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Doubloon...are you still following RGUS???
REGI U.S., Inc. / Reg Technologies Inc. Announces the Completion Stage for the Modified Version of the Rand Cam(TM) Engine
Wednesday November 30, 6:30 am ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30, 2005--REGI U.S., Inc. (OTCBB:RGUS - News; BCN:RGJ)/Reg Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RRE - News; OTCBB:REGRF - News) wish to announce that the modifications for the 42 H.P. diesel engine has been completed by Ebco Industries Ltd. (www.ebco.com). This version includes six additional cam designs with a special coating to ensure durability, which will be tested for diesel, gasoline, hydrogen, pump and compressor applications. Shane Kabisch states, "REGI U.S., Inc. can now test several applications for the Rand Cam(TM) technology by interchanging the appropriate cam design." The first application to be tested will be the diesel version for an unmanned aerial application for a large military contractor and a generator application for a hybrid car application.
Ebco Industries Ltd. has the capability to manufacture additional prototypes for other applications, as required, for potential end users.
Testing has commenced this week by Shane Kabisch, REGI's rotary engine specialist.
ABOUT EBCO INDUSTRIES LTD.
Ebco Industries Ltd. of Richmond B.C. operates one of the largest custom manufacturing facilities in western Canada. Ebco's unique capabilities provide a "one-stop" operation for customer requirements that include Heavy Metal Fabrication, Heavy Machining, Assembly and Light Precision Machining and Fabrication. Ebco is a ISO 9001:2000 registered manufacturer of equipment, machinery and related components for the forestry, pulp and paper, mining, power generation, petro-chemical, nuclear, aerospace and defense industries.
ABOUT REG TECHNOLOGIES INC. / REGI U.S., INC.
REGI U.S., Inc. owns the U.S. rights and the parent company Reg Technologies Inc. owns the worldwide rights to the Rand Cam(TM) rotary technology. The engine is a light weight rotary engine that has only two moving parts: the vanes (up to 12) and the rotor, compared to the 40 moving parts in a simple four-cylinder piston engine. This revolutionary design makes it possible to produce a total of 24 continuous power impulses per one rotation that is vibration -free and extremely quiet. The Rand Cam(TM) engine also has multi-fuel capabilities and is able to operate using fuels including natural gas, hydrogen, propane and diesel. Reg Technologies Inc., together with REGI U.S., Inc., is in the process of testing a Rand Cam(TM) diesel engine for a generator application for hybrid electric cars and for unmanned aerial applications for the U.S. military. For more information please visit www.regtech.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"John Robertson"
John Robertson
President
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein. Statements in this press release regarding Reg Technologies/REGI's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, including the impact of competitive products and pricing, the need to raise additional capital, uncertain markets for the Company's products and services, the Company's dependence on third parties and licensing/service supply agreements, and the ability of competitors to license the same technologies as the Company or develop or license other functionally equivalent technologies.
Contact:
REGI U.S., Inc.
John Robertson, 800-665-4616
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: REGI U.S., Inc.
BDC's...
TINY is a real BDC as defined by the SEC. In other words, they actually have CASH MONEY to invest in other companies, rather than hand over millions of shares for the other companies to sell to buy things like drilling rigs....
Harris & Harris Group, Inc. is a publicly held venture capital company (NASDAQ symbol: TINY). The Company operates as a Business Development Company ("BDC") under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
For the last three years, it has qualified as a Regulated Investment Company ("RIC") under Sub-Chapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. As a result, its cash dividends have largely been taxed as capital gains rather than ordinary income. In addition, in 2000 and 2001, it was able to declare a deemed dividend, which provides certain tax benefits to shareholders.
Harris & Harris Group has chosen to operate in a BDC structure primarily because it is the regulatory framework for publicly held companies specifically created to facilitate making venture capital investments in early stage companies commercializing proprietary intellectual property. This structure also permits the Company to manage its business in a more tax-advantaged manner for its shareholders than is possible in the more common, less heavily regulated, operating company structure in which most publicly held companies are organized.
