Value Microcaps PICKSIX LOTTO CHAMPION

[lentinman]

KIK FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox.

PICK SIX LOTTO THIRTEEN (PSL13):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=15971

September 8th, 2009 to December 11th, 2009
55 Participants -- Gainers: 47, Losers: 8
Average gain: +31%


WINNER - KNOWLEDGE IS KING: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=49614
Top 10 Posters

   1`Knowlege     129.32% 
   2 CliffVB       80.77% 
   3 Researcher59  75.58% 
   4 ABH3VT        72.31% 
   6 Swampboots    67.27% 
   7 Valuemind     66.58% 
   8 Mike056       65.04% 
   9 Stevenrisk    64.55% 
  10 Northenlight  56.15%

Top 10 Stocks

   1 HPJ          460.27% 
   2 ROIAK        318.75% 
   3 AYSI.OB      312.73% 
   4 TSTC         232.26% 
   5 TRTN.OB      157.27% 
   6 ASRG.OB      155.96% 
   7 TELT.OB      150.00% 
   8 CHME.OB      104.27% 
   9 GRUS.OB      102.34% 
  10 APWR          90.22%

KNOWLEDGE IS KING COMMENTARY


I'm honored to once again wear the PSL crown and have the opportunity to write a few lines for the "Champion Board". I really enjoyed some of the background information that abh3vt shared with us in his Champions commentary and I thought my fellow VMCers might enjoy a look at my own past.

I Didn't Know What I Didn't Know

The year was 1984 and, upon graduation from the State University of NY @ Albany, I was incredibly fortunate to land a job at a tiny Long Island company known as The Unlisted Market Guide (really). At the time, the Guide published two-sided research reports on microcap companies that its subscribers could then keep in loose-leaf binders. The Guide was a free-wheeling operation with low revenues and high ambitions; in short it was a dream job for a kid out of college looking to learn about the stock market.

After "training", which essentially consisted of giving me a computer password, I became an analyst and was assigned a number of companies to cover. My daily responsibities included writing the reports, and updating numerous items of fundamental data on the Guide's vast database. To this day I still use that database (which has changed owners at least 3 times since I worked there) on a daily basis; I access it through Track Data.

Through the format of the Guide's fundamental database, and the company's strict adherance to objectivity (no ratings were given in our reports, just the facts), I quickly came to appreciate the value of fundamental research. The President of the Guide encouraged all of us to be on the lookout for intriguing stock market ideas. In fact, shortly after I joined the company, the "Bulldog Investment Club" was formed among several employees to actually invest in some of the stocks that looked particularly attractive.

The Hook is Set

Anyways, to make a long story shorter, I was adding new companies to the database one day. Believe or not we got SEC filings on microfiche back then and, on this particular day, the filings for Library Bureau, Inc. were in my viewfinder. Turns out that this manufacturer of furniture for the library market had trailing 12-month EPS of $.12 at that time and sported a book value of $.50. Imagine my surprise when I checked the stock quote (by calling up three market makers) and found it was "a teeny at an eighth". Yep, the bid was one-sixteenth and the ask was one-eighth (hard to imagine fractional quotes isn't it?).

Now we all know what I would do if I encountered that kind of pricing now, but in 1984 I was still learning things so I showed LBUR to my boss at the Guide and asked if he thought it looked good. He sized up the info I showed him and then told me (I'll never forget these words), "Son, I'll give you 30 minutes to buy as much stock as you want and then it's mine." As you might imagine, a newly-minted college grad doesn't have much $$ to put into the stock market, but I saw my way to purchasing 2500 shares at an eighth ($.125).

I alerted my boss that my buying spree had concluded. He said I could thank him in a couple hours. I wasn't witness to the calls, but in the next hour or so he apparently alerted a couple of his friends who liked to dabble in undervalued stocks. These friends must have had a bit of buying power because, sure enough, after a couple hours the stock was quoted $7/8 @ $1. I giddily sold my 2500 and thought what a great life it must be to buy things for an eighth and sell them for seven-eighths in the same day!

Talk about setting the hook for my future. After my intraday seven-bagger the path to riches was clear to me. And I basically haven't stopped looking for low P/E stocks since 1984. However I can still count the number of intraday seven-baggers I've had over that period on two fingers!

Looking Back

My first PSL commentary (12/20/06) gave a good summary of my approach to microcap investing. I wrote that, in terms of concrete strategy, I'm a low P/E freak first and foremost. I don't care if the company makes caskets or gaskets, bread or thread, spyware or eyewear ... if its trading at a P/E of less than 7, I'm digging into it -- and most likely buying at least a few shares. That's why I currently hold over 50 different stocks. Don't confuse that number with a fondness for diversification, it's not. I'm simply a collector of (in my view) cheap stocks.

It is from that Double AA and Triple AAA collection of cheap stocks that I draw for my major league portfolio. Like any good manager, I like my players to have some seasoning/experience in the "minors" before I allocate significant investment dollars and bring them up to the big club. I watch my nifty-fifty for continued sales/earnings improvement, increased trading volume, upward trending price action, acquisitions, divestitures, etc. When a particular stock starts putting together some impressive power numbers based on these qualifications, I'll up my commitment.

PSL13

While I take alot of pride in the fact that I garnered my first "All 6 Units Positive" listing, my success in PSL13 turned primarily on "The Trade". On 10/8, I managed to freeze both ACLO (up 138%) and ASRG (up 105%), and set about searching for a stock that I could use the proceeds from those two freezes to implement a Titanic double-down. It took another month but, on 11/9, The Trade was made and I "bought" SECX @ $1.29.

Due to a discrepancy between iHub and Yahoo volume data, the SECX buy raised eyebrows and required a ruling by SSK. The Trade was cleared and SECX began to rise almost immediately. A scant eight days later I was able to freeze SECX up 93% and the multiplier effect of the Titanic double-down sealed my victory in PSL13.

As for the stocks I originally picked in the contest, I continue to own ACLO, WKBT, ASRG (a minor position now), and NZYM (a fairly large position). I also continue to add to: a large SECX position (and have a standing bid @ $2 right now) and a large SMID position.

Looking Ahead

My list of possibilities for PSL14 numbers over 30, so I'm obviously not having a hard time generating investment ideas here at the end of a great 2009. Unfortunately I'm sure many of those 30 will run afoul of the $5000-volume-per-day average rule. Hopefully I can settle on 6 names that will prove interesting, and profitable, to my fellow VMCers. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


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PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449
PSL4 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19222015
PSL5 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22596832
PSL6 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25347294
PSL7 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=28826790
PSL8 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=31870165
PSL9 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=34310724
PSL10 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37678130
PSL11 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=41293175
PSL12 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=44849392

[lentinman]

ABH3VT FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox.

PICK SIX LOTTO TWELVE (PSL12):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=15375

May 26th, 2009 to August 28th, 2009
49 Participants -- Gainers: 42, Losers: 7
Average gain: +35%


WINNER - ABH3VT: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=33827
Top 10 Posters

   1 ABH3VT       141.02% 
   2 Northerlight 127.29% 
   3 Researcher    99.85% 
   4 BBOTC         89.13% 
   5 10Bagger      72.17% 
   6 Bucfan        66.12% 
   7 Stiffler      65.17% 
   8 MIkeDDKing    62.14% 
   9 Valuemind     61.54% 
  10 NSomniyak     60.59% 
 

Top 10 Stocks

   1 PMII.PK      415.00% 
   2 VOCL         214.55% 
   3 CHGY.OB      206.45% 
   4 IFON         199.93% 
   5 APT          188.82% 
   6 SALM         173.20% 
   7 SVA          161.16% 
   8 TXIC         159.01% 
   9 RINO.OB      157.58% 
  10 YGYB.OB      142.97%

ABH3VT COMMENTARY

With a hat-tip to Researcher59, whose style for this note I have shamelessly copied, I submit my write up for the VMC Champions Board:

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

I'm 43 years old and have lived in NYC for the past 10 years. Married, with 2 kids, I work out of my home office and have been a full time investor/trader since 1995. I also manage money for friends and family via a general partnership that I set up back in 2000 to manage money in a format similar to a mutual fund. I was introduced to the stock market through my father when I was in high school. Our timing was pretty good as the great bull market of the 1980s and 1990s had just gotten under way. I was smitten and decided to major in economics, which was the only market oriented degree I could find at Amherst College. I graduated in 1988 (the year after the crash) and drifted into management consulting. It wasn't really what I wanted to do, but it gave me time when I wasn’t working at my full-time job to get introduced to the internet and online investing in the early 1990s (anyone remember the old Prodigy bulletin boards??) I did well enough in those years by riding some of the early internet stocks but never felt comfortable with the momentum trading style. My investing philosophy eventually gravitated toward a value oriented style, but I wanted to combine this with stocks that were still fast growers. That led me into the world of microcap stocks, which was the only segment of the market where I could find companies that appeal to BOTH growth and value investors. I was an early participant in the Yahoo stock boards and Raging Bull and followed everyone over to Ihub about 4-5 years ago...and have been here every since.

