I am going in

The surgery to insert a tube into my kidney will be done either today or tomorrow. I will be checking into the hospital this afternoon. Obviously, I am not too happy about this. Wish me luck guys.

Tomorrow, the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged. This is widely expected. None event.

I will be back before you know it.

My cancer update

Phone rang.
It was my urologist. He received results from my previous tests. Remember, I was having constant pains. Well, guess what. I am going to need additional surgeries. My left kidney is not functioning at all. Not too long ago, doctors inserted a stent in my ureter to help drain the kidney but it did not work. Now, doctors need to insert a tube into my kidney to drain it. This means I will need to carry a "bag" to collect urine that will be drained from the kidney itself. All I am going to say is this: " This better be temporary". Once again, I will need prayers from you (especially from those who are close to "you know who").

Although the exact date has not been set, I am sure it will be any day now. At least I know why I had so much pain. God is really testing me this time. As always, I will take it like a man.

The market is showing obvious weakness. This is not the time for aggressively buying high beta stocks. We need some more weakness to confirm the down trend. The market could actually jump up from here too. But even if it does, it won't last. We need to rest before going again.

Quick Recap

My weekend was a chellenging one.
Pain killers every 4-6 hours. I have absolutely no appetite. I have pain coming from places I don't even know. Just so you know, I now weight 128 pounds.

For the first time, I feel like a cancer patient.

Emotionally, I am still doing OK. I am still happy and greatful for what I have. And believe me, I am glad that I can still type and my laptop has wi-fi capability. Below, I will write a quick comment on the stocks we carry in our portfolio: I hope this helps.

RICK: This is our favorite. The last price swing was the last chance for anyone to get on board at bargain prices. Chances are, RICK will go onto an all time high this year. Buy.

BTYH: This is the last week before the spin-off. I am expecting 50%+ move during the next few sessions. As I have said before, I am not too crazy about the ambulance business. I am looking to exit with quick, short gains.

MIDS: We have been slowly accumulating this one. MIDS is one of my hidden joker. I do expect this to move up substantially in coming months. If you still do not own MIDS, I suggest you start now. $1 and below will be a history soon.

UTK: Either this is a bargain or this is a fraud. I don't think this is a fraud. The business on fire. Investors have to regain the confidence in management. I feel this is a terrific risk/reward play. Infact, if this goes above $12.50 we will be buying more!

AUTO: I can not explain it. Revenue and profit keeps moving up. The stock price has not. I have no problem holding the shares as long as business is good. Actually, this is the best type of situation I am looking for. Sooner or later, stock prices always reflect the underlying business. Buy.

CMGI: When I was selling XMSR recently, I also considered selling CMGI. I changed my mind. I am willing to hold this through the down turn because I think CMGI will come alive in 2007.

GDX: In 2007, you want to have at least some gold exposure in your portfolio. There are just too many good reasons to own some gold related assets. Among them, GDX is offers the best bang for a buck. If you expect gold price to move substantially higher, GG is your best bet.

QID: I think there's a better chance of downward move in coming months than upward move in stocks in general. QID is a good insurance for your portfolio.

NTE: Not too may companies are expanding production capacity for future expected orders. NTE is well positioned to be the low cost producer in this arena. We have already received fat, juicy dividends in the last two quarters. Eventhough the dividend was reduced by nearly a half (to fund the expansion), NTE still offers over 5%+ annual dividend. Keeper.

PRZ: Regular followers made handsome profit with this one last year. We will do it again this year. This one is similar to BTYH story. I am not crazy about the business - I just know a value when I see one. Get it near $1 and wait please.

IDWD: This crazy horse is running everywhere. But if you know how to buy and sell, you can make some decent $ with stocks like this. IDWD was one of the top three profit makers for our portfolio last year. As you know, I just added some more at $0.41 recently. Let's wait for some news from the company.

Hope this quick note helps.

Smart doctor

Most of you know that I am from a family of doctors. My dad, grand father, uncle, cousin and even my best friends are doctors. Although I have great respect for doctors in general, I could never be a doctor myself. I just can not be around all that sick people, many of whom you know you can not help.

