|
Newsletter
August 2008
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...
OTCJ: Getting CREE'md: Post Close Earnings Outlook
Tue, August 12, 2008
Getting CREE'md (NASDAQ: CREE): Post Close Earnings Outlook I haven't written anything about CREE in sometime, but today gives us a good opportunity to look at the stock and come up with a plan. CREE, at its core, is a specialty semiconductor manufacturer. At best, they are middle tier, and certainly...
OTCJ: Our Season Is Coming: Seasonality in the Markets: Are you Ready?
Sat, August 09, 2008
Our Season Is Coming: Seasonality in the Markets: Are you Ready? Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall- The four seasons. In some places, the seasons are more pronounced than others. For example, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall are more climatically different in Boston than San Diego. All businesses have...
OTCJ: Platina Energy Reach Expanding
Tue, August 05, 2008
Platina Energy Group (OTC BB: PLTG): Reach Expanding I'm really glad PLTG delivered some news for me to cover, as it gives me the opportunity to use one of the most important new resources on the new and improved OTC Journal web site. Today, just after the close, PLTG announced has acquired another...
OTCJ: It's Finally Here For You!! The New Site
Sat, August 02, 2008
It's Finally Here For You: The New Site In case you're wondering why the content has been a little sparse of late, you will find out on Monday when you check the OTC Journal's Web Site. Over the nearly 11 years I have been publishing the OTC Journal, there have been lots of ups and downs and winners... July 2008
In The Teeth of The Summer Bear
Tue, July 29, 2008
In The Teeth of The Summer Bear I knew it was going to be a tough summer, and it has been. We're in the middle of it right now- the worst of the bear market, and it's been an ugly one. True, there are a lot of head winds preventing the market from making upside progress. If you think your paper and/or...
OTCJ: Oil and Platina- Should They Correct Together?
Wed, July 23, 2008
Oil and Platina- Should They Correct Together? The market is improving nicely as oil starts a corrective phase after one of the most prolific parabolic runs in the history of markets. Oil peaked at nearly $150, and closed at about $124 today- so much for the idea that the price of oil was simply a function...
OTCJ: Vomiting From the SEC's
Sat, July 19, 2008
Comments in the BLOG For all of you who were following the trading strategy I laid out in last weekend's edition for shorting large caps into earnings releases, you probably have figured out by now that I have pretty much abandoned that idea. The Daily BLOGs have contained no short term trading ideas...
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...
OTCJ: Platina: $1/2 Billion In Independent Report: Today's Earnings
Tue, July 15, 2008
How's Ugly Working So Far? If those who took the time to read my weekend edition on How To Make Ugly Work For You, so far there has been one stock to look at. Genetech (NYSE: DNA) reported earnings post close yesterday, and there was a brief opportunity to take a profit on a short trade or a put option...
OTCJ: How Ugly Can Work For You In Earnings Season
Sat, July 12, 2008
How Ugly Can Work For You in Earnings Season This market environment is giving me flashbacks of the Post 911/Dot Bomb meltdown era. It is simply an ugly Bear Market, and with each successive trading day it just seems to get uglier. If you are long any stocks today, you simply need to have a long term...
OTCJ: Larry's Look At Today's Rodeo Ride
Thu, July 10, 2008
Today's Rodeo Ride: Going Long RIMM Another rodeo ride in the markets today. This is about as volatile a market as I can ever remember. I need Dramamine. The rumored insolvency of FreddiMac and Fanny Mae had the market all riled up today, along with the $5 rise in oil prices. Here’s a chart that is...
OTCJ: Home To A Whole Lot of Ugly: Close out QID; TraceGuard's Major
Mon, July 07, 2008
Home To A Whole Lot of Ugly: Close out QID I was home at the end of last week for the first time in 10 days. While I was away the market simply got a whole lot uglier. Wow, what a melt down. I'm just about caught up with correspondence- all your BLOG questions are answered and I have a few more in my... 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...