INVESTING PHILOSOPHY

When I first started out, I read as much investing material as I could get my hands on. I read everything from Peter Lynch to William O'Neill and even some classics like "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" and Graham and Dodd's "Security Analysis". Another book that was instrumental in shaping my investing style was "What Works on Wall Street" by James Shaughnessy. It had some good long-term data for different investing styles and argued for a value style married to relative strength/momentum. One of the stunning numbers that came out of that book was the incredible returns available in microcap stocks.......and I was determined to narrow down the best microcap stocks based upon what I felt would appeal to both growth and value investors. What I've come to believe is that stocks that are cheap relative to their forward earnings growth (low PEG ratios) offer the best opportunities for appreciation. So, for every stock that I look at, I try to predict what they will be able to show in earnings per share in the coming year, trying to factor in such things as seasonality, lumpiness in sales and orders, one-time expenses (or income), tax rates, dilution from warrants and options, etc. I also look at operating strengths such as ability to generate cash flow from operations, low debt levels, barriers to entry, and gross margin expansion (i.e. ability to scale up easily). What are constraints on this growth? What is the likelihood that a company will need to issue more stock to meet this demand? How much insider buying is occurring? What is the organic revenue growth rate and how sustainable is it? What forward multiple will the market be willing to give this stock relative to its competitors? I tend to favor the defensive and less cyclical sectors like medical/health care, education, food, etc and avoid the extremely competitive, low margin businesses. I also place a premium on predictable, visible sales growth with expandable margins, so that eps can grow at a faster rate than sales. I keep spreadsheets of selected income statement, balance sheet and cash flow information by stock and also track all PRs or other relevant filing info that comes from the company. I participate on conference calls and attend investor conferences. I will call up the CFO and/or the CEO on specific questions that aren't Reg FD challenges - (assuming that they can speak English!) In short, I try to do everything legally possible to figure out why a company is doing well and what the likelihood is that it will be able to maintain that condition and create strong catalysts for new shareholders to want to own the stock (at higher prices) in the future.

Once I find a company I like, I then look for a good price level to buy in. Sometimes that will mean looking at obvious levels of technical support, and I always determine a "margin of safety" for that specific company. For example, once I have come up with what I consider to be a reasonable range for fair value, I will start buying at prices that are 65% of FV. I usually like to average down a few times, "legging" into a position over time and thus lowering my cost basis. How often I do this depends upon how much I like the strengths of the company and how compelling the value is. Other times, I have to judge market conditions and move faster to get into a full position. I also don't usually like to invest more than 6% of my portfolio in any one stock, although I will and have made exceptions to this rule. I typically hold around 15-25 stocks at any one time, although my top 10 is generally weighted much heavier than other positions. My returns since Dec 2000 have averaged nearly 20%/year and that is without the benefit of any leverage.....in fact, I'm usually heavily in cash at most points and have rarely been more than 60% invested at any one time during that period. (I’m around 30% invested at present.) I have had only one down year since 1995, and that was 2008. I am still learning more about how to professionally manage a portfolio and would like to get better at shorting/hedging, either by shorting individual stocks, ETFs, or using options on indexes to hedge. I have rarely used these tactics, although one could argue that my heavy cash positions provide downside protection and act as a decent buffer on volatility.

PSL12 CONTEST

A lot of factors came together to create a perfect environment for my picks to do well in the most recent contest. All of my stocks were focused upon growth in China, and this meant I was in one of the hottest sectors of the market. I attribute this to a growing recognition and acceptance during the last few months that China's economy was going to emerge relatively unscathed this year from the economic meltdown in the US and Europe. Second, risk taking came back into vogue during the summer and that, along with sidelined cash coming into the market drove a lot of "hot" money into some of the stocks that I picked. While I think that all the increases in price were justified, often these moves take much longer to occur, not necessarily a few weeks or months! With that said, I chose the following as my starting six: CBPO.OB.....CKGT.OB.....RINO.OB......TXIC........WEMU.OB........YGYB.OB

My biggest winners in the contest were RINO and TXIC. RINO (a pollution-abatement equipment company selling to major iron/steel cos in China) benefited from uplisting to the NASDAQ during the contest period, which opened it up to a wider range of investors. It also was able to show two very strong quarters of eps and sales growth that were no longer impacted by large non-cash charges that had hurt eps numbers in the prior year. TXIC was trading at a 3x forward multiple when I first bought it and the fact that it had a better than expected quarter and had exposure to the truck and SUV market in China made it a stock that investors/traders wanted to own. Selling those stocks when I did and locking in decent gains were important, but I then used the proceeds to buy a couple of radio stocks that had been mentioned on the VMC board by several others (thanks MikeDD and Nelson). I bought SALM and ETM as I thought they represented the best of that segment at the prices available, and both appreciated nicely in the closing weeks of the contest to propel me to the win. The radio stocks appealed to me because of how cheap they were on an adjusted earnings basis (backing out the impairment charges) and because they had very good free cash flow which I thought would appeal to the value investors out there. It also did not hurt that a few momentum traders bought them for their charts, which showed them all bursting out of long-term bases after some sharp declines in 2008. WEMU was the only pick that I lost on, because they reported a very poor Q2 result. I was fortunate to only lose about 8% there. CBPO, CKGT, and YGYB were all solid examples of what I like: strong sales and eps growth, low PE and PEG ratios, good operating metrics (low debt, decent cash flow, etc), and participation in defensive sectors. YGYB got noticed by the Motley Fool, CKGT benefited from the general rotation into low PE, high growth China stocks, and CBPO is simply a strong company in a very protected and profitable blood plasma product niche. All had been sold off during 2008 and early 2009, so some of this rise was a reversion to the mean and IMHO long overdue.

Some final comments: Successful investing is a function of having risk:reward ratios in your favor as much as possible and knowing when to sell and when to overweight certain stocks. In order to accomplish this, I have to work and dig harder than the person I just bought from (or sold to). I am an inveterate “fader”which means I generally am happier going against the crowd, selling when stocks are soaring and buying dips or crashes. My holding periods vary greatly, depending upon the fundamental outlook and the initial reasons for buying a certain stock. If the story has changed substantially for the worse, I sell immediately. If bad news is because of temporary issues, I will re-evaluate and look to add on weakness or hold and look to sell at better prices in the future. Once a stock has hit my FV range, I start to sell it off slowly, trying to milk as much out of a rise as possible and then wait for more earnings information. I always want to have identifiable future catalysts on my side to generate buying enthusiasm, and there is nothing like strong sales and earnings per share growth to create that. Never be ashamed at taking a profit, but adjust your selling discipline a bit if the market is telling you that you are undervaluing your stocks and selling way too early. Establish a comfort level and decide which scenario is more painful: missing out on the potential upside of a blow-off top or watching a relatively overvalued stock you own dramatically decline in value.

We have a lot of very talented and insightful posters on our Ihub board and I feel fortunate to be a part of this group. I hope that some will find this information helpful and I look forward to contributing more in the future.


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PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449
PSL4 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19222015
PSL5 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22596832
PSL6 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25347294
PSL7 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=28826790
PSL8 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=31870165
PSL9 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=34310724
PSL10 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37678130
PSL11 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=41293175

[lentinman]

RESEARCHER59 FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox.

This board has been created to honor the Champion Stockpicker on the Value Microcaps Board in the latest Pick Six Lotto contest. The Champion will have a chance to semi permanently let others know his/her stock picking techniques as well as his/her favorite stocks. The Champion can provide background information on their investing experience as well as any area where they feel they have special expertise.


PICK SIX LOTTO ELEVEN (PSL11):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=13244

January 12th, 2009 to April 24th, 2009
65 Participants -- Gainers: 42, Losers: 23
Average gain: +7%


WINNER - RESEARCHER59: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=49488


Top 10 Posters

   1 R59               62.16% 
   2 Cl001             59.44% 
   3 Old Pro           48.41% 
   4 Cliff             43.22% 
   5 Manny             37.32% 
   6 Bobwins           33.33% 
   7 Yielddude         30.36% 
   8 2Morrowsgains     29.38% 
   9 10Bagger          28.83% 
  10 Valuemind         27.86%

Top 10 Stocks

   1 ZAGG     228.89% 
   2 FEED     141.36% 
   3 SST.v    134.62% 
   4 AEA      115.79% 
   5 DIT      114.65% 
   6 LPX      111.73% 
   7 RIC      107.39% 
   8 CHME     104.49% 
   9 UTVL      86.81% 
  10 QUA.to    86.36%

R59's COMMENTARY

PSL11 spanned a very interesting and volatile period for the stock market ! As measured by the S&P500, the market dropped an unremarkable 3% for the 15 week contest period. However during the first 8 weeks of the contest the market dropped 25% followed by a rebound of 30% in the final 7 weeks. In effect we experienced a bear market for the 1st half of the contest followed by a bull market in the 2nd half. A truly unique and historic period !

I was greatly focused on my own portfolio during the market crash and so during the first 10 weeks of the contest did not make any trades (being very distracted by my own rapidly declining net worth) ! As the market began a strong rebound in early March I found myself in the middle of the pack in 40th place. On March 20th, 10 weeks into the 15 week contest, I was in 30th place with a loss of 8%. I still had my 4 trades left and set out to improve my position, with the goal of perhaps making it into the top 10. Victory was hardly on my mind with Yielddude leading with a gain of 37%.