Since August of 2001, Harris & Harris Group has made all of its initial investments in tiny technology. Tiny technology includes nanotechnology, microsystems and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
http://www.tinytechvc.com/
AITX....check pages 9-12 in their last filing, hard to say how their share structure will affect pps and the bottom line in the long term. Anyone have any comments?????
http://knobias.tenkwizard.com/contents.php?repo=tenk&ipage=3785496
Lonestar...I think you found a good one!!! Airtrax CEO Issues Letter to Shareholders
08/11/2005
"As we continue on our aggressive path of growth, we are focused on increasing shareholder value. We recently filed an application for listing on a national stock exchange."
Airtrax CEO Issues Letter to Shareholders
Thursday August 11, 8:00 am ET
HAMMONTON, N.J., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Airtrax, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: AITX - News), a developer of patented, omni-directional technology with military and commercial applications, issued today a performance update to its shareholders.
Dear Fellow Shareholder:
As CEO of Airtrax (OTC BB: AITX - News), I am pleased to provide you with a mid- year progress report on our Company. We are rapidly transitioning from development to the commercialization phase of our omni-directional technology. The SIDEWINDER(TM) Omni-Directional Lift Truck and Airtrax-MEC Cobra(TM) Aerial Work Platform, along with standard lift trucks manufactured at FiLCO GmbH in Germany, are beginning to penetrate U.S. and international markets. Airtrax omni-directional vehicles offer increased maneuverability (can turn 360-degrees in its own footprint, sideways and anywhere in between), mobility, control and security having military and industrial applications. Airtrax vehicles can easily replace and/or be added to existing material handling options worldwide.
On August 3, 2005, Reuters ranked Airtrax in the top 30% of its companies under coverage, issuing its highest rating of "Outperform" as compared to four significantly larger competitors. This rating underscores our belief that our 'disruptive' omni-directional technologies and vehicles with Airtrax patented wheels are poised to outpace our competitors' offerings. The national press continues to take notice; we were recently featured in The Wall Street Journal and in a televised segment on CNBC, as well as in numerous international trade magazines and will appear on NJN Network News this month.
Year-to-date, we achieved several key milestones - we completed the manufacture of 16 Sidewinder lift trucks, delivered four trucks, including an international order, and generated initial revenues in the first and second quarters of 2005. We expect deliveries to increase substantially in the third quarter with full production of the lift truck before year's end. In July, our exclusive manufacturer of the Airtrax patented wheel delivered 76 of the world's first production of omni-directional wheels from their assembly plant in Pulaski, Tennessee, with 168 wheels to be delivered each month thereafter, thus assuring future Airtrax production. We also signed a three-year lease for 30,000 square feet of assembly operations in Blackwood, NJ. Our new Plant Manager, Frank Cooper, was formerly with General Motors (GM) running the Delphi Automotive Division of GM. Frank Cooper directed all manufacturing activities of the $300,000,000 component parts division of this GM plant, which had more than 1,500 hourly and 110 salaried employees. The Airtrax Blackwood plant will be operational and producing lift trucks in September 2005.
Year-to-date, we have also solidified a number of Memorandums of Understandings and reseller agreements with representatives operating in world markets, where global production and large-scale economies are creating market demand for efficient and reliable technologies such as our own. In each agreement, it is specified that the distributor will purchase from 120 to 250 trucks per year depending upon the area of responsibility granted by the Company. Airtrax's vehicles can meet market demand by drastically reducing costs for storage facilities around the globe through equipment reliability, increased storage capacity, virtually zero maintenance costs and managed energy consumption. We now have marketing reseller arrangements in the U.S., Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Eastern Europe, the Balkan countries, and Africa. We anticipate additional global market distributorships with Mexico, Central and South American reseller arrangements to follow soon.
We are also excited to report we are almost ready to finalize our majority interest in FiLCO GmbH. FiLCO GmbH, formerly Clark Material Handling of Europe, located in Mulheim a.d. Ruhr, Germany, is a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant spanning 235,000 sq. feet, and is beginning operations for the production of standard forklifts. To view photographs of the FiLCO production facility and Airtrax products, visit our online photo gallery at: http://www.otcfn.com/aitx/pics.html. We look toward expanding our production to FiLCO to include the Sidewinder and have already begun marketing our vehicles to their dealership network. We are currently working to ramp up our centralized production in the United States and in Germany to complete production on up to 320 lift trucks to help fill our substantial backlog of orders throughout 2005.