My experience tells me that many doctors are not as smart as most people would think. Especially when it comes to the field of finance, doctors are in trouable. The smart ones quickly allow professionals to take care of their finance. The real smart ones actually study the market themselves (we all know that one thing they can do well is to "study").

"Gus" from stockton is one such individual.
I don't know how he found my blog but he is one of few followers that actually make more money ($) than yours truly. And I am happy for him. Here's his latest comment:

"Wish you feel better soon and write your blogs for a long time. Following your blogs I shorted AXR 500 shares at 119 and another 500 shares at 129 And they are already making $ 30,000. Also bought 2000 shares of QID at 49.45 and they are making $ 8,000. Get well soon and I want to pay for you and your family's steak dinner by credit card from stockton. Just tell the resturaunt to call me for credit card authorization. Gus. 10:02 PM"

Thank you Gus.
Happy New Year to you too.
I am sure one day you will get your chance to buy me a juicy steak!

Bonus advise: If I were you, I would start to accumulate shares of MIDS starting now. This is a low priced, early stage, speculative play so please use only your speculative dollars. Use limit orders only and accumulate it under $1 if possible. Please look at the chart yourself and place only "limit" orders. Something tells me you will end up buying me more than a steak!

Kidney pain

I have spent all day at the hospital.
My kidney pain is getting worse and my urologist decided to perform detailed tests to get to the bottom of this situation. I am on the pain medication almost 24 hours a day. This is not the way to spend an otherwise beautiful day.

Regarding the market, stocks look tired as well.
We are in the middle of massive earnings season and so far, companies are reporting beautiful numbers. The problem is, we all expected that. An exception was Ebay: it really performed better than investors expected. 2007 will be a good year for ebay. We may jump into this when prices settle down (anywhere near $30 looks fair to me).

The ex-dividend date has been set for BTYH.
February 2nd is the last day the stock will trade with the dividend shares attached. As per my last message, I am looking to sell half of my position in BTYH before the spin-off. I just wish I can get much better price for this (mid to high one's).

When I sold my XMSR shares at $15.85 last Friday, I was a bit upset with the low price I got. Guess what - it is now trading at $14. Nice move indeed.

Once again, excuse me until I feel better.
I may not be able to write everyday. I am in pain guys ...
Wishing you a healthy new year.

Sold: XMSR

I have not been well the last few days.
The long trip and my chemo therapy is obviously taking a toll on my body. My last communication was on last Thursday. Please excuse me until I get back to myself again. Right now, I am on a pain medication called Percocett (awsome drug I might add). Tomorrow I am scheduled to see my Urologist - the stent that was placed in my kidney is giving me pain as well. Let's just say that I am not feeling too hot lately ...

Everyone is interested in my views on BTYH.
This is my game plan: Since this stock became the largest in size in our portfolio, I will be trimming back soon. I will be selling about half of my position in January before the actual spin-off. I am hoping to get mid to high dollar range for this sale. After the spin-off, I feel that the stock will fall in price before resuming again. Another words, we can get better price later. Most of you will be able to sell this with near double - so let's not get greedy. There is only one comparable public stock: Rural Metro (RURL). Although current PE number is shown as 110x, the forward PE is only 12x at current price. As you know, the forward PE is what's most important. Anyway, the bottom line is this: I am not crazy about ambulance business. Let's get our quick profit and move on for better growth story.

GDX is getting major attention from the investors. I think gold is setting itself up for another move toward a new high. As I have said before, Gold (GDX) has a place in anyone's porfolio. If you prefer stand-alone mining stock I would suggest GG or KGC.

If anyone wish me to talk more about a specific stock in our portfolio, please use the comment section below. I will answer all questions. I just don't have the energy to go over everyone right now. Pray for my fast recovery if you want to see my consistant views on the market.