On March 25th I began my comeback bid by freezing DIT for a 50% gain and soon thereafter doubled down into KPPC. My key trade came next, a risky earnings play on ERSO, a former IBD #1 stock now on the pinksheets. Q4 prospects were grim with aluminum prices having fallen sharply but I was encouraged by their dividend declaration as well as comments about hedging in their SEC filings. Even a breakeven quarter might spark a rally in the stock given its very depressed price of $0.57. My risky trade paid off nicely when they posted a surprisingly decent quarter with EPS of $0.06. The stock quickly rallied to near $1 for a 74% gain. My next trade was more conservative, into MFI, a financial microcap that hadn’t participated in the rally of the financials and seemed overdue for an upside move. That led to a gain of 29% over a 2 week period. Another winner for me was ORS which rallied strongly when a newsletter recommended it. I opportunistically froze the stock to lock in a 49% gain and subsequently traded into AEY for a further small gain.

Without any trading my original pick 6 would have appreciated 17% for the contest compared to a loss of 3% for the S&P500. It would have been a respectable showing but still only a 19th place finish. Trading is one of the keys to strong results and allowed me to surge up the rankings in the final weeks and finish with a gain of 62%.

The VMC board is by far the finest I have ever come across on the internet and has significantly contributed to my success in recent years. The expertise and due diligence of so many of our contributors is unrivaled in my experience. I look forward to continued successful investing and trading together in the years ahead. I wish our entire group success. For some more information on my investment style along with a bit of personal background I refer you to my PSL8 champion’s commentary -

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=28824617


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PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449
PSL4 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19222015
PSL5 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22596832
PSL6 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25347294
PSL7 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=28826790
PSL8 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=31870165
PSL9 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=34310724
PSL10 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=37678130



NEXT UP: PICK SIX LOTTO 12: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=15375

[lentinman]

MSGI FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox.

This board has been created to honor the Champion Stockpicker on the Value Microcaps Board in the latest Pick Six Lotto contest. The Champion will have a chance to semi permanently let others know his/her stock picking techniques as well as his/her favorite stocks. The Champion can provide background information on their investing experience as well as any area where they feel they have special expertise.


PICK SIX LOTTO TEN (PSL10):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=13244

September 15th, 2008 to December 12th, 2008
88 Participants -- Gainers: 4, Losers: 84
Average gain: -41%


WINNER - MSGI: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=24029


Top 10 Posters

   1 MSGI              68.10% 
   2 Yielddude         49.96% 
   3 BBOTCS            10.75% 
   4 GUY                4.86% 
   5 LISG              -5.78% 
   6 Deathtotaxes      -8.70% 
   7 GIFF             -18.05% 
   8 CRKranz          -20.48% 
   9 RMIWA            -20.82% 
  10 Knowledgeisking  -24.44%

Top 10 Stocks

   1 ADY       81.00% 
   2 SKK       55.41% 
   3 QID       44.68% 
   4 HQS       43.18% 
   5 MDVX.OB   37.14% 
   6 FFH       33.73% 
   7 FRPT      33.33% 
   8 RRZ       31.22% 
   9 SMF.TO    25.71% 
  10 SPDV.OB   23.53%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

KNOWLEDGE
NILES
YIELD
MSGI



MSGI's VITAL STATISTICS

He started out week 1 in 34th place, moved to 1st place in weeks 2-9, dropped behind Yielddude in week 10 and then retook the lead in week 11 - holding it to the end. His high was +68% where he remained frozen over the last three weeks of the contest.


MSGI's COMMENTARY

My overall investment philosophy has been shaped by the fact that I hate to lose money. Hence, in March of 2000 when I saw some of my profits made in the late '90's start to melt away, I sold everything and just sat in cash. I thought that I would sit on the sidelines for a month or so, while I continued to look for good buys. Most of the stocks that I had invested in were NASDAQ stocks and you all know how hard they were hit back then. It turned out that I sat on the sidelines for almost two years.

In June of 2007, I started getting the same feeling about the market that I had in March of 2000. My type of stocks didn't seem to be working so I went to 100% cash again. It turns out that the market peaked around October of 2007, some 400 points higher than where I had gotten out. I have probably made a dozen trades since June of 2007 with only half of those being successful.

So, when PSL10 started, I decided to do in the contest what I had been doing in my real account. I picked 5 stocks and a cash position and immediately froze the stock positions which essentially gave me all cash. (I look for Len and SSK to change the rules so this can't be done in future contests). I then looked for a fast moving stock that seemed to be a favorite among traders. That stock was FRE. I held FRE for 4 days and then froze it. Later I unfroze it and held for 3 more days and then froze it again. FRE accounted for all of my net gain in the contest.

What this proves to me is that you don't have to be 100% invested in the market all of the time to make a decent return on your money. Especially in bear markets when holding a given number of stocks, the losers will wipe out the gains of the winners.

Some will argue that timing the market is impossible and I would agree with that as far as timing normal corrections in the market, but the period after March of 2000 and the period we are in now are not "normal" corrections. In both cases, HUGE bubbles have burst and the economy has tanked. It isn't hard to spot a bear market, what is hard is to determine when they are over.

Unfortunately, I feel that PSL11 will be just as challenging as PSL10. Good luck to all in PSL11 and also with all of your real investments.

Larry T. (MSGI)

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PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449
PSL4 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19222015
PSL5 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22596832
PSL6 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25347294
PSL7 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=28826790
PSL8 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=31870165
PSL9 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=34310724


NEXT UP: PICK SIX LOTTO 11: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=14726

[lentinman]

THREES FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox.

This board has been created to honor the Champion Stockpicker on the Value Microcaps Board in the latest Pick Six Lotto contest. The Champion will have a chance to semi permanently let others know his/her stock picking techniques as well as his/her favorite stocks. The Champion can provide background information on their investing experience as well as any area where they feel they have special expertise.


PICK SIX LOTTO NINE (PSL9):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=12500

May 19th, 2008 to August 29th, 2008
80 Participants -- Gainers: 16, Losers: 64
Average gain: -12%


WINNER: THREES: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=35195


Top 10 Posters

   1 THREES            54.52% 
   2 KNOWLEDGEISKING   37.35% 
   3 Mr. SHEEP         31.02% 
   4 MIKES97707        27.90% 
   5 SSKILLZ1          21.86% 
   6 SNAKEMAN84        19.00% 
   7 HWEB2             16.76% 
   8 CWS9              13.11% 
   9 MANNY T           11.96% 
  10 MANDJB            10.18%

Top 10 Stocks

   1 ZYXI.OB  272.73% 
   2 TGC      138.96% 
   3 AFAM     106.53% 
   4 HDLM.PK  103.16% 
   5 VPHM      62.24% 
   6 WEL       46.63% 
   7 ATRO      42.55% 
   8 CRTP.OB   35.21% 
   9 EGMI.OB   35.10% 
  10 ZAGG.OB   33.33%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

THREES
CWS9
Timhyma


THREES' VITAL STATISTICS

He started out week 1 3rd place, dropped to 8th place in week 2, then second the next two weeks before moving into first for the remainder of the contest. His high was +76% in the week #7.


THREE's COMMENTARY

I am 50 years old, 2 kids and 1 wife. At 30 went into service buss. with $800 investment of used equipment. Company does just over 1MM per year with 40% margins and should grow 25% per year over the next 5 years. Have been referred to as a people person with street smarts. I also like to think being a good guy with all that entails is in my DNA.

It seems I also have an affinity for #'s even though my childhood lacked the structure to provide a formal education, (or heat in the second floor of our house). I now run a 25 person Corporation with a client base that includes the Pentagon, Library of Congress, Johns Hopkins University, Fort BelVoir Military base, Social Security Admin., even the IRS building in Phila. and Norfolk Navy Base in VA, etc..

I have been an investor for about 9 years first stock TCLN (now PPHM) still waiting for that one to work out. I do not buck the trends my focus is the obvious.

Todays needs; Commodities (AYSI), Energy (TGC, CNEH), food (KCL.TO.) medical(ZYNX). Nothing frivolous in this market.

Stock needs a reason that the true value is not priced in. Could be new venture with valuable assets and the balance sheet, management team able to bring home results. That is why I picked KCL.TO, but as in all my picks they came via our boards (I apologize I cannot remember who I pilfered that one from). I think it will do very well and will hold thru 2012 when sales should be happening, I also see them as a take over target.

TGC benefitting from rocketing oil prices and ramp up in production, a double whammy (at the right time) and a MOMO bubble in the sector that carried it to a way overbought condition. I got lucky and pulled the Double Down then the freeze ( sell in my portfolio) at the right time. I owe this one to 10Bagger.

CNEH similar a story to TGC and a China play, although I never felt CNEH was overbought and I think it is undervalued at it's current price. I owe this one to Wadegarret. Who knows me personally since we grew up in the same area.

AYSI My biggest personal holding again getting in before full value @.67 with imminent conditions for increased PPS not priced in. In this case a second production line and pending global expansion of a tested, but new product. Also prudent management with no history of dilution. I owe this one to Littlefish.

ZYNX An improved product over existing SOC in a proven market gaining market share and steady increase in orders. I sold this too early in the contest and in my porfolio. (WHAT AN IDIOT). I owe this ( and the anguish that goes with it) to MikeS.