As we continue on our aggressive path of growth, we are focused on increasing shareholder value. We recently filed an application for listing on a national stock exchange. We believe transitioning to a national stock exchange would increase our liquidity and transparency for current and new investors, including reaching institutional investors on a much broader level. I look forward to keeping you apprised of this process. In the interim, we encourage you to review a recent OTC InvestorFacts available at http://www.otcfn.com/aitx/report.html for additional detail on Airtrax. You may also visit Airtrax on the Web at or http://www.otcfn.com/aitx for future updates and product information. Should you have specific questions, please contact Gary Geraci, Investor Relations at Equity Performance Group, an affiliate of OTC Financial Network, at 617-723-2373 or email: garyg@equityperfgp.com.
As we begin production and marketing of our revolutionary omni-directional vehicles in the U.S. and abroad, we anticipate 2005 to be a banner year for Airtrax and our shareholders, but we even look more forward to 2006 with full production. As always, thank you for your continued interest and support of Airtrax, Inc.
Sincerely,
Peter Amico
CEO, Airtrax, Inc.
About Airtrax, Inc.
A U.S.-based developer of omni-directional technology, Airtrax designs and manufactures omni-directional vehicles. The Airtrax patented wheel was designed and developed by Airtrax after receiving a technology transfer from the U.S. Navy in the form of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA).
The SIDEWINDER(TM) Omni-Directional Lift Truck and the Airtrax-MEC Cobra(TM) aerial work platform (AWP) are the first omni-directional vehicles using omni-directional technology and the patented Airtrax wheel to be commercially produced. The nearly maintenance-free design also reduces maintenance costs, delivering cost efficiencies to companies both large and small. The Airtrax patented Omni-Directional wheel is manufactured exclusively for Airtrax vehicles. For more information and to view a must-see product demonstration, visit .
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "Safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain of the statements contained herein, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements with respect to events, the occurrence of which involved risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be impacted, either positively or negatively, by various factors. Information concerning potential factors that could affect the company is detailed from time to time in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For more information, contact:
Equity Performance Group, an affiliate of
OTC Financial Network
Gary Geraci, Investor Relations
617-723-2373
garyg@equityperfgp.com
See also http://www.otcfn.com/aitx
_______
_________________________________
Source: Airtrax, Inc.
Well, Greenie...looks like I got the drilling part right (unless it's longer!!!)...and probably the BDC red flag...we'll see....
Posted by: greeneyedhawk
In reply to: Jagman who wrote msg# 2618 Date:10/20/2005 5:57:11 PM
Post #of 3939
jagman, you posted: "I figure 1-2 months before any drilling."
You figured the SP move wrong, and you will be shown to figure time wrong too. That will makes the rig's first spud somewhere between Nov 20th and Dec 20th per your time projections. ......... We'll see.
Just keep bashing, while my portfolio swells in value.
Don't you like making money, or does bashing pay better???
... %^ greeneyedhawk
Aggggggghhh!!!! You're killing me off, Greeneye!!! Go say hi to your RB boys!!! LOL!!!
By: rostea
29 Nov 2005, 02:42 PM EST
Msg. 51940 of 51941
(This msg. is a reply to 51932 by derivativedallas.)
Jump to msg. #
DD and everyone. Hawk is in IHUB killing Jagman off! Let's go! :)
Now there's a trip that would be a huge waste of money!! I don't have a share printer to pay for the trip!!! LOL!!!
Just like you, I find all the relevant info in the filings, then look at the pps and dilution history......
greeneyedhawk, please tell me where I can short OTC stocks!!
PS: I don't have an offshore account and I'm not Canadian or German!!! Glad you made money on HISC and are in the green on BIPH....do you ever post your selling or just the buys when you are pumping???? Hope you tell us when to get out of AMEP!!!! I may have to pick up a few shares in time for the drilling!!!
AITX...neat wheels!!! Check out their home page video...now that's my idea of a startup with a great product!! Thanks for the tip...
http://www.airtrax.com/
"A BDC must provide and maintain a Fidelity Bond issued by a reputable fidelity insurance company to protect the company against larceny and embezzlement." Where is that bond listed in the filing?????
greeneyedhawk...LOL!! I knew you would show up by the end of the month!!! Looks like my 3 cents will be wrong...I actually thought most investors would have understood the dilution in the filing and how a OTC BDC works, but it turns out they could care less since most are flippers anyway. And yes, I enjoy making money and "play" the flippers once in a while.
