full-time investing; total portfolio up over 130% in 2009; but 2010 sucks!
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CGHI situation: ??? SWB and SWANLINBAR, based on CFO's recently buying 1.5million shares at avg .30, I assume the deal will not die, but CGHI will be bought at reduced price instead. Is that how you interpret this situation based on the Form 4 and comments released by the buyer yesterday?
EOG, EPEX and ASPN taking it on the chin this AM. Gas pains!
RGEN finally showing a good bounce. Dunno why the bounce... litigation news coming?
NKBS just sliding south. A big trade took it down at 3:45
Jack Benny liked to use 39, but I always liked hearing my two great aunts say they were 16+ whenever I asked their age.
Maybe humans can be cloned for use as dietary supplements and soldiers, of course. This commodity crunch just seems to get crunchier and crunchier and crunchier all the time.
Remember how Amy Carter didn't like the idea of all those nuclear bombs out there? Well, they're still there, and there's a bunch aimed at Asia and N. America. Terrorists are not the problem here.
Population Bomb... keeps ticking... people keep f*cking... there's even another Trump and 3 million more Chinese on the way...
People make problems... more people make more problems... more people compete for less resources... more people want more stuff... more problems make more people want more guns and military to protect them and their stuff from the "axis of evil" and all the other bad guys that our god doesn't like. We keep calling the soldiers heros so more kids will sign up to kill or be killed in the name of good and Chairman Mao and justice and Rumsfeld and mom and Cheney and apple pie. The Chinese and Americans are getting more and more in each others's way. The Russians are no longer a superpower so America now has China as the next evil empire, and the Chinese don't really like American very much either, except the buyers for Walmart and Microsoft.
We are witnessing the natural order of things... larger casualty counts... more reduction of freedom and creativity... more standard lifestyles...
It all reminds me of the movie Soylent Green... where we just eat each other to stay alive and don't realize it... was Edward G. Robinson right to just close his eyes and surrender to the medicine...?
Since we've never been here before, the statistical significance of it all just totally escapes me. I think I need a vacation, but I'll feel guilty if I cannot get enough MPG.
Are you sure you are not related to Midas? Anyhow, I hope you are right but have less at $take than thou. Good luck to all the VPHMformants.
I have no clue.
GFCI... haven't heard but they have a facility in SW LA, so there was probably a minimum of power interruption and wind damage.
What's got TVIN going today? Is the filter contract awarded? I see NO NEWS, but there is NEWS (just hidden from the common stockholder a little longer perhaps).
NRCNA: On the bright side ... I've learned how to use cranberries, scumbag, and management in the same sentence.
Reality: There are always more ways to get taken in the markets than defenses I've learned to use. I'm not paranoid; it's real; they ARE out to get me; they are; they are.
Anybody notice the NRCNA "going private transaction" news today? Are they paying me .21 per share when it closed at .37 today? I'm corn-fused, and I hope they are not saying that going private is like getting screwed.
comment withdrawn ... my bad
DNA puts woulda worked afterall... actually I bought some OCT80 puts but sold for a loss under $1 yesterday before DNA started falling today. Nuts4me; Bucks4U. Hang in there, pat'meister.
What happened to RGEN today? Quite a hard selloff in the last hour.
Thanks for the DVD review. I never got a DVD or a t-shirt, but I appreciate a company that does their advertising efficiently and effectively.
Goooooooo NWAU=>NAUG
NKBS... doubled up my shares this afternoon... good growth, low P/E, good price.
GACF... bought some this AM for longterm growth story (thanks, Wade)
Thanks Markrhead, you helped me take the plunge, so I'm now in the $wim with some EPEX Dec $25 calls.
EPEX is holding up better than most oil&gas stocks today. Does anyone have an idea about oil vs. gas portions of EPEX total revs? Seems like it may have been mentioned here before.
OT: I miss Mr. Rogers and Pee Wee, but I still hope you are all having a peachy keen day in your neighborhoods!
Good point, ABH3VT, as all ASPN info is not bullish. Could be that their costs of drilling may be putting negative pressure on earnings for current qtr. Particularly it may be that lease rates for the drilling rigs will eat a chunk of their earnings during drilling season.
Wade, your GACF is not as cheap (RE: P/E) as similar WLDA right now, but GACF's Mexican airline partner should really grow their revenues in coming years. I assume earnings will follow revenues, and GACF will be a good buy for the coming year. Only question is... what impetus will there be short term to make GACF start moving on up?
