Newsletter

November 2008

OTCJ: Pickle in San Antonio: China Energy Working Higher

Tue, November 25, 2008
Comments in the BLOG Yesterday morning I posted a new BLOG on Platina Energy Group's (OTC BB: PLTG) Q3 Earnings report. The company is simply not delivering the numbers we were hoping for by now for several reasons. Read the BLOG for my comments and thoughts on what to do from here. The BLOG is your...

OTCJ: NightHawk Up Big on Wow News: Pickle Gets Back on Expansion Track

Wed, November 12, 2008
Comments in the BLOG I woke up this morning to an extremely nice surprise from our friends and Nighthawk (OTC BB: NIHK), and the stock has responded by moving up 20% today and regaining pre September levels. I wrote an extensive BLOG on the news, but here's a quick overview. Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI) is...

OTCJ: NVTL and SWIR Withdrawn, China Energy in the Media

Sun, November 09, 2008
China Energy (OTC BB: CGYV): Media Starting To Catch On EENEWs.net is a web portal committed to all things "Green". EE is short for "Environment and Energy", and the publisher describes its web portal as the "the leading source for comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy policy and...

October 2008

OTCJ: Thoughts For Managing The Fear; Pickle Panned

Sat, October 18, 2008
Managing The Fear Factor In 1698 London coffee shop owner John Castaing posted a list of stock and commodity prices called "The Course of the Exchange and Other Things". This was the first known stock exchange, and fostered a network of coffee house exchanges. The first speculative bubble known as the...

OTCJ: Pickle Flies Into Vancouver Airport

Tue, October 14, 2008
Comments in the BLOG I posted a BLOG on this morning's news release from China Energy Recovery (OTC BB: CGYV), which included some comments about the current price performance. Today's subject matters reveals CGYV can deal with the black sludge in the rivers in China, emanating from factory pollution...

OTCJ: The Spicy Surprise: Pickle Pulls Rabbit From Hat

Wed, October 01, 2008
The Spicy Surprise: Pickle Pulls Rabbit From Hat Good riddance to September- one of the worst months of my life professionally. What a mess. I am heartened in the knowledge that the last 4 bear markets have all died in October. I also know when a Bear ends, 30% of the losses are made up in the first...

September 2008

OTCJ: Yes, The Sky Is Finally Falling

Mon, September 29, 2008
Yes, The Sky Is Finally Falling I thought I'd seen it all with the end of the Savings and Loan industry in the 80's, the '87 crash, the dotcom demise of 2000, 911, and Enronitis. Today, I've started a new chapter in the ugly experience book that is getting longer than it should be. Hindsight has proven...

OTCJ: Pickle Pause Nears An End: What A Week

Thu, September 18, 2008
What A Week- So Far I have a ton of commentary on this past week and the times we are living through, but I just don't have time to go into all of it today. I could write 10,000 words on the whole short selling issue, and probably will next week. The market was absolutely pounded earlier in the week...

August 2008

OTCJ: Spicy, eFood, and Platina In the News

Sat, August 23, 2008
Special Note Sorry for the lack of content of late. I was on a hectic road trip this past week, and couldn't cover some of the week's events. Today's edition is a review of a couple of very exciting and promising developments for three of the stocks I follow. No, I haven't been vacationing all summer...

OTCJ: The Pickle: Spicy on the Top Line

Thu, August 14, 2008
The Pickle (OTC BB: SPKL): Spicy on the Top Line The Spicy Pickle June quarterly results were out today, and they were spot on what I was expecting. A huge percentage increase in the top line, and huge expenses in the quarter as they built three new stores and bought back four stores from a franchisee...

July 2008

OTCJ: Spicy Pickle Notches #42

Thu, July 17, 2008
Spicy Pickle (OTC BB: SPKL) Notches #42 SPKL announced store #42 is now open for business. It is located in Michigan- Portage, Michigan to be precise. Michigan represents the 14th state for Spicy Pickle. The Michigan franchisee has committed to opening 10 stores in the Kalamazoo- Grand Rapids- Ann Arbor...

June 2008

OTCJ: Platina Updates Production. And, Is the Pickle Bottoming?

Mon, June 30, 2008
Energy is just flat out getting goofy and technically, we don't see it coming back to reality anytime soon. $150 a barrel seems inevitable and $180 to $200 is not out of the question, not yet anyway. So, I hope many of you took our suggestion of playing the broader markets to the short side. Until proven...

Friday's Meltdown and Special Announcement

Sun, June 22, 2008
Special Announcement: Limited Service Until July 1st It's time for a little vacation. Normally, when I take a trip, it's somewhere there's an internet connection and I keep up to date on my notebook computer. Next week I won't have that option. I'll be out of touch with the electronic world temporarily...

OTCJ: Pickle Turns 41 and 13; The Short Reload

Tue, June 17, 2008
The Short Reload: We're There Here's an update for those of you who have been following my trade to make money by betting on what I believe is a corrective phase in the market. It's not complicated- it's simple. After a brutal January to March, the market simply steamed up the charts for two months...

