Most Recent Tipping Monkey Blog Entries

Watch My WatchMojo.com Interview [HOURLONG VIDEO INTERVIEW]

TimothySykes — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:37:57 GMT

Check out my whole interview with WatchMojo.com CEO/founder/dictator Ashkan Karbasfrooshan We actually had a very useful conversation, especially about how pathetic, bad and time wasting firms like Seeking Alpha and The Motley Fool is…call me a trouble maker or loudmouth, but why is it so...

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The Bernie Madoff Auction: What I Was Gonna Bid On Until Someone Else Paid $3,000+ [PICTURE]

TimothySykes — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:52:50 GMT

Over the past few days, I’ve been preparing to bid on the below item in the Bernie Madoff auction: MY WEBSITE SUCKS SO BAD I HAVE TO LINK TO THIS PICTURE ON CNBC (next week new site should fix this issue!) After all, my publishing company is called BullShip Press, LLC (seriously, look it up!)...

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Chinese Food Quiz

MarkJPerry — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:34:00 GMT

1. Which is greater - the combined number of McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's franchises in the United States, or the number of Chinese restaurants?

2. What is the ratio of Chinese restaurants to McDonald's franchise units in the U.S.?

3. A study by the Center for Culinary Development, a food product development company, asked children between the ages of 10 and 13 about their favorite type of food. Guess what percent said they favored Chinese food compared the percent that said they favored American food?

Answers here and here.

Bottom Line: Globalization is good.

Markets in Everything: Cell Phone Car Ads in India

MarkJPerry — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:05:00 GMT

MUMBAI: Car makers like Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Motors and others have begun advertising heavily through cellphones which is generating higher buying decisions among Indians this year compared to global buyers. The mobile phone advertisements constitute 31% of buying decisions among Indians while globally this is only 8% according to the latest estimates from Carsonline.

With Universal Coverage, No More Votes to Buy

MarkJPerry — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:59:00 GMT

Once the whole population is covered [by health insurance], there is little political incentive to increase spending on medical care. Once the bulk of costs have been taken over by government, as they have in most of the other OECD countries, the politician does not have the carrot of increased services with which to attract new voters, so attention turns to holding down costs.

~Milton Friedman

MP: How to hold down costs? Think Canada. Long waiting lines, fewer MRI machines and fewer physicians per capita compared to the US, etc.

My Take On Netlist, Inc. (NLST) As Detailed On Today’s Episode Of LiveStock [VIDEO]

TimothySykes — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:47:34 GMT

With the stock up 116% today, amateur short sellers everywhere got squeezed today. Serves them right for they are an embarrassment to the strategy and deserve to lose…ignorance is not bliss. Why is it up? Who is buying? What’s the news? Should we look at advanced technical analysis to...

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Majority: Health Coverage Not Gov’t. Responsibility

MarkJPerry — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:11:00 GMT

PRINCETON, NJ -- More Americans now say it is not the federal government's responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage (50%) than say it is (47%). This is a first since Gallup began tracking this question, and a significant shift from as recently as three years ago, when two-thirds said ensuring healthcare coverage was the government's responsibility.

MP: Current odds on Intrade for health care reform passing with a public option by December are currently at about 5%.

More on The Case for Insider Trading: Legalize It!

MarkJPerry — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:59:00 GMT

Suppose, for example, that shares of Acme Inc. are now selling for $50 per. Suppose also that an insider knows that Acme’s CEO and CFO have been cooking Acme’s books to make Acme appear to the public to be more profitable than it really is. If that insider can trade on that non-public information – obviously, by shorting Acme stock – the price of Acme stock will start to fall immediately upon the commencement of such insider trading.

Any trader who buys Acme stock after this insider trading commences gets a ‘fairer’ price – a more truthful price – than that trader would have gotten if Acme’s shares were still trading at $50 due to the fact that information about Acme’s true financial state remained private and unincorporated into Acme’s share price.

To the extent that insider trading causes prices to reflect asset values more quickly and more accurately, general investors should be more confident in asset markets and, hence, more likely to invest their earnings in such markets.

From Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek, following up on his WSJ article "Learning to Love Insider Trading."