BBOTCS, as long as ASPN earnings are strong this week, this stock should do well over next 3 months. CNBC just had an energy guy saying Natural Gas could reach $20 this winter, a big bump from current $12.35
OT: I called Ameritrade customer service and asked them to lower my commission on 2 IRA accounts. At first they offered to reduce only from 10.99 to 9.99, but when I mentioned I'd like them to reduce to the same rate I get at Scottrade, that is, $7/trade, they did so. Good luck, bargain shoppers!
USE it or LOSE it, BIG ED.
OT: Geek and Babe on a Desert Island
Ed finally decides to take a vacation. He books himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeds to have the time of his life, until the boat sinks. He finds himself swept up on the shore of an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing. Only bananas and coconuts.
After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen rows up to him. In disbelief, he asks her, "Where did you come from? How did you get here?"
"I rowed from the other side of the island," she says. "I landed here when my cruise ship sank."
"Amazing," he says. "You were really lucky to have a row boat wash up with you."
"Oh, this?" replies the woman. "I made the rowboat out of raw materials I found on the island. The oars were whittled from gum tree branches, I wove the bottom from palm branches, and the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree."
"But-but, that's impossible," stutters Ed. "You had no tools or hardware. How did you manage?"
"Oh, that was no problem," replies the woman. "On the south side of the island, there is a very unusual strata of alluvial rock exposed. I found if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into forgeable ductile iron. I used that for tools and used the tools to make the hardware."
Ed is stunned.
"Let's row over to my place," she says.
After a few minutes of rowing, she docks the boat at a small wharf. As Ed looks onto shore, he nearly falls out of the boat. Before him is a stone walk leading to an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white. While the woman ties up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, he could only stare ahead, dumbstruck. As they walk into the house, she says casually, "It's not much, but I call it home. Sit down please. Would you like to have a drink?"
"No, no thank you," he says, still dazed. "I can't take any more coconut juice."
"It's not coconut juice," the woman replies. "I have a still. How about a Pina Colada?"
Trying to hide his continued amazement, he accepts, and they sit down on her couch to talk.
After they have exchanged their stories, the woman announces, "I'm going to slip into something more comfortable. Would you like to take a shower and shave? There is a razor upstairs in the cabinet in the bathroom."
No longer questioning anything, Ed goes into the bathroom. There, in the cabinet, is a razor made from a bone handle. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge are fastened onto its end inside of a swivel mechanism.
"Wow! This woman is amazing," he muses. "What next?"
When returns, she greets him wearing nothing but vines, strategically positioned, and smelling faintly of gardenias. She beckons for him to sit down next to her.
"Tell me," she begins suggestively, slithering closer to him, "We've been out here for a really long time. You've been lonely. There's something I'm sure you really feel like doing right now, something you've been longing for all these months. You know..."
She stares into his eyes. He can't believe what he's hearing: "You mean----", he swallows excitedly,
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"I can check the IHUB VMC board from here?"
OT: Bob, I've been watching Kenneth Deffeyes talk about his book BEYOND OIL (subtitle: The View from Hubbard's Peak), and he pretty much blamed politics as usual for our failure to deal with the reality of limited energy resources. 'Twas very interesting to hear him discuss alternative energy resources such as coal gasification and other technologies as discussed by Hubbard long ago. Politicians are unable to deliver "bad news" and be elected.
Rapid population growth and modernization and the resulting energy demand growth in Asia (particularly, but not exclusively) plus global dependence and competition for diminishing energy resources are the greatest risks that we and our children must try to solve.
OT: Bobwins, I found the rationale expressed by that article to be simplistic and somewhat irresponsible by its omissions. Particularly, he did not even mention the lack of efforts to promote energy conservation in this country.
Mr. Glassman is a graduate of Harvard and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. I don't believe their focus is consumer advocacy.
He also did not mention how the instability in gasoline prices accentuated by hurricane-related shortages provided opportunity for oil companies and refineries particularly to book inappropriately large profit margins as they increased the price of gasoline and crude oil fell.
His comparison of a farmer to an oil company is ludicrous. It reminded me of Ronald Reagan's comments about trees being a great source of pollution.
Just because we've made good profits on the stocks of oil companies, that is no reason to believe that their actions are innately fair and reasonable. Injustices occur, just like shit happens. Looting in the streets of New Orleans was nothing compared to the looting of consumers by oil companies and refineries in the wake of Katrina (and we will probably see the same with Rita).
Your chart indicates that monthly natural gas usage in January is approx 60% more than in September, so the shutin natural gas capacity will probably become a large issue as the temperature drops. One reason the clamor on natural gas supply is not particularly loud right now is that September is month with the lowest natural gas usage.