Pickle Turns 40: Short Targets for NDX

Wed, June 11, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There are a couple of new BLOGs up for your review- yesterday, I posted a BLOG on my current open short trade on the NDX through QID and an update on eFoodSafety (OTC BB: EFSF)- which as we all know is making new all time lows. Check the BLOG to read my current thoughts. The BLOG...

May 2008

OTCJ: Obese Market; Pickle Open #39

Tue, May 20, 2008
An Obese Market Oil cranked up through $130 today- the dollar is giving back some of its recent gains. The market is starting to give some ground. I moved back into the money on my short position in the market- as covered in the weekend edition. In case you missed it- here's today's idea for a trade...

Pickle Opens #38; Texas Expansion Continues

Tue, May 06, 2008
Pickle Opens #38- Texas Expansion Continues Despite the rather boring performance on the chart, Spicy Pickle has now gotten back on the new store opening bandwagon, and is announcing a second new store opening in as many weeks. Today, just after the market closed, SPKL announced its third Austin, Texas...

April 2008

Spicy Hits Michigan

Tue, April 22, 2008
Spicy (OTC BB: SPKL) Hits Michigan Fresh off last week's first open forum conference call, Spicy Pickle is out with more substantive news. The stock has begun a rebound phase, but clearly is not ready to simply rocket up the charts. It's not that kind of market environment, so it's hardly surprising...

Pickle Delivers Surge In Same Store Sales

Wed, April 16, 2008
Pickle (OTC BB: SPKL) Delivers Surge In Same Store Sales Marc Geman, CEO of Spicy Pickle, will have something Spicy to discuss on today's conference call, which probably will have ended by the time you read this edition. As the company disclosed just at the close today, the revenues at Spicy Pickle...

Pickle Conference Call Reminder

Wed, April 16, 2008
The Pickle (OTC BB: SPKL) Call Reminder: Today at 4:15 Eastern; 1:15 Pacific As a reminder I encourage all investors interested in Spicy Pickle to tune in to today's conference call. It will begin 15 minutes after the market closes- that's 4:15 Eastern, 1:15 Pacific. This is the first conference call...

The Pickle Wants To Hear From You!

Sat, April 12, 2008
Comments in the BLOG RIMM-UGH- right idea, wrong security. Watching that stock fall apart on Friday and hitting $115, as I predicted it would, was painful in that I had been blown out of the short term puts I suggested for a high risk trade at a loss. For those of you who are still in the trade, a couple...

March 2008

Pickle Shareholders Learning To Love Texas

Mon, March 17, 2008
Today, just post close, SPKL announced it has inked a seven store franchise agreement in San Antonio, Texas. In total, Texas is now accounting for 25 current and future Spicy Pickle locations, more than the 23 in home state Colorado. With the Dallas/Ft Worth area still to go, Texas is proving to be fertile...

February 2008

Pickle's Purchase Brings 20 Fold Top Line Result

Wed, February 27, 2008
Comments in the BLOG I hope at least of few of you followed my weekend trade and took a shot at my suggested option trade on the Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) calls. I bought first thing Monday morning, and closed out yesterday with a one day $1,000 profit on a $6500 investment. That's 15.3% in one day, or...

Spicy Pickle Inks Five New Locations

Wed, February 20, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There was one new BLOG posting for your review this week. Yesterday, about mid way through the trading day, I suggested those who were looking for a rebound in TTGLE on some long awaited positive developments should go ahead and consider trading out of their positions. Crazy stuff...

Pickle Powers Past The 125 Store Mark: Houston Will Have 10

Mon, February 04, 2008
Pickle Powers Past The 125 Store Mark: Houston Will Have 10 If you live in Texas, it is becoming more likely you will be seeing a number of these in your neighborhood at some point in the not too distant future. I'll make today's edition a quick read. SPKL continues to be the one company that doesn't...

January 2008

Pickle Keeps Rolling: Company Store Expansion Accelerates

Thu, January 31, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There was a pretty ugly downside surprise out of Titan Global (OTC BB: TTGLE for now) this week, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it so far. I can't decide if this distressing turn of events is fully priced into the stock and there's upside, of if management's display of incompetence...

Pickle Invades Tinsel Town: Coming Attractions

Wed, January 16, 2008
Coming Attractions Recession? Little doubt the market now believes the US Economy is clearly going into recession. The market is now in the process of pricing equities for a major economic slow down, and stocks are simply getting killed across the board. After reviewing some of the data and commentary...

Pickle Invades City of Broad Shoulders: Chicago Gets Five More Stores

Tue, January 08, 2008
Pickle Invades City of Broad Shoulders: Chicago Gets Five More Stores 2007 is a wrap for Spicy Pickle, and the company ended up hitting the 36 opened stores mark at year's end. For those of you who might be disappointed by SPKL for not reaching the 40 store number forecast by management- not to worry...