Investor Help (NO Ihub questions)

[CosmicMiami]

Shit always rolls downhill right? Ultimately, the consumer will pay of course, in one way or another. The company is responsible to the owners, not the consumer. I understand that.

[PennyMann]

Mmhmm. The company won't increase prices. Mmmhmmm.

Depends on the perspective you want to take. The current Income Statement or the ones a year or more from now? Not denying the accounting of the fines in the current financials. From a managerial and budgetary perspective if you have a big fine that's hit your bottom line why wouldn't you try to offset that hit in the future? "Yes, we will keep the cash low from the fine payment (happy shareholders). Ooo, you need to buy new assets to expand (sales team and Board nod heads). Can we change prices a little to have asset investment and help out cash (everyone nods their heads up and down)?"

Question: how big was the fine as compared to cash, assets, operating gain/loss change?

[CosmicMiami]

That makes sense.

[Tntrooper]

What does the red and blue diamond stand for at the lower left corner of the symbol.

[Churak]

I don't think that is an accounting issue. I think what the company is saying is that they won't increase prices of their product to recoup the fine. In other words, the company will pay the fine and it is the shareholders that eat it in the form of an expense or reduction of income and it is the shareholders that share in the company income and not the consumer. IMHO.

[cintrix]

I have no idea - let me get an accountant to answer that.

[CosmicMiami]

Trying to remember my accounting classes but cannot. Let's say a company is faced with a fine of some sort (SEC, EPA, whatever). The company states "this fine will not be passed on to consumers, it will be paid from owners' equity." Okay fine. How does that transaction actually happen? Where is it accounted for on the books? Sounds basic I know but for the life of me I can't put it all together.

[cintrix]

u r welcome

[Gixene]

cintrix, thank you.

[cintrix]

Yes, the housing bubble was the main cause of it. They were giving mortgages to anyone and everyone - with nothing down and no credit checks. Also the demise of Lehmans had a lot to do with it. I am not an economist and I don't pretend to be one so I won't offer anything more. If you are interested on this subject I would google it since there are loads of articles on it.

[Gixene]

cintrix, I don't know if this is the right place for this question or if you recommend another board. Though I trust your knowledge which is why I came here. Just a brief background of the situation here. So during the 2008 recession I was in high school with a couple mutual funds that I had since middle school, that a family friend broker managed for me. I remember the account plummeted and the broker telling me to hold on to it. I didn't know anything about the market then and forgot about it. Later a friend in Oct. of 2011 told me to roll over to a discount brokerage and learn investing on my own, I haven't looked back since. At the time I didn't realize how serious the recession was being in high school. High school never taught me anything about this period, so I remained in the dark.

Since I have been investing on my own, I realize that I have been in a bull market. I have been becoming increasingly interested in the 2008 recession because I believe I should learn from past history to strengthen my investing knowledge. I watched a couple documentaries of PBS Frontline Breaking The Bank and The Warning. These were both great documentaries that gave me a better insight of the recession. Though I still have some questions. I'm still not understanding the bigger picture…

What did credit defult swaps, mortgage backed securities and derivatives have in common during this time period? In addition I heard each of them being mentioned and wasn't sure what the root of 2008 recession was. Was the housing bubble the root of it?

I have many more questions, though if you have any trusted unbiased online resources or you're willing to get me up to speed, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, Gulley

[cintrix]

I'm cracking up here. I just went to the ihub board to see if you posted the question there and I see you posted it there and they referred it to here. What you have to do is re word it and specifically state that you want to know what those codes mean when there is print while using the Ihub buys/sales feature.