P.S: Our recent entry into QID is working out just fine. Oh, I got out of XMSR at $15.85 after my last blog entry - nowhere near the $16.45 on Thursday but that was all I can get on Friday. But let's not get upset with +23% gain in two (2) months. We may revisit this one again ...

Buy: QID (again)

Let me repeat what I said yesterday: " The market is quickly loosing its mojo". When the general market seems weak, we go and buy QID (most of my readers learned at least this much). Today, we purchased QID for the Acetrader's portfolio at $51.82/share. This is our second try to short the market. (For those of you who don't remember, we first tried this during mid-December but quickly got out - the market was still strong then). There's no guarantee that this time will be any different. I just feel that the risk/reward ratio looks fair at this time. Those of you who want in - try to buy it near my price or better. Usually, most of you can get better price than I did, since I tend to buy it early and sell it early.

I am comfortable with most of our holdings right now but I am looking for excuses to trim it down. Regarding XMSR: FCC today stated that there will be no appeal in the decision to block the merger between XMSR and SIRI. OK, OK, we get it now. Theses companies have to survive on its own. The potential $ savings from the merger was very, very juicy but I guess it will result in creating a hugh monopoly (oh, how I love monopoly - Microsoft is almost a monopoly). The bottom line: Due to this news, XMSR will loose interest from the investment community. As you know, I like this company even on its own. Although the price is cheap, it might get even cheaper. Our cost was $12.89 and we have a gain of +27.6% as of today's close. Let's lock in our gains and try to buy it back at better price. Sell XMSR tomorrow near $16.45

This weekend, I will try to close the accounting for the year 2006.
I am still weak from the long trip and need much rest. But let me share a secret: "Acetraders portfolio just hit an all time high today!" The recent strength from our top three holdings did it. In investing, gains and losses come in quick, short intervals followed by slow, long periods of going nowhere. As I will share it with you later but: during the first 2 weeks of 2007, we have almost same gains in our portfolio as the entire year of 2006! Nice ...

2007 is the year of the Golden (actually Red) Pig.
Just know that this only happens in a few hundred years.
This will be a fantastic year indeed : )

I'm baaack ...

I am safely back in USA.
The long trip has taken some toll on me and I need some rest before resuming my usual schedule. I will keep this one short. The important thing is: you now know Acetrader is back in town!

Quick short takes:

1. Before I left, we sold our QID holding after only a few days of purchase. Anyone who did not, probably felt the pain. What happened recently (QQQQ) is the reason why we decided to sell our QID. By the way, I am now getting interested in QID again. QQQQ is loosing its mojo. I smell it. We will enter into QID soon.

2. Regular readers know that I have been accumulating BTYH as it fell with no mercy. It became my second largest holding before I left for my vacation. Guess what, it is now the largest holding in our portfolio. I will be selling some to reduce the relative size. BTYH will be moving up until the end of January. Then BTYH holders will receive spin-off shares of Southland Health Services. Just as I thought ...

3. Did you notice the +55% jump in MIDS shares today? This is another stock that we have been buying as its price was falling. This is our second largest holding now. Another story unfolding just as I had expected ... buy.

4. IDWD has fallen down to $0.40 today with no news. The shares are so cheap that I just added more shares today at $0.41/share. Remember, this is our most speculative stock. Unless you have the stomach for such shares, stay away. However, if you can afford the risk, this one is a roller coaster! We now hold 30,000 shares.

5. The FCC has rejected the possibility of XMSR and SIRI merger. Both sotcks fell on the news. So, now what? Please allow me some time to study the situation. I will come back with the answer in a few days. Hold.

The market is close to the top then the bottom.
This means the "risk" is in owning stocks rather than owning cash. Fortunately, most of our holdings have low correlation with the major market averages (this is by design). Our current top three holdings: BTYH / MIDS / RICK will not be dancing with the market (this is a good thing). I expect the market to fall in the coming months. Adjust your stock holdings accordingly.

2007 will be another good year for stocks.
It will behave very similar to the 2006 (explanation will follow soon). Basically, it will make a huge " V " during the year just like in 2006. Got it?
It's good to be back : )