Not much of a move today, looks like the smart money knows what an OTC BDC does best!!! BTW, how's your POS HISC and BIPH doing??? I guess on BIPH you can't predict worth chit either!!! Keep up the great work, the flippers luv ya!!!!
Care for a bet on AMEP's revenue $$$$ in their next filing?????
Sam...no, but I thought it would be nice to stop and see how the boys are doing in Tennessee with their angle cuttings...I was going to recommend trying 22 1/2 degree cut for the chop-chop machine.... Then check out the Zeolite plant...at that point you may have to wire me the hundred bucks for gas money to get to Prince Charles or Charming....whatever....
IDNX...Another PR, may be a decent stock for the long term... under $5.00.....
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/051129/20051129005324.html?.v=1
Everybody wants gold
Gold futures have hit $500 an ounce for the first time since Dec. 14, 1987. Demand is heavy in India and China. Central banks are buying. And institutional investors are stocking up on the precious metal to be safe if inflation flares up. "Every reason imaginable for buying gold has been used the past week or so," said Ned Schmidt, editor of Value View Gold Report. (MarketWatch)
I think a stuffed, Green-eyed Hawk on top of the rig would be cool!!!!
Great pictures of the rig!!! "Phantom 1" looks ready to produce some Phantom revenues for AMEP and fill the investees pockets!!!! IMO..... Maybe some pictures of drilling in a couple of months!!!
Sam, I was going to go to the Zeolite plant first...is it on the way to Prince George from Tennessee????
Man!! If these posters take months to find "Ignore", you know they can't find and read a filing!!!! LOLOLOL!!!!!
Greeneye probably doesn't want to be in the room when the chit hits the fan. He predicted $13.33 pps for BIPH by year end and doesn't hang out there anymore either....
BIPH end of 2005:
$10.00-------biph4life
$12.50-------biphispanic
$17.60-------cyberbub0
$4.23-------jamesssss
$4.78-------jaratca
$6.50-------jeffreysjammers
$4.16-------jpi30
$17.50-------kindoeike
$11.2358-----mackenzian
$13.33-------1greeneyedhawk
$3.18-------patton74
$5.80-------phrreee
$7.25-------renmanaz0
$9.99-------shellbark04
$18.50-------stephqb
$5.50-------zoloft
OT: Czech...be careful over there, wishing you a safe return.
Truth sucks, doesn't it.....
Piggy has been more accurate than management in predicting...
Goldcorp to acquire major interest in Wolfden
(WLF at $2.95 Cdn, trading halted on news)
Monday November 28, 9:15 am ET
Shares Issued: 55,122,878
THUNDER BAY, ON, Nov. 28 /CNW/ - WOLFDEN RESOURCES INC. ("Wolfden") (TSX:WLF - News) is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of intent with GOLDCORP INC. (G:TSX, GG:NYSE) pursuant to which Goldcorp will acquire 6 Million Shares of Wolfden. Goldcorp will also assist Wolfden in arranging financing for the development of its High Lake Project and the companies will endeavor to identify potential mutually beneficial acquisition opportunities.
Goldcorp has agreed to acquire from Wolfden, by way of private placement, three Million Common Shares and three Million Flow-Through Common Shares at a price of $3.60 per share, for total gross proceeds of $21.6 Million. Upon completion of the Offering on or about December 20, 2005, Goldcorp will own approximately 9.82% of the then outstanding common shares of Wolfden. Wolfden plans to use the proceeds from the sale of the Flow-Through Common Shares for exploration programs to be conducted on its Canadian properties. The proceeds from the sale of the Common Shares will be used for working capital purposes. The completion of the Offering is subject to certain conditions and the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.
Upon completion of the Offering, Goldcorp has agreed to provide assistance to Wolfden in identifying and arranging for financing in the respect of the development of its 100% owned High Lake Project. Wolfden is in the process of completing pre-feasibility and environmental baseline work in advance of submitting its Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for the permitting of High Lake for production. Wolfden's 2003 West Zone discovery at High Lake is one of the largest and highest-grade poly-metallic (copper, zinc, silver and gold) discoveries that has been made in North America in the last decade.
