Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
I’m somewhat surprised and pleased to see that they referenced the landmark '83 Supreme Court decision about seatbelts and airbags (I won’t go into all the details, they’re easily obtainable.) My brother was an attorney in the case and we had some rip-roaring discussions in many a tavern!
Though seemingly far from biotechnology, the real issues in that case are exactly the same as the ones being raised with increasing frequency concerning the FDA: judicial power,judicial review,science vs. politics and ideology.
The court said that mere politics was not enough & that the rules of the Dept. of Transportation had to be demonstrably shown to be based on sound scientific knowledge. The big picture actually revolved around the idea of government-especially one that is inadvertently or deliberately scientifically uninformed -getting so large and unwieldy that it becomes a problem, not a solution.
Much of the discussion was about the concept of “changing science” to fit political exigencies.
Sound familiar?
Congress Investigates FDA & J&J On Drug-Coated Stent
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/08/13/congress-investigates-fda-and-jj-on-drug-coated-stents/
OT: The Latest Shenanigans In The Wonderful World Of Lending
Countrywide Financial admits to a PA judge that it "recreated" letters they said were sent to a borrower in default demanding payment: the letters not only were never sent, they never existed!
LMAO: What do liars do when they're caught lying? They lie.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/business/08lend.html?em&ex=1199941200&en=446a2c12fa52e7f9&ei=5087%0A
JMHO:
The three buys for 1,000 or so shares: yes.
The three buys for 10,000 shares: decent-sized tokens.
Missed out on GENR, had my money tied up elsewhere, as I recall that was in the 2's & 3's then went on a rocket ride to over 30. Did you take the whole ride?
As I said, watching MNTA carefully,I'd like to see the price stabilize anywhere for a bit. Thanks for the input!
Hmmm...no idea unless they're just going for that "Christmasy" look.
But more seriously, I'm out of MNTA for now but keeping a close eye on it, may jump back in at some point. I think you're being a bit generous characterizing the last five trading days, including today, as a holding pattern. No news, so it's got to be just good old Investor Psychology 101. A significant amount of people, like me, are or have been in it purely as a technical play: under 5 was too good not to buy, perhaps even under 6. 7.75 on Dec. 26 was too good not to sell. That got the snowball rolling downhill, and it's growing.
I can't believe that the floor's not 5 or so. If it went that low again, I'm back in with both feet. Just my one cent's worth.
Just guessing: on another site that I use, the volume bar is blue if the stock's price went up that day, red if down, green if no change.
MNTA: Dew, any thoughts on the recent price action?
You're making statements about "what is happening in 2008."
Dude, we're three hours into the first trading day of the year! Give it a chance.
OT: Took a while but 12K filled at 0.85.
That gives me an even 50K, and that, gentlemen, is absolutely it for me; going to step away from the window, take a seat in the grandstand and watch this horse run.
Just got back to my office, seems I missed the day's lows but I'm trying for 12K at 0.85. Looks like the ask is moving away from that, I'm not going to chase, fine either way.
Wow, that is one bad open! Hopefully we just touched bottom.
OT: Couldn't resist again...
Took another good-sized bite at 0.89.
Tried for awhile a bit lower, no fills, 0.89 seems to be the magic number
Also, they just bought the med-software company Emergin at the beginning of the month, and a radiology company (I forget the name)this summer.
They have the big bucks!
OT: Here's A Good Laugh!
December 19, 2007, 1:36 pm
Sallie Mae’s [Expletive] Good Conference Call
Posted by Dana Cimilluca
Here’s one analyst conference call that won’t put you to sleep.
At the beginning of Sallie Mae’s telephonic rendezvous with its investors today, CEO Albert Lord (left) mentioned the buyout deal for the company that fell apart last week. “I’m going to attempt to engage in a little self-defense, hopefully not defensively,” he said. He then proceeded to do just that.
A conference call that will live in infamy, along with that famous Enron call where Jeff Skilling called an analyst a naughty name, started out innocently enough. “The purpose of this call really is to reacquaint myself with you and you with me and try to create some transparency by me as CEO,” Lord, who reassumed that role last week, began. (Transcript courtesy of Thomson Financial.) But things went down hill from there.
First, he snapped at an analyst for asking a follow-up question: “This is the last question I answer that’s more than one part.” Then another analyst beseeches Lord for more data the analyst can use to make forecasts and for more details of Lord’s forced sale of his own shares in the company last week. Lord demurred, saying the analyst should call Steve McGarry in investor relations. The analyst pressed: “But, you’re the CEO. You’re the guy who just took over the Company.” Lord’s response: “Yes, that’s exactly right, I’m the CEO. You should give Steve a call. Next question.”
Lord then recommended that analysts be prepared to go through a metal detector when they attend the company’s analyst meeting in New York in January. Then things really spiral downward. When it appears that no one else wants to ask a question (can you blame them?) Lord says: “How (inaudible) is this? Steve, let’s go. There’s no questions, let’s get the (expletive) out of here.”
Don’t look for that climax in the version of the call Sallie Mae posted on its own Web site. That part was dropped.
Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2007/12/19/sallie-maes-expletive-good-conference-call/trackback/
OT: I think that your post is quite disrespectful of parking meters. In a debate with one, if the canons & criteria of validity of inference & demonstration -LOGIC- were used, it would see the light.
OT: PPHM-
Thinking about it just a bit this weekend.