General rules I mostly live by. No PK'S, No less then 30K shares average daily volume, Share price under $5. If you would start a statement about a stock with "If it's not a scam" then don't buy it because it probably is (MHUT, CESV, HSOA).

Many thanks to Bobwins whom I followed to IHUB from RB, and Lentinman, Nsomniak, Researcher, SSKILLS, bbotc, CWS9, 10 bagger, the list goes on and on for their research and insight .

To the best CYBER MICRO CAP COMMUNITY of them all... Thank You all.

BARRY

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PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449
PSL4 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19222015
PSL5 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22596832
PSL6 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25347294
PSL7 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=28826790
PSL8 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=31870165


NEXT UP: PICK SIX LOTTO 10: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=13244

[lentinman]

R59 FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox.

This board has been created to honor the Champion Stockpicker on the Value Microcaps Board in the latest Pick Six Lotto contest. The Champion will have a chance to semi permanently let others know his/her stock picking techniques as well as his/her favorite stocks. The Champion can provide background information on their investing experience as well as any area where they feel they have special expertise.


PICK SIX LOTTO EIGHT (PSL8):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=11462

January 14th to April 25th.
80 Participants -- Gainers: 29, Losers: 51
Average gain: -3%


WINNER: Researcher59: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=49488


Top 10 Posters

   1 RESEARCHER59      40.49%  
   2 LITTLEFISH        25.24%  
   3 RRUFFF            23.95%  
   4 LBAS              21.28%  
   5 CLIFFVB           20.60%  
   6 ROGUEDOLPHIN      17.28%  
   7 ECOBLOT           17.04%  
   8 CL001             15.62%  
   9 NILES CRANE3      15.48%  
  10 NORTHERNLIGHTSK05 11.80%

Top 10 Stocks

   1 MAK.AX  464.21%  
   2 LWLG.OB 226.92%  
   3 OFI      93.52%  
   4 HLB.TO   85.42%  
   5 CLF      82.81%  
   6 CPST     71.25%  
   7 IDSA     54.77%  
   8 EXM      51.69%  
   9 FPP      44.44%  
  10 BSIC.OB  43.81%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

Researcher 59
CL001
Timhyma
Cliff
Echoblot

R59' VITAL STATISTICS

He started out week 1 in 40th place, moved into the top 10 in weeks 2 and 3 and was first for weeks 4 and 5. He then dropped out of first for weeks 6-9. In week 10 he jumped into first place by 19% over second. His lead stayed in the 15-22% range to the end. His high was +42% in the next to last week.

R59's COMMENTARY

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

I’m 48 and live just outside NYC, the financial capital of the world (’59, the suffix of my alias is my year of birth and seems to be drifting ever further into the past). I was introduced to investing by my father when I was just 12 years old and looking for better returns than just the interest on my bank account. I was working as a paper boy and earning what seemed a small fortune of $25 per week and decided to risk some money on one of my father’s then favorite stocks, a company called “Interstate United”. He invested about $500 of my savings and a few years later I had a better than 50% gain, which profoundly impressed me and whetted my appetite for future investing. The psychological groundwork for taking calculated financial risks was etched in my mind.

I spent most of my career with IBM as a networking software specialist and the final five years with AT&T which my IBM division was spun off to. My educational background is a BS in Computer Science from Pace U. and an MBA in finance from NYU. In October 2002 I was let go by AT&T in a major round of cutbacks, and being single and risk tolerant, I decided to devote my full attention to investing. Throughout my career investing was almost like my second profession and I was very successful during the late 80’s and especially the bull market of the 90’s in aggressively managing my money, which I invested almost exclusively in the technology sector, which I knew best. I was always at least 10% on margin. I had plenty of losers but numerous big winners as well, most notably DELL which became over a 100 bagger for me in a six year period and represented roughly 50% of my portfolio at its peak ….. my overall returns were much better than the major market indexes even though my time for research was very limited by my full time job, a part time MBA program as well as social and sports activities.

I fared remarkably well in the first two years of the 2000 – 2002 bear market, losing only about 10%, helped by a big bet on ESST, which became a multi-bagger in spite of the poor market. I had a much smaller portfolio in those days and put at least 15% into ESST, an emerging leader a semiconductor niche. Then in early 2002 I decided to move heavily back into the technology sector which I had partly diversified out of in the late 90’s ….. I was crushed by a 61% loss that year, the result of poor investment decisions, bad luck and a terrible market for the tech sector along with margin borrowing that worked against me. WCOM was the biggest of my many losers that year. CEO Bernie Ebbers told shareholders that Worldcom’s financial woes were just a Wall Street misperception and not reality. I trusted him, figuring he’d never lie like that or else he’d wind up in the “big house” (jail). That’s where he is today. My large WCOM position became nearly worthless and it was like an unwelcome but essential wake up call. Fortunately my portfolio valuation, having grown over many years, was large enough to sustain the losses of 2002 and still remained substantial enough to allow me to try full time investing ….. the timing was perfect since the bear market hit bottom just a week before I lost my job with AT&T in October of 2002. The bull market began just as I became a full time investor ! It was good riddance to my old job which was ever changing in recent years and had lost its earlier strong appeal.

In late 2002 I moved into a small one bedroom apartment to cut costs and eagerly set out to restructure and diversify my stock portfolio. I liked the idea of being my own boss and the upturn in the market gave me confidence that I could overcome the debacle of 2002, my only truly terrible year of investment returns. That began the most successful five year period in my investment history. Being full time and having the internet to do stock research greatly enhanced my opportunity for success. I could read the SEC filings online, see press releases as they were issued and keep track of my stocks throughout the day. Most importantly, I enjoyed it very much and had the time to put in at least 50 hours a week doing stock research. Furthermore the three year bear market had created an abundance of bargains especially among the small and microcap stocks. There was lots of “low hanging fruit” as Lentinman has called it. It was easy ‘pickings’ and my portfolio valuation rebounded steadily.

In 2004 I ran into a guy named Bobwins on the YAHOO message board for PLCC …. I was very impressed by his posts and followed him to Raging Bull where I gradually spent more and more time ….. for the first time ever I tried investing in OTCBB stocks, and quickly found some winning ideas on the message board, particularly those recommended by Hweb2.

PSL8 Contest

PSL8 began in mid January during a challenging period in the market and I chose my stocks accordingly with a few more defensive plays. Luck, both good and bad, is always an important player in these contests and this time around I was the beneficiary of more of former than the latter. OFI gross margins rebounded more quickly than I anticipated and a director made a takeover bid for the company. SUOT announced they were moving from the OTC bulletin board to the Nasdaq. I discovered GUPR and thought it might be a homerun, but it turned out to be a strikeout instead. I refer you to my “Nsom Challenge” post for the rationale behind my original six picks, OFI, HURC CKGT, SUOT (now SUTR), SIF and TBYH. As usual, I made good use of our 4 allotted trades and held 10 stocks in all during the contest. Typically I’ll do a double down in the later stage of the contest if I want to be aggressive, but in this case I had a roughly 20% lead for the last few weeks so played it conservatively instead, even freezing 3 stocks ahead of the earnings rather than risk a disappointment. That served me well in the case of GUPR, but cost me a bit in the case of MALL.

My 6 stock portfolio finished up 40% with a valuation of $8429 …. The gain of $2429 is approximately attributable as follows –

  OFI  +$939   held throughout  
  MALL +$581   trade from SIF the last few weeks  
  SUTR +$386   held throughout  
  HURC +$238   held throughout  
  ASFI +$190   trade from CKGT the last few weeks  
  CKGT +$97    traded late into ASFI  
  TBYH +$35    traded early into GUPR  
  KRSL +$6     trade from GUPR the last few weeks  
  GUPR +$0     trade from TBYH early  
  SIF  -$43    traded late into MALL

INVESTMENT STYLE

My own stock portfolio currently has about 120 stocks, which is clearly excessive, but reflects the fact that I follow a lot of stocks and am not averse to holding some very small positions, albeit those are somewhat (if not greatly) ignored, hence missed trading opportunities and superficial research. Of course the VMC board provides lots of useful ideas and due diligence that one can rely on which is a great help. I like to be diversified across most sectors of the market and employ many strategies. Just one initiative in recent weeks and months has been to accumulate some of the beaten down cyclicals like LAD, ABG, TEX, SVLF, HURC and ATRM as well as financials like ASFI, ADVNB and MFI with a long term rebound in mind. My top holding is currently EBIX, a 6% position, many shares of which I have already held for over a year. My top 10 holdings in aggregate currently represent about 35% of my portfolio whereas the smallest 20 holdings combined are only worth about 3%. Arguably I should do some pruning since my smallest holdings really have very little impact on my overall returns and should probably just be in watch lists.