Additionally, Wolfden and Goldcorp have agreed that, upon completion of the Offering, the companies will work together to identify mutually beneficial mineral projects for acquisition.
Wolfden holds several advanced-stage gold projects in Canada including two in the Red Lake gold camp where Goldcorp operates its Red Lake Gold Mine which are as follows: (i) The Bonanza Gold Project (100% owned), where Wolfden currently has three drills testing a new gold discovery (drill intercepts up to 8.66g/t Au across 22.0 meters) which is located approximately 3.5km to the east of the Red Lake Mine; and, (ii) the East Bay deposit (Wolfden 50%) which is located in the north part of the Red Lake greenstone belt.
"The alliance with Goldcorp offers an excellent opportunity for Wolfden to accelerate growth," stated Ewan Downie, President of Wolfden. "Goldcorp is one of the world's premier mining companies and has an aggressive growth strategy, similar to that of Wolfden. This alliance will allow both companies to pursue further project opportunities and will assist Wolfden in reaching its goal of becoming a significant metals producer".
WOLFDEN is a Canadian based mineral exploration and development company with a diversified portfolio of advanced stage properties and several ongoing exploration programs in Canada. Wolfden is debt free and has a strong treasury.
The statements made in this Press Release may contain forward-looking
statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's
expectations and projections.
For further information
Ewan Downie, President, Phone: (807) 346-1668, Fax: (807) 345-0284, e-mail: Info@wolfdenresources.com, Web Site: www.wolfdenresources.com
Must be a Conglomerate!!! LOL!!!
American Energy Production, Inc., Announces Purchase of Oil Drilling Rig by Investee....
MINERAL WELLS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 2005--American Energy Production, Inc., (OTCBB:AMEP - News) announced today that AMEP Strategic Investments, Inc., an investee, has purchased an 8,000 foot capacity Ideco drilling rig from Aramdrill in Mexico.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050901/15271.html?.v=1
So I guess "AMEP Strategic Investments, Inc.", the investee, will be the name on the rig. Since it's an "investee", the AMEP shareholders will never see the revenue details of the rig and who's pocket the money is going into.....pretty slick move, if the SEC continues to let them abuse the BDC designation...IMO.
I think they used camouflage.....it makes a great deer stand!!
Senators are blowing smoke on gas
Unless they can repeal the law of supply and demand, they can't do a thing about prices.
I DON'T MIND all the whining about gas prices. That's what you're supposed to do at the end of an empire.
"These lions aren't crunching Christian bones loudly enough!" "This orgy is full of fat Spartans!" "My Escalade costs too much to drive to go hiking!" (LMAO!!!)
But for the Senate to waste its time on this is another matter. Don't our elected officials have fake Alaska bridges to build?
The Senate, in a pathetic attempt to get attention, recently spent hours grilling oil executives about why their companies' profits are so high and what they were going to do with the money. I think the lawmakers were hoping for "Free Gas for Senators Day."
It's not that I trust oil companies. These are people who are still trying to outsmart us with that 0.9 of a penny trick. But the idea that greedy oil execs are just taking our gas money and spending it on hunting trips with Dick Cheney isn't true. The profits are going to the masses of people who own mutual funds that hold oil stocks, only a small portion of whom are rich enough to go on hunting trips with Dick Cheney.
Gas, like everything else, has its price set by supply and demand. No company charges what it thinks is fair. They charge as much as they can get away with. That's the way the system works. If the job of the Senate was to keep prices reasonable, there would have been hearings on the cost of Beanie Babies, real estate and drinks at the Bar Marmont.
The reason gas costs so much right now — and frankly, it's substantially less than it was a month ago — is that there's a limit to how much you can pump out of existing wells every day, and emerging economies such as China's are guzzling the stuff, thus increasing demand.
The Senate can't do anything about that, other than export American-made cars to Beijing until the Chinese get so frustrated by their inferior performance they give up driving altogether. I really should be president.
