are regulars, know that I shorted (betting that stock will go down) ICE a few days ago. The market was up today but ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) whose business is to operate a global marketplace for the trading of energy commodity futures went down.

ICE was hot. Everyone loved it.
During the last three months, the stock went from $31 to almost $74!
The Wall Street is predicting that it will be $100 this year. BTW, never listen to Wall Street guys blindly. They have an agenda different than yours. Anyway, it was a gutsy move I made. It was risky as well. But today the stock went to $70.10 in the morning and went down; stright down (yeh!). How low you ask? Try $62.16 That was $8/share move in one afternoon! Great! I was confirmed, my guts were right. But I chicken out. I covered at $66. Had I waited till the end and cover at $62, I would have made a lot more obviously. But remember this rule.
"You can never go broke taking profits!"
I try to live by this rule. Pigs only get slaughered.

I think ICE will go lower. I will be shorting it again if price is right. Keep a close eye on ICE. This is definately melting...

While we are on the subject of shorts, (Read my Welcome post dated 3/30) let me interest you on a new company to short. (Just so you know, shorting is a dangerous business, more so than buying a stock stright, which is called going Long). Actually, you decide. Let me present.

This company was founded in 2000 (very young). They don't have a product, they sell a treatment protocols (what's that?). Last year (2005) they had sales of about $1.1 million and expenses of about $26 million (ohh kay). That means they had a loss of $25 million. In 2006, they expect to sell about $6 million. Which means that they will loose another $30 million this year (wow). Now, how much would you pay for this corporation? $1 million? $10 million? $100 million? Try $357 million as of todays price ($9 per share). Let me not go into too much details, it will bore most of you. All I know is that most of the insiders are selling. No one is buying.

Basically, I think the price is a bit high. In fact, it made a new all time high today. So, many investors think this is a great price. They want to buy. But I want to sell at this price. Again, I am going against the crowd. I will be shorting this at any weakness from today. Wish me luck!

P.S: The name of this company is Hythiam Inc. Symbol: HYTM
No, I have no idea what the name means.

April showers ...

"April showers brings flowers"
I don't even know who said that; I just remember the quote.
The market has been quite hot.

We are hitting highs for the year. Most of you made money (in stocks, mutual funds and IRAs) in 2006. The intersting thing is that some stocks were badly damaged but the market in general went up. We are probably near the top short term. After a quick April shower (stocks down) we will see flowers (stocks up), we probably have one more run before hitting the actual top. We must get busy since easy money has been already made. (Read my last blog dated 3/31). It is going to get a lot tougher to make it out there. I am up to the challenge however. Saty tuned.

Lesson #2:
Q: Trading stocks and going to the casino; Isn't that the same thing?
A: Yes and No. If you blindly put $ into stocks (wager) because Dick said it will go up, then you probably have worse odds than the casino. If you understand the business, know how much is the whole business and realize the relative value of that business, you have better odds than going to the Ceasers ( I love casinos by the way).

OK, OK, let me make it easier. If somebody offered you a 2 bedroom condo for say $250,000 would you buy? If yes, what would you want to know before you actually pay? 1. Where is it? (trust me this make a hugh difference) 2. Is it in good condition? 3. What price do other 2 bed condos go for in that area? Let's say that the condo in question is in New York City, 32 street East side, decent condition and other condos go for $700,000 in the neighborhood. Now, would you still say this is like gambling?

Two days ago, a good friend of mine said EGLY is a god buy. Asked for my opinion. He actually did some homework. There are about 10 million shares (info from yahoo), selling for $1.25 per share (used to be $0.35 back in January), owns a clothing factory in China (nice) and most importantly, actually made money (cash I mean) last year in the tune of $1 million net profit! All this info from him, great! Interesting! I went digging ( I want a piece too) ...

Turns out, the company actually has 20 million shares (yahoo was wrong). Now this make a hugh difference. EGLY company is now worth $25 million instead of $12 million I originally thought. The story gets better, there are also 7,500 preferred shares (80% owned by Mr. Kang the CEO and 95% owned by the executives) which are convertible into common shares at 1 for 7,600 shares. What? 7500 X 7600 = 57 million common shares! I don't know when but they will definately convert the shares. 1 preferred shares into 7,600 common shares. The stock was as high as $3 back in January (some suckers lost a lot of money in this) now goes for $1.25 (hmmmmm...). I prefer to wait and see this one. It is not as cheap a stock as I thought (there never are). People can still make $ in this type of play. I once knew an idiot who made thousands in the casino too.

I like the big potential in EGLY but not for me just yet.
P.S: Buy MATK. I will write about this one soon. Chow.