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Monday, October 26, 2009 6:37:21 PM
You can follow my posts on other boards if you want to know more about my approach to investing and/or trading, or my opinion on other stocks. I don't see that there is any real need for me to mention other stocks here, or that there is much utility in doing so. I'm not here to "bash" because I am a tout for those I do qualify as worthy.
My approach is to discover some few "potential" significantly undervalued situations and then do serious DD on them. That means a whole lot of "opportunities" get screened out early based on having "nothing there" that is of interest, and some few will survive to get a closer look, based on having something real. Those will still take some months of effort to be vetted, and then a precious few of those will survive to get a nod from me.
Having real potential for value that can be realized isn't enough. An early lesson for any investor is that value that can be proven to exist doesn't matter NEARLY as much as the strength of the connections made between value that exists and a share of the stock. There are LOTS of stocks out there that have real "points of value" that are dangled as a shiny lure for neophyte investors... to encourage them in surrendering their hard earned money for use by managers who intend to use the investors money to perfect the attachment of value that exists... to their own benefit, not that of the investors. SFMI looks to me to be about as clear an example of that as any I have ever seen. If it is not that... then you still need to ask why they make it LOOK that way in what they have postured... given that posture only undermines value ?
Not shocking that a key element in passing a basic screen in DD is that you have a management that actually have the specific skills they need to have to expect they might succeed, along with a proven ability to deliver. SFMI passes the basic qualifications only in terms of the potential in the property. They fail on that basic test of management skill, ability, experience and track record... but, my DD effort never needed to get to looking there... since they fail before that on the basic structure in what they have offered. There isn't ever any reason to invest in any situation where the solid connection of value to a share isn't made obvious. And, where the commitment of management to maintaining that connection of value to a share (even if not everything goes as planned) isn't being made equally as obvious ? Here, the structure that is made apparent in their filings is one that is TELLING you that they have ENSURED their interest... and shielded it from you with the use of offshore accounts... while putting only your interest at risk. The ONLY thing that exists that CAN allow value that exists to remain attached to a share here... is a performance by management that allows that to happen. Management hasn't given any reason to expect that will ever happen, but, management DOES have significantly larger set of incentives that are well attached to having that NOT happen ?
There is no shortage of "potential" opportunities... there is a dramatic shortage of those with "potential" that are capable of passing even a cursory screening in basic DD. SFMI has interesting "potential" based on the reality of the properties, which I've been clear about as the source of my interest here from the time before they were owned by Goldcorp et al, but they have about zero ability to survive any genuine effort by a capable investor doing basic DD for a pinkie... much less any ability to survive the sort of look a real analyst would give it. It won't be able to long survive any effort to get to that look... making the "move up market" bluster here almost a total canard. Having many more astute investors looking at it... ??? ...along with a larger ability to have them shorting the shares ? Yikes. I read the recent run up here as exactly that... insiders running the share price up to take short positions themselves, before exposing the shares to market forces they expect to have particular impact.
The list of absurdities postured here is pretty long, is truly stunning, and any one of them, taken by itself is a show stopper to considering this as worthy of making an investment instead of, at best, a short term penny stock trade. The basis of the trade here, IMO, is the predictability of manipulations undertaken in penny stocks... and not anything that is in any way related to any fundamental factor.
You might note I recently posted a link to a two year old PR where they touted that they were getting ready to hire a crack, top quality, skilled mining management team to help them develop this mining opportunity... and, what we see instead, is management packing the payroll with felonious family members... ??? I wonder where junior learned the skills he did ? What more do you need to see in way of a contrast between promise and performance ? Where are the skilled mining management team they put together, busy laying out and executing the project plan to develop this opportunity from plan to production ? Any wonder everything they've done has required taking one step forward, two steps back, with a flat learning curve shown until the third effort ? Note I've highlighted the unmet need to HAVE that project plan and time line made explicit... to enable comparing it to the HARD date on which the convertibles ensure SFMI turns into a pumpkin ?
The entertainment value derives from the obviousness of the situation postured here... the total crap structure being postured by a clearly incompetent management that is clearly, loudly, TELLING you what they intend to have happen... and the willful effort in denial it requires from hopeful investors to avoid seeing what management intends for them. I'm not bashing, still, rather than simply telling you what it is I see that that you want to not see, while you are working hard to avoid seeing it.