My focus is on the fundamentals with emphasis on low PE microcap and small cap stocks, preferably showing significant growth. The amount of due diligence I put into a stock depends partly on its position size. If it’s just a fraction of 1% then my dd is often superficial and I’ll rely partly on the proven skills of our many fine posters. If I’m scaling into a larger position then I’ll increasingly do more dd. I always skim the recent SEC filings and check the chart to get a feeling for how a particular stock trades and what the current trend is. For my larger holdings I will sometimes have a ‘core’ position as well as a ‘trading’ position depending on the volatility and liquidity of the particular stock. Normally I use GTC orders to capture short term trading gains as the stock rises and falls, updating them regularly as they trigger. SUTR and MALL are good examples of stocks that I have traded partially in and out of frequently in recent months while maintaining a core position (although I recently sold out of my last shares of MALL thanks to the significant rise in price). Approximately 17% of my portfolio is currently in OTCBB stocks. My holding periods for stocks varies greatly. On rare occasions I’ve even flipped shares within minutes of buying on a price surge but generally I’ll hold a position for a few months and sometimes many years. Increasingly I find that most of my taxable gains represent short term capital gains, whereas years ago virtually all my gains were long term since I would offset short term gains with losses particularly at year end.

I also frequently trade stock options and commodity futures as well as go short stocks, but in aggregate these positions generally represent less than 10% of my total portfolio. Typically in the case of stock options, my positions are short, both covered and uncovered, to capture high option premiums. However I’ll sometimes go long call options, particularly LEAPs, to gain leverage in a stock.

The VMC board is by far the finest I have ever come across on the internet and has significantly contributed to my success in recent years. The expertise and due diligence of so many of our contributors is unrivaled in my experience. I look forward to continued successful investing and trading together in the years ahead. I wish our entire group success.

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PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449
PSL4 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19222015
PSL5 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22596832
PSL6 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25347294
PSL7 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=28826790


NEXT UP: PICK SIX LOTTO 9 http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=11462






Bull markets may rise along a "wall of worry"; bear markets fall along a "slope of hope." -- John Markman, July 24, 2008

[lentinman]

Gilead FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox:

PICK SIX LOTTO SEVEN (PSL7): http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=9121

September 17th to December 14th.
75 Participants -- Gainers: 42, Losers: 33
Average gain: +8%

WINNER: Gilead23: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=27444

Top 10 Posters

 1 GILEAD23          68.11% 
  2 DEATHTOTAXES      64.36% 
  3 SHMOLTON          64.05% 
  4 NELSON1234        55.75% 
  5 STEELEDGE         49.31% 
  6 2MORROWSGAINS     45.35% 
  7 NORTHERNLIGHTSK05 45.31% 
  8 MICHAEL T         45.06% 
  9 SNAKEMAN84        40.65% 
 10 TMCAL6            38.66%

Top 10 Stocks:

 1 CEUA.OB 295.06% 
  2 CHNR    136.96% 
  3 FCPO    124.49% 
  4 SDTH    115.56% 
  5 DGLY.OB 110.34% 
  6 GUFR.OB 108.33% 
  7 FSIN    102.39% 
  8 ARTW     99.75% 
  9 CPHI.OB  95.48% 
 10 CHND.OB  89.05%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

Gilead
Shmolton
Nelson
Stiffler
DanLC
StockPeeker


GILEADS' VITAL STATISTICS:

He started out week 1 in 16th place, dropped to 34th in week 2 and 41st in week 3. From there, it was a steady climb - 30, 29, 22, 17, 12, 4, 4, 2nd and 3rd on the next to last week. He took his first lead in the final week of the contest. His high was +68% where he ended.

GILEAD's COMMENTARY:

I have been managing my own money since the fall of 1998 starting with a few thousand dollars I convinced my wife to let me play with. I graduated college in 1993 with a finance degree and passed the first two levels of the CFA exam with the intent of becoming a portfolio manager. As it turned out I got into software development instead and by various twists of fate I write some of the tools that portfolio managers and traders use.

Despite what should have been a useful background I am sometimes shocked at the stupid decisions I made early on. Many of them worked out as a matter of luck but my technique was equivilent to picking names out of a hat.

I started to get things right around 2001 and bumped into Hweb over on raging bull in 2003 I think when I bought USOO at around .65. That led me to the old RB board and eventually here.

My approach at the macro-level is the same as everyone elses. I try to be the one eyed man in the land of the blind by seeing reasons why stocks should go up that others can't see. I focus on microcaps because with big caps there are too many thousand eyed creatures out there watching everything. Its harder to see what others don't in those stocks plus it takes a long time to read through 100 page 10k's, understand disparate business lines, complex financing etc. After all that your returns are smaller even if you do succeed.

What I don't do is try to look ahead 2 or 3 years. Projecting long term results for a company especially a small one is so uncertain as to be nearly worthless. I am looking for something I think can appreciate in 3 - 6 months or at most a year ideally based on discernable facts rather than speculation. I also want things that are going to succeed the overwhelming majority of the time. That usually means stocks I expect to sell at a modest premium to earnings.

I typically look for stocks that I expect to show forward PE's under 10. I base this on a variety of things including backlog numbers, contract announcements, significant changes in expenses etc. I also run some relatively complex screens that try to project near term future earnings based on trends in sales, margins and expenses. In addition I get alot of ideas from the good old VMC board which IMO is the best screening tool around.

In this particular contest I owned 8 stocks
AYSI,ZYNX,DWCH,ARTW,IRD.TO,DGLY,TBTC,CXPO

Of these I found 4 on my own (ARTW,IRD.TO,DGLY,DWCH) and 4 from
VMC posters (AYSI,ZYNX,TBTC,CXPO)

That just shows how valuable a tool the posts on this message board really are. Going forward I hope to add to my bag of tricks to get better at this. There are alot of things I do now that I didn't do just a couple years back and there is always another way to improve your vision in the land of the blind (like buying contacts). I very much appreciate that much like my stock picks I have developed some of these tricks on my own and others I have picked up on VMC.

This is a great group that has contributed significantly to my success.

I hope I contribute to some of yours as well.


PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449
PSL4 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19222015
PSL5 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22596832
PSL6 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY:http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25347294

NEXT UP: PICK SIX LOTTO 8: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=11462

[lentinman]

NilesCrane FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from Ibox:

PICK SIX LOTTO SIX (PSL6): http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=9121

May 21, 2007 to August 31, 2007
88 Participants -- Gainers: 41, Losers: 47
Average gain: -2%


WINNER: niles_crane3: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?user=49627

Top 10 Posters

 1 NILES CRANE3      35.69% 
  2 VALUEMIND         30.60% 
  3 RESEARCHER59      27.98% 
  4 WADEGARRET        27.72% 
  5 LENTINMAN         26.71% 
  6 OLDPRO            22.19% 
  7 MR.SHEEP -NO CASH 21.13% 
  8 MICHAEL T         20.85% 
  9 WYOBUFORD         19.79% 
 10 DANLC             19.72%

Top 10 Stocks:

 1 RVEP      74.40% 
  2 CHNG.OB   72.50% 
  3 EXM       71.85% 
  4 AEY       70.84% 
  5 FTK       69.03% 
  6 CFSG.OB   68.45% 
  7 CKGT.OB   57.41% 
  8 CHNR      50.14% 
  9 LWAY      50.00% 
 10 KEQU      41.41%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

NILES_CRANE
LENTINMAN
FOOTWEDGE
KRISRYDEN
SOUTHACRESDAVE
BEIGLEDOG


NILES' VITAL STATISTICS:

Was consistently in the top-5. Took the lead in the first week and was in and out of the lead through week 6 where he took the lead for good. His high was +50.82% on the 4th day of the 9th week. He finished at +35.69%.


Niles_Crane's COMMENTARY:

Well, I obviously had a huge amount of luck in winning this. I do think my approach happened to fit the time, but I can't claim to have planned it all.

First off; I'm a 55 year old retired biochemist, living in Northern New Jersey. I lived most of my adult life in Nashville, TN, so it's sort of a repeat Tennessee connection from DANLC. I took on the name "Niles Crane" way back in the 90's, I think, when setting up my Raging Bull. A plumber happened to mention that week that I resembled the character on Frasier, and the Niles/Dsphne plot was in full swing at the time. So, it was just a spur of the moment thing. I ran into Bobwins, I think on the Medifast board back in '82, along with a couple of others, and carried the name over to I-Hub as it was established on the RB-Value Micro board. I must admit, I've grown tired of the name at times (seems dated), and once set up a new name, "Adrian Monk", but noone would talk to me. So, it was back to Niles. Incidently, David Hyde Pierce was a main figure in an Alzheimers support society in which I was also involved.

Well, honestly, I did not spend a lot of time on this. I mostly wanted to post a respectable score, like 25-35%, which I figured might give me in 25th place, or so. I also was somewhat disappointed in the previous couple of contests, in that I ended up choosing stocks that didn't really reflect my own account very well. In the first contest, I did well with a bunch of stocks that reflected what I was doing, and only missed out because of WHAI.ob, which I only briefly owned. I figured my selection might not go far, but it should at least have some good stocks in it. So, this sort of thinking influenced some of my selections.

Anyway, my starting hand was FTK, KHD, MKRS.ob, CPSH.ob, TDON.pk (WK) and HSOA.

FTK- I picked FTK because it was my #1 holding. The stock was in the mid-40's and overbought, but I just put it down to "represent".

KHD- I had picked up 2K of this in the 30's and this was my #2 holding at the time. This had a run in the two weeks pre-contest, so I was hesitant, but figured it would hold its' own. It's a volatile stock, with limited liquidity, but on a solid growth path.