Prices fluctuate. That's the deal with this capitalism thing. When gas was selling at $1 a gallon in the summer of 1999, we didn't demand that the Senate investigate why prices were so low. We were too busy running through gasoline-spewing sprinklers and drinking gasoline wine in a gasoline haze.
Today's gas prices are startling partly because unlike food prices, which are hidden on those tiny misplaced stickers on supermarket shelves, gas stations are the only places run by people stupid enough to build the largest price tags in the world.
It's a little disturbing that gas prices are so volatile. It's not like every time you go to Ralphs, the price of Jujubes jumps up or down 50%. But that probably explains why there aren't billion-dollar conglomerates that drill for Jujubes. Though, to be honest, I think that would be a wonderful world.
I don't pretend to understand why some things are cheap and others are expensive. DVD players should cost more, house paint should cost less. Salt has been trading at record lows for the last 600 years.
I know the high cost of energy takes an unfair toll on the poor because it's a much bigger percentage of their income. Those people are always getting screwed: checking account charges, easy-credit rip-offs, hangin' in a chow line. OK, most of what I know about poor people comes from watching "Good Times."
But the government should be helping them more directly with aid programs and public transportation. It's not going to help to slap the oil industry with some special end-of-the-year tax, as some propose. Or begging the oil companies to donate to poor people's heating bills, as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley did. Helping people in need is the government's job, not something we should rely on business for.
And those taxes and handouts would result, of course, in higher gas prices to make up for the loss, because Saudi Arabia isn't going to lower prices to ExxonMobil just for Grassley. It does that only for Bushes.
I bought a car in January after not owning one for 11 years in Manhattan. So I'm as freaked out as everyone else at how much I'm spending.
But the truth is, in a capitalist system, you don't have a right to affordable energy any more than you have a right to affordable Rolexes.
Plus, I'm feeling sweet revenge for all the mockery I got for buying a Mini Cooper.
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-oe-stein22nov22,1,108287.column
You stay the course so well!!!
TRCPA, I have seen OTC stocks go into oblivion with management owning millions of shares. Doesn't mean squat, that's all part of the "game". You remain here, I think, because you really don't understand how they operate. Most investors still in should have sold (or did sell) when management paid themselves the big bonuses......if the company is expected to do so well, why not take shares as the "bonus"?????
Here's where you ask why I'm still around... I want to see how this ends, or if it just continues on forever with more shares and dilution. I have leaned more about OTC "investing" off of FASC without ever owning a share...what a cheap education!!! LOL!!!
Maybe could get Purchase Order financing, but it's expensive. Much cheaper to sell shares and let the shareholders pay, doesn't seem to bother them at bonus time. I doubt they are worried much about shareholder value except when they dump shares. IMO, in their minds, they are doing all the "work" why worry about some penny players sitting at a keyboard......they well document the risks involved in the filings, so tough chit.
TRCPA, Back in Jan 2003, you commented on a reverse split. Do you still feel that way and do you think an increase in authorized will occur instead of the RS???
"Cal has said before that will not happen. And there would be absolutely no reason for one, given significant revenues and future profitability, which the longs are expecting."
LMAO!!! Put my name in first to see if it worked!!!!
INCA....488,777,249 shares issued and outstanding ???? AMEP a much better flipper, IMO...besides, oil & gas is sexy right now.
Betting against shorts isn't wise
Thursday November 24, 9:03 pm ET
"Most people don't short stocks. Those who do tend to be Wall Street professionals, and they tend to be fairly savvy investors. "If someone is shorting a stock, they'd better have good reason to do that," says Chao Chen, director of analysis at TFS."
On Wall Street, short interest means more than an unusual curiosity about leprechauns. It refers to the volume of betting that a stock will fall.
Conventional wisdom says that you should buy stocks with huge amounts of short interest. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom is wrong. You're often better off avoiding stocks with lots of short interest.
When you sell short, you borrow shares from your broker and sell them on the open market. To close the deal, you buy the shares back. It's the opposite of a typical stock purchase, called a long position.
Let's say you noticed that the price of moose antlers was soaring - which, in turn, would hurt the earnings of Amalgamated Hatrack. You decide to go short, so you borrow 100 shares of Amalgamated Hatrack from your broker and sell them at $30 per share.