[cintrix]

But are you saying Ihub is also just guessing at the need to use the notations "ave' and "cash" on some large blocks?
No I am not saying that because I have never even seen what you are explaining. I don't use their service. I do know that they "guess" when they list their buys/sells which I see no valid reason to list that. And that is why I made the comparison. What you need to do is go right to the source and ask them what that means:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/The-Question-and-Answer-Board-504/
they are supplying the information so they should be able to explain it to you

every trade has a buyer and seller
that doesn't mean retail only - mm sell from inventory

[trader guy]

I understand the whole bid ask thing referred to as buy or sell and the fact that every trade has a buyer and seller. But are you saying Ihub is also just guessing at the need to use the notations "ave' and "cash" on some large blocks? It would seem they would be overstepping somewhat in that regard unless they're getting the info from a reliable source.

I've also posed this question to FINRA and am waiting for an answer.

[cintrix]

Somehow I knew you were going to say that! Seems like ihub has their own language for time/sales - they even list if something is a buy or a sell when half the time they get it wrong based on an assumption. Here:
"If the trade was executed at the ask our system considers it a buy"
"If the trade was executed at the bid our system considers it a sell"
"If in between we mark it as unknown"
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=demov&v=tr
Ridiculous feature imo - it is all based on assumptions. I buy at the bid very often and sell at the ask.

[trader guy]

I see it on the Ihub trades page. I see the trades go through in real time on TOS but there is no other indicator noted, just time, price and number of shares. But Ihub trades shows the notations and Ihub is the only source I've seen show this.

[cintrix]

Sometimes ave appears after the number of shares, sometimes the word cash appears next to the number, and sometimes just the number shows.

I have no idea what feed you are using and where you are getting that from. My provider does not have anything like that next to the printed trades. And yes, it does happen where a block trade will happen below the bid:

Trades above the ask and below the bid typically fall into one of two categories. They are either pre-arranged block trades, or reporting anomalies.

In regards to pre-arranged block trades, there are "upstairs" trades which do not go through the order book at all. They are, however, printed as trades. For example...an institutional trader wants to sell 5M shares of something with a float of 130M shares. If this broker can work out a deal with someone to take the shares, the price isn't going to be at the market. It is not going to be anywhere near the bid price. They will negotiate a specific slippage, print it, and the buyer now has to work the order. The buyer is hoping that he has banked enough slippage to make up for the unknown slippage of actually distributing it.

In regards to reporting anomalies, there is no centralized marketplace and therefore no NBBO (National Best Bid and Offer). All trades are supposed to be reported and posted on the consolidated tape even though the trades were executed off exchange and never exposed to the best bid/ask. But some exchanges report new bid/ask only after a complete trade. A purchase of a large contract may wipe out 1-2 levels of bid/ask, but this is not reported until AFTER the trade reports, so for the computer the trade happen outside KNOWN bid/ask for that time.

As far as impact on future price is concerned, the answer is none. Since most of these prints are what I described above, they rarely impact future prices. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110507093007AAzUuuj

[trader guy]

On various penny stocks that I follow I've noticed that sometimes there are large block trades in the tens of millions of shares that go through as one trade below bid. Sometimes ave appears after the number of shares, sometimes the word cash appears next to the number, and sometimes just the number shows. Can someone tell me what this means.

[cintrix]

From what that site states, it sounds like you have to have a subscription - and I don't know if they give subscriptions to anyone who wants one - there is a phone number listed there if you want to call and ask. BTW< did you ask over at this board? http://investorshub.advfn.com/The-Real-DTCC-Discussion-23867/
They seem to know a lot more than I do about the DTC.

[OCMillionaire]

thanks but can i obtain the list ???

[cintrix]

Security Position Reports (SPR) (known as “DTC Sheets”)
http://www.dtc.org/dtcpublic/html/lob2/prod9/

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
http://www.transhare.com/issuer/#1

[OCMillionaire]

Can someone help me with DTC sheets


is it legal to post them to the public via investor or does the company have to do it? Can we legally even see them or hear about the current s.s..i would assume the company can tell us since you have to call the company anyways for s.s updates from IR...TIA

[Gixene]

cintrix, thank-you! This is perfect.