I actually owned some last year during a news cycle that featured almost daily "Avian Flu: The Next Black Plague?" headlines. Was in and out for a small loss after I realized that the threat might be real but this stock was going nowhere!
IMO this cat is as dead as they get, but it still might bounce.Very risky, but I may take a small flier on Monday if it dips below 0.20, sell at 0.25.
Greenspan's WSJ editorial might work well as an introduction for a doctoral dissertation, but it's gobbledygook to most of the people directly affected by the situation.
I'm co-owner and principal broker of a mid-sized real estate company. Nine out of ten of the sellers and buyers, real estate agents, electricians, plumbers, drywallers, painters, etc., that I work with daily would be scratching their heads over the history lesson that to them would seem obtuse and unnecessary.
The lenders forgot how to say one of the most important words in business: NO! Everyone got a loan, no one was denied. I and other Realtors are not blameless: I sat in many closings watching people sign mortgages that I knew would never work out well. I said to myself that they were adults, they made their choices, and I took my check. Those homes are back on the market, those people are back in apartments.
The first sentence of the last paragraph says it all, and everyone in the business already knows this: when there aren't so many houses for sale, the market will stabilize and then, hopefully, begin to rise. Sound familiar to you stock investors out there?
Dew, Quick Question:
This past spring, based on your calculations as to fully-diluted shares & market cap, you came up with a share price of 3.33 - 4.26.
Any change to that? (IYO of course)
J.P Morgan, when asked what the stock market will do, replied,
"It will fluctuate."
FWIW: Just could not resist, took my MNTA profits and bought more GTCB,all at .90. Now averaged at around 1.09.
>Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it.< -Will Rogers
Please let us know how your walk was, did you have any interesting thoughts or see any pretty flowers? What do you plan on having for lunch? How's your regularity?
>Moreover, some of these critically important data are locked up in high-security areas—areas so secure the FDA’s medical reviews can’t get to the data to find out if they want the data. Since the reviewers don’t know what they don’t know, an RTF letter was clearly the only suitable response.
If I were the CEO of HEB, I would petition the FBI to look into all this.<
Nope,good idea but it wouldn't work: the FBI would not be allowed to admit that they received the complaint and might not know if indeed they actually did receive the complaint in which case they would have to begin an investigation of their Complaint Reception Assignment Procedure (CRAP)which could take years.
1.Large or small hardly matters, don't you know how it works: when more shares are sold than bought the shares go down, when more shares are....
2. He's been trying to tell you, rather more politely than necessary IMHO, to be a big boy about the whole thing.
World Headquarters of Which Startup Biotech Company?
Dew: Thanks for your MNTA heads-up a few weeks ago! Bought heavily at 4.91 on November 8, just out at 6 even. Could not be more pleased!
No doubt you and the other very knowledgeable and "strangely entertaining" biotech-heads who are in it for the longer haul will do well; I'm just an ignorant trader who loves the volatility of this sector.
Still have a large position in GTCB at 1.15, just waiting on that one.
Going to look around a day or so for another move. Any thoughts? (all in your opinion, no guarantees, of course.) IDIX?
OT: "Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut."
A very funny and very true old saying, I've used it many times.
I guess two quotes come to mind:
"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable."- James A. Garfield
and, most importantly:
"There is no truth. There is only perception." -Gustave Flaubert
No offense, but as soon as someone starts talking about "THE TRUTH" my s**t detector starts wildly beeping.
It might, will this work?
Just wondering, I'm assuming that MNTA & the FDA set up a specific day and time for this meeting rather than, "Hey guys,drop by some time and we'll chat about our little problem over a beer."
Is the date of the meeting public knowledge?
Move Board BACK To Biotechs! EOM
OT: Before we're done (if ever)...
The actual cost is estimated to be over three trillion.
This does not include the lifetime of treatment that'll be necessary for tens of thousands of vets.
The website below keeps a running tally of the dollar cost, even breaks it down state by state, and shows where it's going.
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/home/3.html
What a waste, what a shame.
Would you please be so kind as to post your message on the Biotech Values board?
A lot of talk/pumping(?) about thistock by a few posters over there.
Thanks!
IHUB: Please don't allow...
This forum to become like Yahoo. Immediately ban someone who resorts to juvenile name-calling.
Yep,that photo's all the DD I need! EOM
TOTALLY OT:
If you want to see just how uncivilized and completely out of control this medium can get (IMO due to the anonymity of it all) flip over to the ASTM Yahoo board, from about 3:00 PM this afternoon to now.
Talk of discovering the "true" identity of a poster, murder, other nastiness.
I'm 100% against censorship but I'm at a loss as to how our modern computerized society can handle this sort of thing.
Completely OT:
NovaStar is the latest lender to assume the belly-up position.
This analysis is my vote for the "Stop beating around the bush and just tell it like it is" quote of the day:
"Our opinion that NovaStar's financial viability remains highly uncertain has increased," Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Scott Valentin wrote in a client note. Valentin's price target on NovaStar's stock is zero."
MNTA Today:
Just some quick profit-taking by those who bought in the mid-4's????
You've probably answered this,
(if so my apologies,a message # will suffice)but to the best of your knowledge when might we learn about the nature of this "impediment"?
Was just about to say the same thing,
IMHO it has bottomed at 4.58 (who woulda thunk it?)and should recover nicely from here.