Keep in mind that the US does use underground storage facilities to mediate supply/demand variations during the year. See chart at bottom of this page to understand storage volume buildup/drawdown during the year.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/ngs/ngs.html
In essence, the chart indicates a 1-2 month supply in underground storage helps mediate natural gas supply vs. usage. It will be interesting to see how this curve impacted in the next 2 weeks as the impacts of Katrina and Rita take their toll.
I'm in ASPN and looking for a chance to buy EOG and/or ECA after we get a slight pullback this week. Note that ECA is the natgas stock that Cramer likes to tout/promote/pump, as he owns that one in his RealMoney "charitable trust" portfolio.
Len, thanks for the great "lightning round" (Crameresque) summary of stocks as potential Environmental Cleanup plays.
Thanks, Bobwins, for the details on VPHM-Lilly agreement. Is it your understanding that Lilly gets paid the agreed percent per year regardless of whether they supply the drug to VPHM or if a third party produces it?
MSGI, wow, are you saying VPHM is over 40% of your total portfolio (stocks and cash combined)? No wonder you keep posting such optimistic projections for VPHM, big guy. Have you been hanging out at the bar with the Rainman?
MSGI, can you remind me what is the total royalty that VPHM must pay for revenues between $45-65 million? Also, have you seen predictions of what Vancocin sales will be for all of 2005 and 2006 (including recent price increases)?
I'm in on VPHM with over 20% of my portfolio, but I've not yet had the BobwinsBallz to buy the longterm callz. How about you?
Clean Harbors (CLHB) has been pretty volatile of late. I think they may be a good play on environmental cleanup. They have facilities in LA but main office is NJ, but don't fagettaboutit.
Valero Refinery Damage update!!! ... oil stocks will be volatile Monday.
By Ciara Linnane, MarketWatch
Last Update: 3:49 PM ET Sept. 24, 2005
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Valero Energy Corp. said an initial inspection of its Port Arthur, Tx. refinery has discovered significant damage to two cooling towers and a flare stack.
"But it does not appear that we have significant damage from flooding," spokeswoman Mary Rose Brown said in an email.
The company expects to take two weeks to a month to implement the necessary repairs and restart the refinery, she said.
Valero's Port Arthur refinery produces 250,000 barrels of oil per day. The company also has a 243,000 barrel per day refinery at Galveston Bay, Texas.
The U.S.' biggest independent refiner (VLO: news, chart, profile) now has recovery teams in place in Texas City and Houston and the effort to reestablish utilities is underway, said Brown.
Valero said earlier that its Krotz Springs plant still has power but is operating at minimum rates due to pipeline outages.
"We are encouraging all of our refining and retail employees who can safely return to work to do so -- as restoring the fuel infrastructure in the Houston/Galveston area is critical to the recovery and repopulation efforts," said the spokeswoman.
Valero shares closed Friday down 1.8% at $110
If the President wanted to gain favor with the common man (and had the balls to upset his oil company buddies), he would institute Federal regulation of gasoline prices. Afterall, there is no reason that the price of gasoline should be allowed to go up as the price of crude is falling. Refineries that remain in operation will be out to rape the American public during this time of disaster.
The President should ask the Secretery of Energy to regulate the price of gasoline being sold by refineries... this could be done to help the American consumer... I mean, what the hell is a Secretery of Energy for if not to serve the American people?
Regardless of the price of gasoline in October, there will be shortages. The oil industry needs to bear a fair share of the cost of this disastrous hurricane season.
Good call on RUSHA this morning. I, pennywise + #foolish, put in a bid at 14.20 but missed out, and now I see 14.86
Nice call, and congrats on your portfolio progress.
Louisiana is catching the brunt of the storm again with more great risks to the chemical plants and refineries in TX and LA. Inasmuch as he has already declared a national emergency for LA and TX, he has the keys to all the buses, hummers and helicopters.
President Bush will be in CO monitoring the storm and state/FEMA/Military response. This is a great move on his part as he tries to distance himself from the indifference he showed during Katrina.
Let's hope he makes the quick decision to ignore the opinions of the Governor of Louisiana as his first act of leadership.
HOM market cap is too high already after such a strong move. Yes they are growing fast, and they hit new 52wk high today, but I'd wait til it corrects from this level first. JMHO
Exactly right! Financials promised but not delivered are not financials at all.
OT: IHUB joke board has some good ones occasionally. They are particularly helpful in a down market (LOL). Here's an example.
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7859272