OTCJ: Platina Goes to Pluto and Back
Mon, June 23, 2008
Platina Goes to Pluto and Back Welcome to the erratic world of micro caps. For those of you who missed it, just this last Thursday we launched a new feature profile on Platina Energy Group (OTC BB: PLTG), a small but potentially exciting oil & gas production company with properties in Kentucky...
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...
Platina Enegy Group: My Kind of 12 Cent'r
Thu, June 19, 2008
Platina Energy Group (OTC BB: PLTG): My Kind of Twelve Cent'r It's a recipe Betty Crocker herself would be proud of. It's a recipe for successful speculation on low priced stocks. Here are the key ingredients to bake into the cake: Find a company in the hottest sector- the one investors are piling into...
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...
Oil's Impossible Moon Shot: How High Can We Go?
Sat, June 14, 2008
Oil's Impossible Moon Shoot: How High Can We Go? Here in the good old USA, the price of oil is making it rough on all of us. Not only are prices north of $4 per gallon at the pump, but the ripple effect throughout the entire economy is causing skyrocketing prices in other consumables as well. The one-two...
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...
OTCJ: The Trade That Paid: At the Tipping Point?
Sat, June 07, 2008
The Trade That Paid: At the Tipping Point? Friday was pretty ugly in the markets, and I would almost be jubilant if it were all about one trade. However, it's not, and Friday was not a positive for the bigger picture. It was a 1 - 2 punch in the gut for the economy- Oil spiked $10.75- about 8% in one...
OTCJ: Short, and Getting Shorter
Thu, June 05, 2008
Short, and Getting Shorter Here's an update for those who have been following my latest trade on the NASDAQ 100. I jumped into QID a couple of weeks ago on the premise the market was due for a correction, and the NASDAQ 100 would participate in a big way. QID is an ETF that trades inversely to QQQQ... May 2008
OTCJ: PhotoChannel: So, What's the Big Deal? A Review
Sat, May 31, 2008
Comments in the BLOG Late Friday I published a BLOG on the status of my current suggested trade- short the NASDAQ COMP through QID (AMEX: QID). This particular security trades as a negative proxy to the ETF for the NASDAQ 100- QQQQ. If the QQQQs go up 2%, the QID trades down about 3%, and vice versa...
PhotoChannel: Big Development- I Mean Really BIG!!!!
Wed, May 28, 2008
PhotoChannel (OTC BB: PNWIF) Game Changer If you read my BLOG yesterday afternoon, you know PNWIF had perked up a bit during the trading session, and now we know why. PNWIF announced an absolute game changerpre open today, and if the market recognizes the magnitude of today's news, we could be in for...
OTCJ: Correction from Today's Obese Market Trade
Tue, May 20, 2008
Correction From Earlier Publication As a number of sharp readers pointed out, I made an error in today's publication. I was suggesting traders look at the June or July 38 Calls on QID as a way to short the market for a lot of upside without commiting much capital. As it turns out, I inadvertently published...
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...
OTCJ: A Heavy, Heavy Market
Sat, May 17, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There two comments from this past week of note- I blogged a quick presentation on a heavy market, which I'm going to expand on in today's edition, and a couple of paragraphs on Nighthawk's (OTC BB: NIHK) Q1 quarterly report. Before the end of the weekend, I'll deliver an expanded...
OTCJ: eFood Update: Moderate Sales Growth with Buckets of IP
Tue, May 13, 2008
eFood Update: IP Plentiful- Sales "Moderate" After reading today's rather comprehensive update from eFoodSafety, one word popped into my head- Truthful- this is probably a darn good 25,000 foot view of where the company is in the process of commercializing it's IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio...
OTCJ: When Main Street and Wall Street Diverge
Fri, May 09, 2008
When Main Street and Wall Street Diverge Main Street and Wall Street are clearly out of sync right now. Large cap and big momentum stocks have come back beautifully since the massive Q1 drubbing, but small stocks are still trading in a virtual coma- we're just not seeing the kinds of volumes we need...
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...