LiveStock Is Today 1-2PM, Here Are 9 Hot Stock Picks We’ll Be Discussing

TimothySykes — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:20:41 GMT

This was sent to TIMalert subscribers at midnight this morning when you were thinking about trying to afford your daughter’s college education: LiveStock is live today 1-2PM EST, tune in and watch and learn and laugh and cry Guess how much subscribers are up in 2009 and win a free...

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We Never Got Close to 900,000 Jobless Claims

MarkJPerry — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:53:00 GMT

Jobless claims as a share of the labor force have fallen in each of the last seven months from the 0.422% peak in March, and dropped to 0.345% in October, the lowest level since last November (see chart above). In contrast, jobless claims as a share of the labor force peaked at 0.60% in the three recessions above in the 1970s and 1980s. Given the current size of our labor force (about 154 million), we would have to have had more than 900,000 jobless claims during the most recent recession to reach the level of 0.60%, which is much higher than the peak jobless claims level in April of 658,750.

Congress to Market on Healthcare: Drop Dead

MarkJPerry — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:30:00 GMT

Government healthcare reform sure gets a lot of media attention. In just the last month alone there have been about 13,000 new stories containing the word “government” and the phrase “healthcare reform.” In contrast, there have been only 66 news reports during the last month with both of the terms “market based” and “healthcare reform.” That’s a ratio of almost 200 stories on government healthcare for every one story about market-based healthcare–government-based “reform” has completely monopolized the debate.

Given the momentum in Congress for some kind of government healthcare overhaul, the media attention is understandable. But at the same time that Congress debates different versions of Obamacare and considers various public options, some market-based healthcare solutions have gone largely unnoticed, despite the fact that they have successfully lowered medical costs and improved both access and quality of service.

In a new article, I outline seven such examples of market-based healthcare alternatives, read it here at American.com.

The Single Most Manipulated Stock In The US Stock Markets This Week Is…

TimothySykes — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:30:45 GMT

Reminder: LiveStock is live later today 1-2PM EST tune in, watch and learn! So another week goes by and TIMalert subscribers know we have another blatantly manipulated penny stock…PennyStocking DVD students know where it ends up Does the chart pattern below remind you of anything? Maybe FOX...

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Chart of the Day: Gender Gap for Top Math Scores

MarkJPerry — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:00 GMT

The chart above shows the ratio of males to females for SAT math test scores in the range between between 750 and 800 (data here) between 1996 and 2008. For example, in 2008, there were 26,610 males who tested between 750-800 for the SAT math test, compared to 13,854 females in that range, for a Male-Female ratio of 1.92 to 1. In 1996, the male-female ratio for SAT math scores above 750 was 2.70. So although the ratio has decreased over time, males are still over-represented for math test-takers with scores between 750-800 by a factor of about 2 to 1.

Will Vermillion, Inc. (VRMLQ) Be Acquired By Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX)?

TimothySykes — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:00:27 GMT

REMEMBER: Livestock is live tomorrow 1-2PM EST, tune in and learn and laugh. PS Don’t forget to log your guess to be a TIMalert subscribers for a month for free by commenting on this post Last time I bought VRMLQ on its breakout the stock jumped $5/share within a week and TIMalert subscribers...

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How To Buy Stocks at a 20% Discount from Current Price

Stockerblog.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:06:00 GMT

There are a couple ways of buying stocks at a discount to their present value. One way is by investing in closed end funds, also known as CEFs, that are trading at a discount from Net Asset Value, also known as NAV. The NAV is similar to the book value of stocks. In other words the NAV is calculated by adding up all the stocks in the portfolio, and dividing that amount by the number of shares.

A closed end fund is similar to a regular mutual fund except that the trading price of the CEFs can fluctuate way above or way below the NAV. In addition, the number of shares is fixed. There are over 20 closed end funds that are trading at a discount of over 20% of their net asset value. Many investors invest in these discounted CEFs in the hopes that the gap between NAV and price per share will close.

One example is Helios High Yield Fund Inc. (HHY), which is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund managed by Brookfield Investment Management Inc. The fund yields 6.5% and a based on its current price, trades at about a 20% discount from its NAV of 8.34.