MKRS.ob- I picked MKRS because of a sense that it was timely and could give me a decent move right off the bat. Five others picked MKRS, but they had all been into it for years. I, honestly, only have a vague notion of what they're doing with the Navy, but I sensed things were happening. I owned a medium position here as well, perhaps my 15th largest.

CPSH.ob- This is a high tech stock that had mostly sat around for years in the 1's. They had posted a .06 quarter, ran to the mid-3's, and re-traced to 2.8. They had cautioned that this was an unusual quarter, however, so the selloff wasn't surprising. Nevertheless, I sensed the stock was somewhat of a "coiled spring" at 2.8, and would re-bound, at least somewhat. There was potential here for major news, although no guarantees. I also had a small position here (about 2%)

TDON.pk- Another high tech stock trying to change the world. The were busy at the time hiring people from respectable companies, like KEYW (old ESEX), and were preparing financials for an eventual submission to gain bulletin board status. I figured a BB-listing, if nothing else, would be good for 50%. I had about a 2% position here, as well.

HSOA- I guess this was one I just picked up at the end, mostly because it was beaten down. I had been toying with ALY or BTJ, or possibly AEY, all of which I owned, and I didn't have any HSOA at the time. I might have been hesitant to over-weight oil service, and figured HSOA was due for a rebound.

Trading- Mostly bad moves.

I did not realize for several weeks that freezes were free. Thus, I missed a couple of good opportunities (HSOA for one).

1. Froze MKRS at 0.65, unfroze MKRS at 0.6. As I said, I was just trying to post a decent score. MKRS had come down from 0.7, and I wanted to secure something. Later, I saw momentum developing. An opportunity nevertheless arose to get back in at 0.6, and I took it. So, I gained a small amount of leverage on the five MKRS-heads, but used up a trade.

2. Froze CPSH (25% profit). It had moved from 2.8 to 3.9, and then retraced. I sold at 3.6 as a sort of stop. There had been no news, and I just wanted to book something.

2. Froze FTK at around 56, doubled down on MKRS at 0.75. This initially looked like a good move, but I don't think it eventually proved so (I'd have to do the math). Staying put would have saved a trade. Nevertheless, it may have led to my eventual win (see below).

3. Froze MKRS at .95. Although my inclination was to hold out for more, the fact that I had a double down and used my FTK, meant that it was riskier for me to hold than for the MKRS heads. So, I had to get out. In this sense, my original trade of FTK proved valuable.

4. Froze TDON at 0.78. They had become quiet, fallen into the 60's, and, luckily for me, rebounded. I just didn't think anything was going to happen, so I gladly took a small profit.

5. Traded frozen and leveraged MKRS for SMID.ob at 2.16. At the time, my main competition was still the MKRS crowd. They tended to share both SMID and TSTA. I thought that SMID seemed like a safe bottom, and there was hope of a 0.1 EPS quarter. As it happened, it started to move soon thereafter, but stalled around 2.4.

6. Traded leveraged SMID.ob (+11%) for QUA.to. By now, the metal heads were charging in full force. I thought QUA.to was a relatively safe pick. Would have done better with TGB, I suppose. In any event, it kept me ahead of "Just for Fun", as my level reached 50%+.

7. Froze KHD (up 20%).. could have gotten 23% if held. Just thought it'd be best to book it.

8. Froze HSOA (around 4.9, -24.85%).. I had decided to set a line in the sand. My WHAI experience in Contest One (although freezes weren't allowed) was telling me to limit the damage. As it was, the stock rallied to 5.7, but I doubt if I would have sold then. Might have sold afterwards at 5.2, but I'm not sure if I would have. So, I was a little lucky here.

9. Froze leveraged QUA.to (-13.7%). This was done three weeks before the contest end, effectively ending my participation. Turns out this was a very bad move, as it would have ended with a small profit, and I'd have ended 45%. The Fed lowered interest rates shortly thereafter, and the market stabilized. (BTW, I took my frustration out on buying QUA.to heavily in my own account :) I was sure that three weeks would give someone the opportunity to move ahead of me, but it just didn't happen.

So, just some luck, along with a willingness to take profits and limit losses (for better or worse) proved good enough.

It was fun to be ahead for a change, but I find the contest useful for the way it brings stocks to our attention. Keep up the good work!

Niles

[lentinman]

DANLC FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from IBox:

PICK SIX LOTTO FIVE: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=7804

January 15, 2007 to April 27, 2007
86 Participants -- Gainers: 49, Even: 1, Losers: 36
Average gain: +22%


WINNER: DanLC: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/profile.asp?User=27704


Top 10 Posters

 1 DANLC           156.22% 
  2 KNOWLEDGEISKING 154.61% 
  3 KIPP440          76.85% 
  4 JUSTFORFUN7      61.20% 
  5 SSKILLZ1         60.91% 
  6 VALUEMIND        60.27% 
  7 STEELEDGE        59.39% 
  8 HWEB2            58.74% 
  9 MSGI             57.79% 
 10 NELSON1234       53.82%

Top 10 Stocks:

 1 PASW.OB  480.00% 
  2 ABAT.OB  353.85% 
  3 UTVG.OB  208.24% 
  4 VII      197.14% 
  5 TSSW.OB  170.83% 
  6 GSHO.OB  158.06% 
  7 IRAE.OB  150.00% 
  8 WSHE.OB  142.42% 
  9 DY.TO    116.35% 
 10 OFI      109.15%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

BOBWINS
KNOWLEDGEISKING
SSKILLZ1
DANLC

DanLC's VITAL STATISTICS:

Was consistently in the top-5. Took the lead in the third week and was in and out of the lead through week 8. Fell out of first place until week 13 where he retook the lead. His high was +166.07% on the second to last day of the contest. He finished at +156.22%.


DanLC's COMMENTARY:

I am 58 and live in Chattanooga, TN. Three years ago I sold my software company and have been exclusively investing since then. My business was based on actuarial software primarily for southern life insurance companies. Although my gains have not come close to some of those I see reported on VMC, I have done well enough to pay my bills and increase my net worth.

I have been following IHUB since the old Raging Bull days. I was an investor in SRAM and was following the SRAM board. Bobwins posted a message there and I followed him to the VMC board. It is funny. I lost money on SRAM, but that one post has proven to be the most profitable invest item I have ever encountered.

My investment strategy is based on one idea. That is, that we are in the midst of an incredible liquidity boom which is leading to almost ridiculous investment returns. Regardless of your political leanings, I believe this will continue until the end of the current presidential regime or the repeal of the dividend and capital gains tax cuts. Six months prior to this, I intend to begin preparing for the bear market many of the posters on VMC are expecting now.

If you look at my earlier picks I am fairly boring. With the exception of PASW, I just pick stocks that were introduced to me on VMC, that I am holding, that I believe have something great about to happen and which I believe have a chance for a big gain. Duh. Isn't this what everyone does?

I got greedy when I traded ARSD for LSGP. LSGP was a MSN cheap stock screener selection. What a bust. I really expected great results from RSFF. I will pick it again as I believe that it still will make its merger work, but really mergers usually take time and patience. Speaking of patience. I lost mine on PTSC, another MSN Money stock screener selection.
>I could have traded it much better. My trade into CHNG was both lucky and benefited from all the posts on VMC. I truly believe that it will be a home run. The longer it waited to report the more anxious I got, but I figured it was my only chance to catch KIK so I traded right before I thought it would finally report. Wow.

Finally UVIH. I worked for insurance companies my entire career. My family made money during the fifties and sixties on small growing life insurance companies' stock. Insurance companies are governed by the states. Usually these are very antagonistic relationships with the states trying to tightly control what insurance companies do. Not so with UVIH. Here Florida is lending money to UVIH. Desperate for providers to stay in the state. I have written reinsurance programs and am fairly familiar with how such treaties work. UVIH is better protected than the market is giving it credit for. I have held as many as 100,000 shares and of course regret every one of the 50,000 share I have sold. I had been waiting for the earnings and the AMEX listing. I will continue to hold my remaining shares for $20 in three years.

Dan

[lentinman]

Bobwins FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from IBox:


PICK SIX LOTTO FOUR: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=6738


September 18, 2006 to December 15, 2006
85 Participants -- Gainers: 68, Losers: 17
Average gain: +15%


WINNER: Bobwins (BW): http://www.investorshub.com/boards/profile.asp?User=27704


Top 10 Posters

 1 BOBWINS   57.95% 
  2 SKABAR67  51.32% 
  3 KIPP440   50.78% 
  4 BLUEBEAR  44.23% 
  5 KIK       43.53% 
  6 CL001     42.88% 
  7 WYOBUFORD 42.51% 
  8 NSOMNIYAK 39.76% 
  9 MIKE056   39.16% 
 10 CLIFFVB   39.04%

Top 10 Stocks:

 1 TRGD.PK 268.97% 
  2 DYSL.OB 125.00% 
  3 ITSI.OB 124.00% 
  4 OPCO.OB 120.00% 
  5 AOB     117.50% 
  6 MOVI    109.36% 
  7 IIG      98.67% 
  8 LIM.TO   91.12% 
  9 IUC.TO   89.16% 
 10 SLP      89.13%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

BOBWINS
KNOWLEDGEISKING
SKABAR67
EREHWONTIM


BOBWINS VITAL STATISTICS:

Was consistently in the top-10 and, later, the top-5. Took over first place on Week 11 after the huge one day drop by KIK. He traded places with Skabar a couple times after that, but held the lead most of the rest of the way. His high was 68.01% on Day 2 of Week 12 (of 13). He finished at 57.95%.