The FED Love Fest
Thu, May 01, 2008
The FED Love Fest Wednesday's FED decision was exactly what the market wanted. One and done. The FED lowered the discount rate 1/4 point, and stated it would probably be the last interest rate cut. The market is now expecting the FED to start raising interest rates in December. I know many of you will... April 2008
OTCJ: This is Not Your Father's Recession
Sat, April 26, 2008
This is Not Your Father's Recession The consumer sentiment reading came in at 64 on Friday- that's the lowest rating since 1983- BTW- 1983 was the start of a strong 17 year bull market. The forces hampering our economy at present are far different than the forces we endured in the 70's and early 80's...
OTCJ: CREE Reviewed- Perfect Pullback
Fri, April 25, 2008
Comments in the BLOG This week's BLOG entries were all about CREE (NASDAQ: CREE). Those who have been following my commentary on CREE should recall I have been suggesting owning this one at about the $26 level. Above $30, in this market environment, I would suggest selling covered calls, which is a...
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...
Nighthawk: Five Fold Growth This Year? Here's How
Sat, April 19, 2008
Nighthawk (OTC BB: NIHK): Five Fold Growth This Year? Here's How This past Wednesday Nighthawk put out its 10k annual report, and this massive, completely boring document, sets the stage for what could be a breakout year for the company. A wonderful read if you have insomnia. 5% of it is important...
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...
Micros Showing Sign of Life: Two Looking Very Strong
Sat, April 05, 2008
Comments in the BLOG Lots of Blogging for your entertainment and education on the RIMM trade I am in fairly heavily this week. So far, I'm not doing too well. While I still believe the trade will make money to some extent, my timing on really loading up on those put options was not great. I should have...
RIMM: To Short, or Not To Short?
Tue, April 01, 2008
Comments in the BLOG As posted in today's BLOG, I closed my SPY trade within an hour of the open at $134.29 for a net gain of $2230 in two trading days. The market then continued to "melt up", and I ended up leaving another $2k on the table- such is life. Today, bad news on financials (UBS), and bad... March 2008
Next Week's Big Trade: RIMM
Sat, March 29, 2008
Comments in the BLOG You will find a newly posted BLOG with a complete update on last week's annual 10K filing of the audited financial statement from Spicy Pickle (OTC BB: SPKL). Definitely worth a read- this stock will be much higher in the next Bull Market in my view. Read my comments, and find out...
V2K International: New Parner, New Future
Mon, March 24, 2008
V2K International (OTC BB: VTOK) Check Out The V2K Video You can watch today's video before or after reading the presentation. Simply go to the home page at www.otcjournal.com, and you will find it. Alternatively, you can click here to go directly to the proper page. It should simply play on your computer...
A FireStorm MeltUp? A New Idea For Monday
Sat, March 22, 2008
The Firestorm MeltUp- Could It Be Coming? As I observed in Thursday's edition, we could be coming to the beginning of the end of the Bear Market. I believe there is still a lot of volatility ahead, but we could be close to an extended period of upside bias. Bernanke's recent moves to create liquidity...
Death of the Bear Equals Death of the Bear? eFoodSafety Mulligan
Thu, March 20, 2008
Comments in the BLOG It was a big week for me, and I hope at least of few of you were paying attention on Monday morning and followed my lead. Sundays are usually devoted to sports around my house- either playing, watching, or both. Financial news takes a back seat. However, I caught the news about...
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...
Testing the Theory: The VIX Cooperates for a Trade
Fri, March 14, 2008
Testing The Theory: The VIX Cooperates For A Trade The market cooperated today and gave us an opportunity to test the idea I shared in the mid week edition- The idea of using the VIX index to measure extreme levels of fear and complacency, then using those extremes levels to place a bet that the pendulum...
Use the VIX To Trade Extremes; Bernanke's Latest Move
Wed, March 12, 2008
Bernake's Move: The Beginning of the End of the Bear? Ben Bernake went shopping yesterday and bought a rally. In a move that would out spend even Bill Gates, he pledged $200 billion of the government's money to buy a one day short covering rally- so- was it a wise investment? Because, in reality, he...
eFoodSafety: The Winds Of Change Are About To Howl
Thu, March 06, 2008
eFoodSafety (OTC BB: EFSF): The Winds Of Change Are About To Howl I cover a number of situations in the OTC Journal, but the one I get most questions, observations, whining, and complaining about is eFoodSafety. It's probably because of the unmet expectations in 2007. Whether the company was too optimistic...