[cintrix]

You are probably not going to find every site consistent with their numbers - some may breakup the sectors differently. If this is what you need:

http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~%20adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/pedata.html

http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3021-peyield.html

http://biz.yahoo.com/p/industries.html

[Gixene]

cintrix, I'm aware of the P/E ratio of Nvidia (NVDA). To help you better understand the problem. I am trying to teach my classmates the comparison of the P/E ratio to sector, industry and market. Let me give you an example…

None of this information is correct, once again numbers can be made up, just an example.

The P/E ratio for NVDA is 17.4.

Though when we look at the industry, we notice that the average P/E ratio is 24.
This tells us that growth could be slower for NVDA to its peers in that industry.

Then we look at the sector and notice that the average P/E ratio is 17.
This tells us that growth could be higher for NVDA to its peers of its sector.

Finally, we look at market. The overall market P/E ratio is 22. This tells us NVDA could have slower growth than its peers of the industry and overall market.

I hope you understand now. Can I find this accurate information taking place of the P/E ratios of the industry, sector and market?

[cintrix]

Also, you might like this site - all you have to do is click on the box of a particular sector and then when you see the name of the company click again and you can get quick p/e's from each:
http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/stockresearch/marketmap

[cintrix]

Ok, I just checked three sources: Etrade has it as 17.29, Finvitz(http://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=NVDA) also 17.29 and Yahoo 17.30

[Gixene]

cintrix, correct.

[cintrix]

trailing, right?

[Gixene]

cintrix, I am in the process of writing a persuasive speech for college. We are allowed to choose any topic desired. I decided that I will speak about, "Why you should buy Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)". Before we had been given the assignment, I had somewhat already done my own research. I figured I already done most of the due diligence and that's why I chose it. I need to compare the P/E ratio of NVDA to industry, sector and market. I find that using Yahoo Finance for this is somewhat inaccurate. There are many penny stocks with ratios that are "N/A". Is there a way I can show classmates the accurate comparison of NVDA's P/E ratio?

[Money4Nothing-M4N]

This is too broad a question to cover in a reply. Options are far too complex to answer you in a few sentences.

The price of an option is determined by multiple factors. Among which are intrinsic value, time value, the Greeks and etc.

Unless you're going to get into option trading, don't bother learning. The "sentiment" of an equity option is easily found without learning options.

[CosmicMiami]

I was looking at an option chain today, for the first time. I'm not even thinking of options trading but would like to have some knowledge in looking at them to see a sentiment for some stock.

Could someone please point me in the right direction on what I see on this options chain? I'm not exactly sure what the 0.5 Call means with regards to the share price when the option may be exercised. thanks in advance

Calls Bid Ask Last Change Vol Op Int
0.5 Call 8.60 9.65 8.20 0.00 0 279
1.0 Call 8.55 8.65 8.55 0.22 146 2,112
2.0 Call 7.55 7.65 7.50 0.00 0 131
Strike
0.50
1.00
2.00
Puts Bid Ask Last Change Vol Op Int
0.5 Put -- 0.29 0.05 0.00 0 73
1.0 Put -- 0.03 0.05 0.00 0 243
2.0 Put -- 0.20 0.65 0.00 0 471

[FollowNoOne]

I notice that there are some pre-market trades as early as 4AM in the morning. However, retail trading platforms like eTrade does not allow market participation until 8AM.

Why is that?

[1gumbi]

Well even with stickies you still have to remind folks. Haha nobody reads the signs I put up at work either.

[cintrix]

The terms of the sale

I don't think there is any limit regarding when they announce it and when they actually do it. They would have to abide by the date in the terms, not when they announce it to shareholders. This would be my guess. I could be wrong. Anyone who knows better, chime in.

[shibbitz]

can anyone on this board tell me if there is a time limit once a company announces in a pr that the company has negotiated an acquisition of the company and a shareholder vote, do they have a deadline to file the proxy?

this is the excerpt from the pr

Global Technologies Group, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: GTGP) -- James Fallacaro, President announced that GLOBAL has negotiated a sale of the company contingent upon shareholder approval and will move to close upon conclusion of the vote. The terms of the sale will be fully disclosed in the voting statement and the shares held by Ms. Fallacaro will abstain from voting as this will be a non-arm's length transaction.

thanks in advance to anyone that can answer.

