The Drawingboard

20th anniversary of Black Monday

Friday, October 19, 2007 12:24 AM

In the spirit of being cheerful, I thought I'd mention that 20 years ago today the stock market had its largest single-day drop, 22.6%. Market theorists have still never fully accounted for why the drop occurred. Obviously, some automated trading systems were in play. In the end, though, intrinsic valuation, even as push through machines, still counts... MORE ... Read whole article

Sold BP

Thursday, September 27, 2007 12:59 AM

I sold my BP stock, probably a bit belatedly. BP is issuing warnings about earnings, and has generally been an energy sector laggard anyhow. I made some dividend and some money, so I walk away happy. My initial concern is that oil has peaked for the year. It is hard to say where oil will settle, but I would be unsurprised if over the never six months we don't plumb some of the depths we saw last winter... MORE ... Read whole article

What's really wrong with marketing these days

Monday, September 3, 2007 2:29 PM

In a simple and concise manner, this one aimed at the music industry but easily articulated for anyone doing marketing:

there were a handful of channels in the music business that the gatekeepers controlled... MORE ... Read whole article

Buying Nordic American Tanker

Friday, August 17, 2007 11:26 AM

Yesterday I was sitting in a sort of ideal position. Having unloaded my NTRZ stock, I had cash on a market apocalypse day. These are the days when real money is made. If you've followed the website, you know I have had the Cramebase up and running, tracking the stock recommendations made by Jim Cramer... MORE ... Read whole article

Nutracea postmortem

Thursday, August 16, 2007 2:43 AM

My experiment with my first year of investing hit a big pothole yesterday. That pothole was Nutracea's second quarter conference call. I've tried to get a spread of stocks. Big cap, regular dividend companies, like BP. Small cap, high growth companies. And a PK and an OTC BB stock. Nutracea turned into an absolute nightmare today... MORE ... Read whole article

NTRZ conference call was something awful

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 1:31 PM

Something is very wrong with NTRZ. I unloaded everything at $1.83 and it has continued dropping. I listened to most of the call before the light really switched on and I realized that this whole business was far from kosher. NTRZ is hiding debt. Worse, it is hiding debt in a company (Vital Living, VTLV) that has close ties to its CEO, Brad Edson... MORE ... Read whole article

Cheap oil means better returns for oil companies

Wednesday, August 8, 2007 12:19 PM

Something odd has happened in the oil sector. They have hit a point where cheaper oil is boosting their stocks. Why? First off, despite a rocket ride into the upper $70 range for crude, gasoline has tried to stay below $3 a gallon. Something odd there, huh? The oddity is that the oil companies are scared that oil over $3 a gallon will dent demand... MORE ... Read whole article

Good day for growth stocks

Monday, July 30, 2007 10:57 PM

I am always loath to say I agree with Jim Cramer. of course, this has nothing to do with the man's opinion. It is an inherent prejudice against his delivery. But, Jim is right, growth stocks are a great place to hide during market downturns... MORE ... Read whole article

Does AMD's next-gen core's name mean anything?

Friday, July 27, 2007 12:26 AM

Consider this name: Bulldozer. That is AMD's internal name for its next generation processor core. I wonder if AMD is coming to the realization that the Barcelona and quad core fight is just a skirmish compared to the hell the company will be raising by the time we're buying second generation eight core processor... MORE ... Read whole article

eBay + AMZN = the BIG tech bubble of 2008

Wednesday, July 25, 2007 10:36 PM

Earlier this week, I commented that the combined results of AMD and GOOG and how the market responded to them signaled this earnings season was the small tech bubble of 2007. Well, now that I've had a chance to digest EBAY and AMZN earnings, I can't help but say this: Here comes the big tech bubble of 2008... MORE ... Read whole article