BOBWINS COMMENTARY:

My overall investment philosophy has been shaped by my background as a banker and the investors I have met on the internet. Because of my work history, I am used to reviewing financials and interviewing CEO's. I think this gives me a slight edge over most individual investors. In addition, I am doing this full time so I try to outwork the other investors I am competing against to find the elusive 10 bagger.

My personal "AHA!" moment came a few years ago. I was trying to find cheap, profitable stocks and gravitated towards Raging Bull. I kept running into this guy named hweb. But he always seemed to be beating me to the same stocks. This frustrated me to no end!!!! So finally I broke down and flatout asked him exactly how he was getting his info ahead of me. He told me about Edgar and Businesswire and PRN. I knew about them but couldn't believe that he was watching those sites every day, many times a day, to catch earnings PR's as they came out.

Then he proceeded to display that amazing memory of his where he can recall seasonal trends in certain stocks, comments from a CEO two qtrs ago that are about to appear in financials now. So I tried to adopt hweb's approach. I never could get the hang of his trading skills but we still collaborated and traded info on many microcap stocks to our mutual benefit.

Finally we decided to form VMC. What a great stroke of luck! VMC has brought me into contact with dozens of very smart people who I have tried to learn from. Varied skills, approaches and tactics but each bringing something to the table to share with others. This has been extremely rewarding and keeps me eager to turn on the computer every morning!

In terms of my current investing philosophy, I have moved away from the policy statement of VMC, finding low p/e microcaps with growth. I think my strength is finding good long term stories within the context of the overall economy. I read a lot and try to stay in touch with the major trends affecting the economy. I found that it was difficult to invest in certain sectors that I thought should be overweighted and still use the strict VMC approach.

That adjusted strategy brought me first to energy and now to commodities. I was able to use VMC in energy because there were enough microcaps that were growing fast, profitable and were undervalued. The trends in energy have taken longer than I thought to play out. Specifically my belief that North American natural gas would be in short supply has not happened. Other than the Hurricane damage, my thesis hasn't played out yet. So this caused me to reassess my positions and make a shift.

My latest shift has taken me to commodities and miners. VMC is tough to use here because so many miners are not profitable or even producing. So I went for the next best thing. I am heavy into bigger, profitable value miners as well as near term producers who I think will be profitable and low p/e within a 2 year timespan. This has frustrated me because I can't post about many of my favorite stocks on VMC but I still believe in the basic principles of why we setup VMC and why it's important to keep those principles in place.

So I am still digging for value but in a slightly different way. I still love to find a value microcap but like others, find they're fewer and farther between.

I am looking for excellent growth in production and revs in my mining stocks. That helps offset the commodity price risk. I am looking for good reserves in the ground, honest, smart mgmt and the right mix of metals that look to have the best fundamental outlook going forward.

In PSL, I always pick stocks I own. I am not trying to win contests, I am trying to make money. I remain high on all my picks.

CEDA.ob and SUWN.ob represent my China plays. I think that internet education is destined for big things in China. Suwn.ob is trying to penetrate a huge US market for sweeteners with their version of Stevia. I think they have many of the right ideas and the timing is right. Whether they are capitalized well enough to take on the major retailers is my only question.

YPNT.ob has made money for me before. They have a high margin internet directory business that seems to be on the verge of a sales breakthru. They are in the process of setting up their own Las Vegas call center to directly solicit business owners. If they are successful, they will reduce costs, increase control of the cross sell and sales effort and improve profits.

PBG.to is my favorite long term play. If you asked me what stock I would be willing to tuck away and look at 5 years from now, it would be Petrobank. They have increasing production in Canada and Columbia, they have a possible answer to improving Tar Sands/Heavy oil production worldwide AND increasing recovery rates significantly while helping the environment by reducing greenhouse gases and water pollution.

LMC is an undervalued base metals producer that is on the acquisition trail. They have increasing production but will likely increase the most thru acquisition.

Tara Gold, TRGD.pk is the reason I won. This is an excellent case of management being the most important component of a stock purchase. Tara's CEO, Rich Biscan, has a unique business model. He finds near term production properties in Mexico with proven ore values and then finds jt venture partners to fund the underlying land payments, exploration expenses and cash to Tara. The values he has found have been compelling enough to form 6 jt ventures where Tara retained 20-45% of the deals. Three will produce gold in 2007.

In addition, Tara has rights to two base metal projects that they will likely move into production in 2007. They will be the operator and retain 100% of these projects. They have done surface samples and found that the veins are part of the same system as a nearby private mine. Therefore they are going to proceed with opening the mine without the traditional drilling routine that is required prior to raising capital for further development.

Biscan says they have assayed samples and the ore is worth about $1,000/ton. The nearby private mill can process up to 200 tons per day of ore. Once crushed, the ore can be directly shipped to the nearest Mexican port 80 miles away and sold to waiting Chinese buyers who need ore for their smelters. Tara will subcontract the mining, milling and trucking. How much will it cost??? About $250,000 upfront.

If they can process 200 tonnes a day at $1,000/ton, that's $200K per day less $120/tonne cost. The daily net could be $176,000. If Tara can pull this off, the stock is going much, much higher. It is scheduled to happen early in 2007. Biscan says even if they run out of ore early, they will be hard pressed not to recover their costs. Once the cashflow starts, they can use some surplus to drill for more reserves. Most private mines only spend money on drilling when they need more ore.

Lack of financials is the big problem with Tara. Biscan is working on it and reports progress that should lead to filing audited statements for 2005 by January. 2006 interims should follow fairly quickly.

I recommend Trgd.pk and think it will be a multi dollar stock by 12/07.

Good luck to all in PSL5. Bobwins


PSL1 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=11054704
PSL2 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13102250
PSL3 CHAMPION'S BOARD SUMMARY:http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=15707449

[lentinman]

KIK FINAL MEMORIAL: Taken from IBOX.

PICK SIX LOTTO THREE: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=5644

May 22, 2006 to September 1, 2006
88 Participants -- Gainers: 30, Losers: 58
Average gain: -4%


WINNER: KnowledgeIsKing (KIK): http://www.investorshub.com/boards/profile.asp?user=49614


Top 10 Posters

 1 KNOWLEDGE IS KING 45.32% 
  2 SNAKEMAN84        28.80% 
  3 C1001             24.77% 
  4 MIKEO56           23.90% 
  5 STYLECOUNILER     21.23% 
  6 LINUSPOP          20.97% 
  7 STANU78           15.04% 
  8 JIM_WI            12.80% 
  9 OTCBARGAINS       12.72% 
 10 HWEB2             11.52% 
 

Top 10 Stocks:

 1 ISIG   176.03%  
  2 IAAC   124.11%  
  3 SIM     92.43%  
  4 PRVB.OB 67.31%  
  5 BTJ     49.54%  
  6 TMED.OB 46.22%  
  7 KTCC    45.81%  
  8 IEAM.OB 45.10%  
  9 NGA     40.68%  
 10 ALY     38.51% 

Persons in First Place during the contest.

ABH3VT
KNOWLEDGEISKING


KNOWLEDGEISKING VITAL STATISTICS:

Came out of the gate strong and was 2nd after the first day. Dropped to 10th by the third day, but fought his way back - eventually taking over first place from ABH3VT three weeks into the contest. He never looked back peaking at just over 55% in late Juley and ending with the highest margin of victory of any of the first three PSL champions +16.52%.


KIK COMMENTARY:

While I'm proud of my performance in PSL3, and my cumulative performance in all 3 PSLs, I was surprised how hard it was to put a couple of paragraphs together to describe what I do from 9:30AM to 4PM Monday-Friday. It made me realize what key factors instinct and intuition are to success in the stock market.

In terms of concrete strategy, I'm a low P/E freak first and foremost. I don't care if the company makes caskets or gaskets, bread or thread, spyware or eyewear ... if its trading at a P/E of less than 7, I'm digging into it -- and most likely buying at least a few shares. That's why I currently hold about 50 different stocks. Don't confuse that number with a fondness for diversification, it's not. I'm simply a collector of (in my view) cheap stocks.

It is from that Double AA and Triple AAA collection of cheap stocks that I draw for my major league portfolio. Like any good manager, I like my players to have some seasoning/experience in the "minors" before I allocate significant investment dollars and bring them up to the big club. I watch my nifty-fifty for continued sales/earnings improvement, increased trading volume, upward trending price action, acquisitions, divestitures, etc. When a particular stock starts putting together some impressive power numbers based on these qualifications, I'll up my commitment.

As for my original 6 picks from PSL3 (ARIS, CKGT, EZEN, PFCO, TCRS, and TELT), I continue to own all but PFCO. However, I only consider EZEN of major league caliber right now -- and he's a .230 hitter on the trading block! I hope I'm wrong, but the EZEN price action over the past few months suggests to me that the company is selling yesterday's technology and is therefore facing a contracting market.