A Look At The Future
Sat, March 01, 2008
A Look At the Future Flip on the financial channels right now all you will get the biggest smorgasbord of conflicting viewpoints on the stock market and the economy I have ever experienced in the 22 years I have been investing in the markets. I can remember when CNBC was FNN (Financial News Network... 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...
Apple Comment; Trade For the Week; Using RSS Feeds
Sat, February 23, 2008
RSS Feeds: A Great Solution In A Filtered World Emailing has become a bit fickle over the last couple of years. Spamming rather crude sales pitches for everything from Viagra to $50 million free money from Nigeria, to identity theft still jams our inboxes. There are filters everywhere to catch offending...
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...
Two Bear Market Trades For Right Now
Sun, February 17, 2008
Two Bear Market Trades For Right Now Can you make money on the long side in a Bear Market? Sure, but you have to change your approach. In a Bull Market, you can buy momentum stocks for a trade. Another words, if a stock is going up, you can buy it, as it will often keep going up- sometimes for many...
I'm Getting CREE'D; Teeth Of A Bear
Sun, February 10, 2008
The Teeth of a Bear Here's a new flash- yes, we are in a Bear Market. This is a market environment characterized by a general decline in stock valuations, lower volumes, and fears of deteriorating economic conditions. How long will it last? Typically, these Bear Market corrections last somewhere in...
PhotoChannel Networks: Anatomy of a Victory
Thu, February 07, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There were two new BLOG postings for your review this week. First, I covered an 8K filing on Titan (or should I say Titanic) (OTC BB: TTGLE), which had more moderately disturbing news contained within. Secondly, I covered the year end audited financial statements issued by PhotoChannel...
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...
The Titan Mess: Anatomy of a Disaster
Sat, February 02, 2008
The Titan Mess: Anatomy of a Disaster I strongly recommend the continued accumulation of TTGL with an eye on another double. Could take six months to a year, but worth waiting for. Fundamentals suggest a far higher valuation. October 20, 2007 OTC Journal BLOG Titan Global is rapidly becoming an oxymoron... 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...
Bear Proof Income Ideas
Sat, January 26, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There were two new BLOGs posted earlier today. First- some comments on the harsh reality that Southland Health Services aka Bad Toys aka Paladin Holdings is officially dead. In my view, all of our dividend shares in Southland are simply worthless, and will never have any value...
The Big Giant Woosh
Wed, January 23, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There were two new BLOGs posted earlier today. First, a recap and some comments on Spicy Pickle (OTC BB: SPKL) which has held up rather well in the current market meltdown, and Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has done just the opposite. Comments on both for your review. The...
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...
Drubbing in '08: Where To From Here? AAPL's Big Week
Sun, January 13, 2008
Comments in the BLOG There were a couple of new BLOGS posted this week. I posted an update on Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL), and the unfortunate total demise and bloodbath in Titan Global (OTC BB: TTGL), for which I have no explanation. I know we are in a tough market, but TTGL is really ridiculously...
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...
The SEC Helps U: New '08 Regs Change the Micro Playing Field
Sun, January 06, 2008
Comments in the BLOG The only new BLOG I posted towards the end of the year had some comments on Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL), and that was it for the vacation week. The first three trading days of 2008 have been very rough on the markets, with Friday being a "cash at any cost" blood bath. The "R...
TraceGuard Management Moves Towards The Money
Thu, January 03, 2008
Comments in the BLOG The only new BLOG I posted towards the end of the year had some comments on Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL), and that was it for the vacation week. As 2008 progresses, new stories will unfold, and older ones will either make progress or fall by the way side. At the end of the weekend... |
Daily Blog
 Newsletter
Editions To subscribe to our newsletter, please enter your email address below. Market Summary
|
® 2008 OTC Journal