[1990Flstf]

Anyone using scottrade, can you do a stop loss on pps<1$ and if so is the commission more than 7$?

[cintrix]

I would go here: http://www.brokerage-review.com/
and look for your criteria. I personally have traded with five different brokers over the years. I like Etrade and Ameritrade the best. The smaller brokers may have some enticing commissions but I have found that the bigger companies are better and safer in the long run.

[mattpate]

What's the best online trading site to start using if I only want to invest about $100 every couple of weeks

[cintrix]

thanks for that info - i never bought an ipo via ameritrade when I was a customer - only etrade

[cintrix]

looking into that

[1gumbi]

Td does have the $250k restriction. But if you trade more than 30 times a month IPO's may be purchased with selling restrictions and forms and hassles.

[1gumbi]

No stickies on IPhone. What do they say?

[cintrix]

Read the yellow stickies before posting on this board!

[cintrix]

You are right - they are weeding people out. I can't even recall Ameritrade having iop offerings, but I used them awhile ago. It seems to depend on each individual broker regarding who gets shares. Here is what the SEC says:

Brokerage firms also may sell shares in the IPO only to selected clients. For example, some firms limit sales of shares in an IPO to those customers who have certain cash balances in their accounts, are active traders with the firm, or subscribe to one of their more expensive "premium" services. In addition, some firms impose restrictions on investors who "flip" or sell their IPO shares soon after trading in the shares begins to make a quick profit. If you flip your IPO shares, your firm may refuse to sell you any other IPOs or prevent you from buying an IPO for several months. Brokerage firms often list these restrictions on the firm's website.
http://www.sec.gov/answers/ipoelig.htm

[RobinT]

I think fidelity had the same requirement of $150 to 250k. Basically a statement that only institutions are welcome ....

[cintrix]

I have never got into an ipo through Ameritrade so I don't know what their rules are. A 250k balance to participate in an ipo offering? That doesn't sound right but I would call them and ask. Also, I know with Etrade they don't like people flipping ipo's and suggest that you hold it for more than 30 days, but there is no law that says you have to.

[CosmicMiami]

Been looking at Potbelly. I like this place and would be willing to get in on the IPO. I have a TD account. I see I cannot purchase IPO shares unless I have a $250,000 balance and file a form with TD. As such, I cannot sell the shares within 30 days. WTH?

[cintrix]

Short selling is the selling of a security that the seller does not own, or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller. Short selling is a legitimate trading strategy. Typically, a short sale involves the sale of a security at the current price which is settled with shares lent to the short seller by a third party. The seller makes the short sale on the assumption that the price of the security will go down. If this occurs, the short seller will purchase shares to lock in a profit, extinguish the short position and replace the shares previously borrowed. Of course, if the stock rises in price, the short seller may elect to close out the position through a purchase, and absorb the resulting loss. Firms are required to report their short positions as of settlement on the 15th of each month. A compilation is published eight business days after.
Data Definitions

Settlement Date
The date specified for delivery of securities between securities firms. This date marks the official date for change of ownership and is used for accounting for long or short positions.

Short Interest
The total number of shares of a security that have been sold short by customers and securities firms that have not been repurchased to settle outstanding short positions in the market; the net short positions outstanding in the stock as of the settlement date.

Average Daily Share Volume
The number of shares of stock traded each day, averaged over a rolling one-year period.
Days to Cover

Calculated as the aggregate short interest for the month divided by the average daily share volume traded between short interest settlement dates. If days to cover is between 0 and 1, it is rounded up to 1 on Nasdaq.com.


Read more: www.nasdaq.com/quotes/short-interest.aspx#ixzz2fzyIZlkO

[CosmicMiami]

To be specific, how do they figure short shares in daily volume.