TCRS is my second favorite with a P/E of 2ish, but recent results have been downtrending and, being on the pink sheets, the stock is quite obscure. TELT is cheap on a P/sales basis and given the company's large investment in R&D, but profits are elusive on a quarterly basis. CKGT looks cheap with strong growth, but how can you even keep a straight face when talking about the Chinese cactus market -- much less invest in it? I'm just getting more skeptical about China stocks by the day. ARIS will be bought out for about $3.10-3.25 someday and I'll just hold it 'til then.

I also really like FRD (which I traded into by the end of the contest). It has an earnings track record, stock price, and shares outstanding profile similar to ERS before that stock made its legendary run. If the same guys that ran ERS are looking for a new horse, I'm going to be at the track betting on FRD.

Despite my fondness for FRD, another key aspect of my approach to investing is a concentration on low-priced stocks. I've spent 20+ years mining the low P/E vein of stocks trading at less than $3/share. And the golden nuggets at the $.50-and-below level are what keep me coming back to the mine. The best example is BRR (formerly ACRG), which I first bought for $.44/share and continue to hold in my wife's IRA today at $5.90. I just smile as I continue to hear the drumbeat of so-called financial experts warn investors to stay away from "low-priced stocks" -- my investments in those "risky, scandal-ridden flea bags" have made me rich!

As for my picks in the upcoming PSL4, you can bet there will be some obscure surprises in there. It's no coincidence that I'm near the bottom of the "sheep rankings" each time. In my view it's necessary to turn over more rocks and dig deeper in the mine to generate superior returns. I look forward to the upcoming competition and, more importantly, to the idea flow from our superb stock picking crew. Remember Knowledge Is King!

[lentinman]

NETWORM: FINAL MEMORIAL. Taken from IBOX.

PICK SIX LOTTO TWO http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=4811

January 16, 2005 to April 28, 2006
88 Participants -- Gainers: 77, Losers: 11
Average gain: +27%

WINNER: networm http://www.investorshub.com/boards/profile.asp?User=40375


Top 10 Posters

 1 111.44% networm  
  2 108.20% abh3vt 
  3 105.81% digitech  
  4  96.99% stanu78  
  5  89.18% nsomniyak 
  6  87.23% Apish  
  7  69.94% mr. sheep (Rebalanced)  
  8  67.92% mr. sheep  
  9  65.31% steeledge 
 10  64.27% lentinman 1  

Top 10 Stocks:

 1 320% SUWN.OB 
  2 294% RGMI.OB  
  3 221% LTFD.OB  
  4 170% DPW  
  5 145% GSCP.OB  
  6 135% ZENX.OB  
  7 124% TGB  
  8 122% CPROF.OB  
  9 115% RUN  
 10 114% PAE  
  

Persons in First Place during the contest.

tmcal6
littlejohn
apish
abh3vt
digitech
stanu
nsomniyak
networm


Differential between top and bottom.

Maximum Differential: 139.40%
Final Differential: 120.86%


NETWORM VITAL STATISTICS:

Took over first place on last day of the contest - literally, the last minute of the contest at +111.44%.
Reached as high as +111.44%.
Ended at +111.44%.


NETWORM COMMENTARY:

I'm quite lucky to win PSL2 in the end, as GV and KSWW.OB went up a lot during the last two weeks.

My strategy is to buy undervalued stocks that have nice growth. GV, KSWW.OB, SUWN.OB and AIRM are all in this category. They are undervalued compared to their competitors, in terms of both P/S and forward P/E. Most importantly, they achieved significant increase in revenue and net income.

EFJI was flat during the contest period, because its growth was not impressive. My worst pick--CHCI, dropped 20-30%, due to lowered revenue and net income (compared to
guidance).

I am happy that I had SUWN.OB in my list, which was a super winner. And I also did a successful trade with NKBS.

For PSL3, I found it is really hard to find any stock I like very much. I will be doing some serious DD on stocks, and hopefully I can bring some nice picks to PSL3.

[fructose]

So networm is the winner and only has two membermarks.



Hmmmmmmmm.....lol.



I for one, will be keeping a close eye on his posts from here out. Congrats to networm.

[lentinman]

Please read the IBOX which includes a summary of PSL2 and a few words from our winner (NETWORM).

Len

[FinancialAdvisor]

Congrats to networm and everyone who openly participated in the 2nd ever VMC Pick Six Contest!

[lentinman]

CWS: FINAL MEMORIAL. Taken from IBOX.

PICK SIX LOTTO ONE http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=4043

July 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005
76 Participants
Gainers: 64, Losers: 12
Average gain: +28%
Winner: CWS9 http://www.investorshub.com/boards/profile.asp?User=49612<b

Top 10 Posters

 1 95.16% CWS9 
  2 84.02% BIGPIKE  
  3 81.11% NILES CRANE  
  4 71.64% HOGFAN  
  5 68.19% GUY  
  6 66.20% ECHOS  
  7 64.79% RRUFFF  
  8 63.68% EREHWONTIM  
  9 61.62% TMCAL6  
 10 58.94% PHIL (BULLRIDER)

Top 10 Stocks:

 1 RWC     248.10% 
  2 BTYH.OB 240.91% 
  3 HOM     229.41% 
  4 CXTI.OB 182.81% 
  5 LMIA    182.07% 
  6 FPP     177.82% 
  7 TGIS.OB 170.63% 
  8 VPHM    166.19% 
  9 AOB     159.41% 
 10 HRBN.OB 154.72%

Persons in First Place during the contest.

Skeptical Optimist
TMCAL6
Zen Lunatic
The Alice May
Knowledge is King
MIKES 97707
Gilead23
CWS9


Differential between top and bottom.
Maximum Differential: 177.89%
Final Differential: 133.70%


CWS9 VITAL STATISTICS:
Took over first place one third of the way into the contest at +93.69%.
Reached as high as +141.70%.
Ended at +95.16%.


CWS COMMENTARY:

What a contest! What a result! The only thing that might have made it even better is if I could have held on to the triple digit returns I carried for most of the weeks I was in the lead. It was not only fun but also a learning experience for us all. Of course, it is much funner when you win. In the words of Mel Brooks....."It's great to be the King!"

So you want some insight into my winning strategies? You know, people pay big bucks to learn how to get these types of returns. But I'll let you know the secret to my success.

As you well know, I was the original "Mr. Sheep". My picks were somewhat a collection of what I felt was the best picks chosen from the various and very astute stock pickers that frequent the VMC Board on I-Hub. With that said, anyone who matched any of my picks might very well have been the one(s) who inspired me.

Starting from the bottom, EZEN was chosen as my lone tech pick. It looked to have room to move up since it had bottomed right before the start of the contest and was coming back. This was actually my last entry but I thought it had a chance to get 50% or more. It actually ended up just under 18%. Not too bad in anyone's book.

Next was ASPN, one of my three O&G picks. I knew very little about this one but alot of people liked it so I figured it had to be a winner. Once the contest got going this one went to about 250%. All the O&G stocks shot up. I thought I had to be a genius for being overweight in this sector but then remembered, so were many others from which I had copied.

Next up is PDGE. This one was my cheapest pick at a little over a buck a share. It returned 62%. This one was a no brainer with the hurricane season about to begin. The experts were predicting an active storm season. Little did they know that 2005 would go down in the history books. It is still unbelieveable to me.

CHAR was one of the biggies for me. Another O&G play that just went nuts. Unfortunately, news brought it down almost back to my purchase price. It came back pretty good to end at 95% which is great but well under what it once was.

Another copy cat pick was AOBO. I didn't know alot about this one but it was sure talked about on the board. Rumor was that it was going to the AMEX. It started off slow in the contest but once it made the jump and got the ticker change to AOB it took off like a rocket. It ended up profiting 159% but at one time was pushing 400%.

And that leaves me with the one and only pick that I can truly say was mine. When FPPC started it's run I posted that it was going to be the difference, or something along that line. I found this little O&G play on my own. I have a friend that owns land with Gas on it down South. I told him I would find a company that would pay for the rights to the gas. I spoke with Mr. Reaves from FPPC and was truly impressed with him. Although the friend ended up signing with a company who was already drilling in the area I kept an eye on FPPC. Once they made the jump to the big boards FPP was well on the way. This one also was up 400% before settling down to end at 178%.

So, my secret at picking was really just following the herd for the most part. There are some very smart investors that read the VMC board. The contest proved what a group they all are. What was the average return for all the entrants? 28%? There are alot of money managers out there that didn't do that well. This is a high caliber group and I am thrilled to be considered part of it. To actually outperform them on this contest is beyond my wild dreams.

One more thing to add - with the rule changes I am sure PSL2 is going to be even better. Unfortunately for me, I can only go one direction in the standings. But then again, I've been studying the VMC board so maybe, just maybe, I can pull a rabbit out of the hat again.

[FinancialAdvisor]

Definitely a congrats to cws9 and everyone who openly participated and had fun in the 1st ever VMC Pick Six Lotto!

[bigpike]

ditto, congrats. I really appreciate the thought process analysis.

[Knowledge is King]

First message: congrats to cws9