What is my job title ? Don't have one. Don't want one. Don't get a pay check from anyone. I manage to stay busy working on developing those things that are my passions and interests without working for others... rather than working on those projects and issues that I find useful to work on, while working with those who I judge it is useful for me to work with.
I am an investor... and enjoy spending some bit of my time here while doing what I do in qualifying potential investments. I didn't go to Silver City to check out the ground truth knowing what I would end up having as my opinion of SFMI. If I'd seen the filings and checked out the management before making the trip, the trip never would have been necessary... but, the roadtrip I made wasn't only driven by the interest in SFMI, and I enjoyed the visit to Silver City... didn't plan on staying at the hotel, there, but loved it, and enjoyed hiking on War Eagle Mountain in the rain.
I still think the ground "they" have in Idaho has real value. I think the plan they have, the plan they have shown you, is one that will ensure that the value that does exist will not remain attached to an SFMI share, while the benefit of that value that does exist WILL remain attached to management in Goldcorp, not in a way that will benefit the SFMI shareholders. Everything available that there is for you to see in considering SFMI points that way. They have met the requirements of the law in telling you what the deal they have on offer IS... and it is up to you to note WHAT it is that they have shown you, and decide whether the risk is one worth taking.
I do think there are still some rather open ended risks here, for them, in what they have postured. They will need to decide, at some point, what the nature of the risks they are taking really are. Will some of the investors here be likely to do what they might need to do to defend their interests... if, by some chance, management happens to violate them ? I expect you can count on it, when the SFMI story does fall apart, that the blind pumpers encouraging you to focus only on the potential reward, while ignoring the grotesque risks... will suddenly switch gears to advocating "nothing to see here, move along"... to try to discourage any investor who is harmed from defending their interest.
I think if you decide to invest here and intend to have a benefit result... you'll likely need to be ready to spend a lot of $ on lawyers before expecting to have any real benefit be made available. I don't expect that I will stick around to that point... where I will have an injury that exists to be addressed in court.
All is my opinion, only... do your own DD. Really. Do it... or learn how if you don't know how.
My approach is to discover some few "potential" significantly undervalued situations and then do serious DD on them. That means a whole lot of "opportunities" get screened out early based on having "nothing there" that is of interest, and some few will survive to get a closer look, based on having something real. Those will still take some months of effort to be vetted, and then a precious few of those will survive to get a nod from me.
Having real potential for value that can be realized isn't enough. An early lesson for any investor is that value that can be proven to exist doesn't matter NEARLY as much as the strength of the connections made between value that exists and a share of the stock. There are LOTS of stocks out there that have real "points of value" that are dangled as a shiny lure for neophyte investors... to encourage them in surrendering their hard earned money for use by managers who intend to use the investors money to perfect the attachment of value that exists... to their own benefit, not that of the investors. SFMI looks to me to be about as clear an example of that as any I have ever seen. If it is not that... then you still need to ask why they make it LOOK that way in what they have postured... given that posture only undermines value ?
Not shocking that a key element in passing a basic screen in DD is that you have a management that actually have the specific skills they need to have to expect they might succeed, along with a proven ability to deliver. SFMI passes the basic qualifications only in terms of the potential in the property. They fail on that basic test of management skill, ability, experience and track record... but, my DD effort never needed to get to looking there... since they fail before that on the basic structure in what they have offered. There isn't ever any reason to invest in any situation where the solid connection of value to a share isn't made obvious. And, where the commitment of management to maintaining that connection of value to a share (even if not everything goes as planned) isn't being made equally as obvious ? Here, the structure that is made apparent in their filings is one that is TELLING you that they have ENSURED their interest... and shielded it from you with the use of offshore accounts... while putting only your interest at risk. The ONLY thing that exists that CAN allow value that exists to remain attached to a share here... is a performance by management that allows that to happen. Management hasn't given any reason to expect that will ever happen, but, management DOES have significantly larger set of incentives that are well attached to having that NOT happen ?