Another heavily discounted CEF is Liberty All Star Equity Fund (USA) is a closed-ended equity mutual fund managed by ALPS Advisers, Inc. which has a yield of 6.7% and trades at a discount of over 19% of NAV.

However, there are plenty of risks. First of all, that gap may exist for years, and can even widen. Second, the gap could theoretically close but the stocks in the portfolio could drop, so still not gain. Third, and probably most important, is that many CEFs hold illiquid, private, or non-trading stocks, and the NAV is based on how the company valuates those shares, which may be a much higher value than what they could get if they tried to dump those shares. In addition, some may own real estate or mortgages.

Occasionally, you see activist shareholders come in and buy up a significant amount of shares of heavily discounted CEFs and force the liquidation of those CEFs, in order to realize the Net Asset Value. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has come up with a downloadable Excel database of over 35 CEFs trading at a discount of at least 17% to NAV. Before investing in any of these, check out the CEF's web site to see what kind of stocks they own, and how many are illiquid private shares.

By Stockerblog.com

How Have The Top 25 TIMalert Subscribers Done In 2009? And A Guessing Game Contest!

TimothySykes — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:43 GMT

REMEMBER: Livestock is live tomorrow 1-2PM EST, tune in and learn and laugh. Just over a month ago, I wrote this post detailing how TIMalert subscribers were up $750,000 in 2009….can you guess what the total is now? Next week, we’ll have a new website for TIMalert subscribers so...

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Growth in Online Ad Revenue Turns Positive in Q3

MarkJPerry — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:14:00 GMT

TECH CRUNCH -- After two straight quarters of annual declines (aka, the Great Ad Recession of 2009), it looks like online advertising revenues stabilized in the third quarter. The combined online advertising revenues of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL rose 1.2% to $8 billion. While the online advertising industry is not out of the woods yet, it might be stabilizing. Since these four companies account for such a large portion of total Internet advertising, looking at their combined advertising revenue numbers serves as a good indicator of the health of the overall online advertising industry.

What Wireless Communications Stock Is Up 450% This Year?

Stockerblog.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:10:00 GMT

Who would have thought that some of the hottest stocks would be in third world countries. I have written numerous articles about Zimbabwe in the past, primarily about the millions of percent of inflation, however, since the country has converted to multi-currencies, including the U.S. dollar, the economy and the Zimbabwe stock market has taken off.

One of the country's leading stocks is Econet Wireless (ZIM:ECONET), which has had a booming business, in not only Zimbabwe but also Lesotho, Botswana, Burundi and Kenya. The stock started trading at 100 U.S. cents in February of this year, and is now trading at $5.50, a 450% increase in share price. Unfortunately, there are no ADRs that trade in the United States.

7 Penny Stocks To Buy & Short Sell Today

TimothySykes — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:30:14 GMT

This was sent to TIMalert subscribers at midnight this morning as nobody else works as hard as I do: LiveStock is tomorrow Friday 1-2PM EST, tune in and watch Michael Goode is now up $101,000 on my strategy in just over a year…yes, it can be done, he’s got a great post detailing his...

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Commercial Real Estate Rebounds in Canada

MarkJPerry — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:49:00 GMT

Canada's commercial real estate market is rebounding faster than many in the industry projected just a few months ago. The market unexpectedly caught fire in September as access to capital improved and buyers waded into the depressed market, and a full-blown recovery seems under way in major segments of the market.

"Things have changed," said PwC partner Frank Magliocco as he released the report yesterday. "Things just took off." There have been three deals worth more than $100-million in the past month - an apartment portfolio in Vancouver, as well as residential land and a downtown building in Toronto - which would have been unthinkable in July.

"If I told you in the spring that those deals would happen, you'd have told me I was crazy," said George Carras, president of tracking firm RealNet Canada Inc. "There was no way you'd have believed me, sentiment was just too low."

There have been other signs of recovery, most notably the first quarter of growth in Toronto's commercial real estate sector after 18 months of declining fortunes. Data for Calgary and Vancouver show those markets stabilizing as well, according to RealNet.