Two months later, Amalgamated Hatrack falls to $25. You buy the shares back and pocket the $5 difference per share, for a $500 profit.
Selling short isn't for the fainthearted. Suppose the company introduces a new line of hatracks using artificial moose antlers. Even worse, these hatracks are featured on Trading Spaces. The stock soars to $40. When you buy back the shares - called covering - you have lost $10 per share, or $1,000, plus commissions.
Short selling has other drawbacks. It's a margin transaction, so you have to pay interest on the amount you borrow from your broker. Dividends count against you. Stocks tend to go up more than they go down. And the most a stock can fall is 100%. If you short a stock and you're wrong, there's no limit to how high the stock can go - and how much you can lose.
The latter item makes short interest an interesting statistic indeed. When many people have sold a stock short, sooner or later they have to buy back the stock to close the trade.
Daniel Drew, a famous 19th-century bear, even made up a little ditty about it:
"He who sells what isn't his'n
Must buy it back or go to pris'n."
You probably won't go to prison on a sour short, but it might seem like a better option. If a stock with a great deal of short interest soars, it creates a short squeeze. Investors scramble to buy shares at any price to close their short position. That, in turn, sends the price soaring more.
The possibility of a short squeeze is one reason some analysts look at a high amount of short interest as a bullish indicator. If you assume that the majority of market participants tend to be wrong, then lots of short interest must be bullish. And if the shorts are wrong, there's a possibility of a short squeeze - a happy event if you own the stock.
All good in theory, but not in practice, says Richard Gates, portfolio manager at TFS Capital in West Chester, Pa. "The more short interest there is in a stock, the more bearish you should be," he says.
His reasoning: Most people don't short stocks. Those who do tend to be Wall Street professionals, and they tend to be fairly savvy investors. "If someone is shorting a stock, they'd better have good reason to do that," says Chao Chen, director of analysis at TFS.
Several academic studies have thrown cold water on the notion that it's a good idea to buy heavily shorted stocks. TFS' research on small-company stocks suggests the same thing. From 1995 through September 2005, the most highly shorted stocks returned, on average, 0.6% the following month. Those with the least short interest gained 2.3%.
Interestingly, stocks with the most short interest didn't even fall much: They just kind of lay there. The best advice for a stock with lots of short interest is that you should probably leave it alone. "It's a sanity check," Chen says.
You can get some useful information from short interest if you use it in conjunction with other information, argues Dylan Wetherill, president of ShortSqueeze.com. A basic tool: Look at the number of days it would take to cover all a stock's short interest at its average daily volume. The more days it takes to cover the shorts, the heavier the betting against the stock.
General Electric, for example, has more than 60 million shares short. That's about three day's volume for GE. Allied Waste has 43 million shares short, but it would take 33 days to cover all of it. Clearly, investors are more bearish on Allied Waste than GE.
Combine performance with short interest, and you could have a good indicator, Wetherill says. A stock with lots of short interest that's reaching new 52-week highs could be a candidate for a short squeeze and therefore a good buy.
"Short interest is a fuel," Wetherill says. "Performance is the fuse."
John Waggoner is a personal finance columnist for USA TODAY. His Investing column appears Fridays. Click here for an index of Investing columns. His e-mail is jwaggoner@usatoday.com
sumisu, good article..I've thought about buying gold or the miners and decided to stick with the miners for now. GG has a bunch of cash and looking for acquistions...also low mining costs compared to others. Probably should buy the metal also.
Saved my post on the graphs, prior to "Preview", so can post it peiodically....they update themselves.
Santa Claus rally....
Any idea what the "testing" is all about????
Testing to be Rescheduled Due to Hurricane Wilma
Monday October 31, 3:30 pm ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051031/flm008.html?.v=30
Yeah, rick is the ugly one....LOL!!!!
TASR"E"...delisted due to late Q report....buy op for pop when they get the filing done??? Looks like it's down premarket, restating previous reports, looks minor to me.....
Taser had previously announced the delay in the quarterly report, called a Form 10-Q, as a result of its need to restate financial reports from the first and second quarters of 2005 due to an error that resulted in booking professional fees in the wrong accounting period.
Does Natural Nano make the nano golf ball??? Do they have any other products????
Gobble, gobble....here's some pictures, where's yours of the rig????