There is no shortage of "potential" opportunities... there is a dramatic shortage of those with "potential" that are capable of passing even a cursory screening in basic DD. SFMI has interesting "potential" based on the reality of the properties, which I've been clear about as the source of my interest here from the time before they were owned by Goldcorp et al, but they have about zero ability to survive any genuine effort by a capable investor doing basic DD for a pinkie... much less any ability to survive the sort of look a real analyst would give it. It won't be able to long survive any effort to get to that look... making the "move up market" bluster here almost a total canard. Having many more astute investors looking at it... ??? ...along with a larger ability to have them shorting the shares ? Yikes. I read the recent run up here as exactly that... insiders running the share price up to take short positions themselves, before exposing the shares to market forces they expect to have particular impact.
The list of absurdities postured here is pretty long, is truly stunning, and any one of them, taken by itself is a show stopper to considering this as worthy of making an investment instead of, at best, a short term penny stock trade. The basis of the trade here, IMO, is the predictability of manipulations undertaken in penny stocks... and not anything that is in any way related to any fundamental factor.
You might note I recently posted a link to a two year old PR where they touted that they were getting ready to hire a crack, top quality, skilled mining management team to help them develop this mining opportunity... and, what we see instead, is management packing the payroll with felonious family members... ??? I wonder where junior learned the skills he did ? What more do you need to see in way of a contrast between promise and performance ? Where are the skilled mining management team they put together, busy laying out and executing the project plan to develop this opportunity from plan to production ? Any wonder everything they've done has required taking one step forward, two steps back, with a flat learning curve shown until the third effort ? Note I've highlighted the unmet need to HAVE that project plan and time line made explicit... to enable comparing it to the HARD date on which the convertibles ensure SFMI turns into a pumpkin ?
The entertainment value derives from the obviousness of the situation postured here... the total crap structure being postured by a clearly incompetent management that is clearly, loudly, TELLING you what they intend to have happen... and the willful effort in denial it requires from hopeful investors to avoid seeing what management intends for them. I'm not bashing, still, rather than simply telling you what it is I see that that you want to not see, while you are working hard to avoid seeing it.
What is my job title ? Don't have one. Don't want one. Don't get a pay check from anyone. I manage to stay busy working on developing those things that are my passions and interests without working for others... rather than working on those projects and issues that I find useful to work on, while working with those who I judge it is useful for me to work with.
I am an investor... and enjoy spending some bit of my time here while doing what I do in qualifying potential investments. I didn't go to Silver City to check out the ground truth knowing what I would end up having as my opinion of SFMI. If I'd seen the filings and checked out the management before making the trip, the trip never would have been necessary... but, the roadtrip I made wasn't only driven by the interest in SFMI, and I enjoyed the visit to Silver City... didn't plan on staying at the hotel, there, but loved it, and enjoyed hiking on War Eagle Mountain in the rain.
I still think the ground "they" have in Idaho has real value. I think the plan they have, the plan they have shown you, is one that will ensure that the value that does exist will not remain attached to an SFMI share, while the benefit of that value that does exist WILL remain attached to management in Goldcorp, not in a way that will benefit the SFMI shareholders. Everything available that there is for you to see in considering SFMI points that way. They have met the requirements of the law in telling you what the deal they have on offer IS... and it is up to you to note WHAT it is that they have shown you, and decide whether the risk is one worth taking.
I do think there are still some rather open ended risks here, for them, in what they have postured. They will need to decide, at some point, what the nature of the risks they are taking really are. Will some of the investors here be likely to do what they might need to do to defend their interests... if, by some chance, management happens to violate them ? I expect you can count on it, when the SFMI story does fall apart, that the blind pumpers encouraging you to focus only on the potential reward, while ignoring the grotesque risks... will suddenly switch gears to advocating "nothing to see here, move along"... to try to discourage any investor who is harmed from defending their interest.
I think if you decide to invest here and intend to have a benefit result... you'll likely need to be ready to spend a lot of $ on lawyers before expecting to have any real benefit be made available. I don't expect that I will stick around to that point... where I will have an injury that exists to be addressed in court.
All is my opinion, only... do your own DD. Really. Do it... or learn how if you don't know how.
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