I’m travelling today and already late for my first meeting, so I can’t give you any real feedback on the NIHK quarterly report.

However, it shouldn’t be that complicated. Revenues are way up, and losses are down. One of the biggest expenses now is dividends on preferred- which is being paid in shares- this could represent more supply for the market to wrestle with, but that’s the price of poker.

I’ll craft more thoughts when I have some time to look at this one. For the time being, I still believe owning this stock is like owning an option that doesn’t expire.

Submit and comments or questions, and I’ll get on it next week.

Here’s my short term trading idea- time to go short.

The larger market has been chugging up the charts relentlessly, all fear virtually gone. This is not an environment that lends itself to no risk in the market.

The VIX - the measure of levels of fear in the markets, has all but disappeared. Remember, I wrote a BLOG on using the VIX as a counter intuitive tool to clue us into making trades on the over market.- VIX at or below 20- too much complacency- sell.
VIX at or above 30- too much fear- buy the market. Here’s a chart of the VIX:

As you can see, the last time the VIX was this low was back in October 9th. Sorry you can’t see the timeline, but trust me, that was the time frame.

By November, we started into one of the ugliest four months I can recall in the stock market’s history.

We’re not going into another period like that as a lot of the damage has already been priced into the market. However, I do feel we are overdue for a multi week correction.

Here’s a look at the QID- the ETF I have chosen for my own account to get into a short position:

This is the security I have chosen to take a short bet on the overall market for my own money. This is the QID- an ETF that trades inversely to the QQQQs on a 2 for 1 basis. Anotherwords, if the QQQQs go up 1%, QID will go down 2%, and vice versa.

Today, as a starting position, I picked up 2,000 shares of QID at an average cost of $38.67. I am prepared to go a little deeper, or perhaps even own some puts if we go much higher.

The only wild card- options expiration tomorrow, where things can be a little wacky. I could be prepared to go even deeper next week if the market hasn’t started a corrective phase.

Comments and questions are welcome.

SPKL filed its Q1 10Q yesterday afternoon, and the filing really contained no surprises. The market is responding in kind my delivering another quiet day of trading with the stock still trying to get through the $.90 and stick higher than that level.
The top line number was $625k in revs- up from $221k in the same quarter in 2007. That nearly a triple in top line performance- 182% revenue growth to be exact.

The quarter was reflective of exactly what the company has been saying it was doing- investing the $6 million raised at $.85 per share last December into expanding it’s company owned store portfolio.

If you are wondering about the current state of restaurant openings and future openings, here’s a quote directly out of the 10Q:

As of May 3, 2008, we have sold 127 franchises. Of the franchises sold, 31 franchise restaurants are opened and operating, 1 company-built and owned restaurant is open, 5 franchise restaurants have been repurchased by the Company, 6 franchise restaurants are under construction, 2 company restaurants are under construction, 6 franchise sites are under lease negotiation (we have either received an actual lease that is being reviewed or a letter of intent), 1 franchise restaurant closed and 75 franchise sites are subject to area development agreements. An area development agreement is entered into when a franchisee has purchased the rights to a geographic area with a set number of restaurants in that area.

As you can see from this statement, it is very reasonable to expect continued growth from SPKL long out into the future.

At the end of the quarter, SPKL still had about $3.6 million and cash, and no long term debt.

The only real liability on the balance sheet is about $1 million in deferred franchise fees. This debt is really the fuel for growth. This liability is, in fact, the franchisee fess already paid into the company for expansion. It is shown as a liability on the balance sheet until the restaurants represented by the franchisee fees open for business. Then, the liability is converted to revenues as SPKL has fulfilled its obligation to get the store open. As that number goes down, the number of stores goes up. I would like to see the number go up, as that means more franchises have been sold.

As far as losses go, the company lost about $1.5 million, or $.03 per share. I would expect the losses to continue throughout 2008, and improve to a profit or at least cash flow positive in 2009.

New store openings are now picking up, with several on the horizon.

Here’s the current chart:

This is a slightly ascending wedge. The market is just grinding away at that $.90 resistance point. Sooner or later, it is going to break out, and bust north. When it does, it needs to work its way higher than $1, to set up a pattern of higher lows and higher highs.

It’s tough to say where this stock might be in the next two weeks, but the company is proving its worth everyday with new franchise sales and new store openings. If you can see out a year or two, this company should be far more valuable than the current $42 million market value it commands.

There aren’t many fast casual chains growing at this clip. If you’re not a believer yet, go try the food.

Another snore fest in micros today, but a little excitement in the larger cap arena.

The excitement comes from RIMM, and now I have some losses to make up. This morning, RIMM announced the next generation of Blackberry- complete will all kinds of media rich and hi def stuff on the screen along with the new and more robust 3G technology.

I’m down about $13k on my puts, and I don’t think they are going to be worth anything with the stock closing today at $141.50. Over and done with. Ouch.

In light of crude now trading in the $125 range, I believe the market is defying gravity in the short term.

Earnings estimates for the S&P 500 have been headed lower except in the energy compound, and these high energy and food costs have got to act as a dampener for economic growth.

In the large cap world, we have enjoyed a nice rebound in April and May, and I believe a correction is in the works.

Here’s a look at the NASDAQ COMP with a Fibonacci retracement. This a reverse retracement look. The NASDAQ COMP cratered from 2730 down to 2156- December to March.

It has since rebounded to almost 2500. At 2511, it’s a nearly perfect 61.8% rebound of the whole move down.

The chart suggests to me we are nearing the point of upside exhaustion.

Before long, I am going to be suggesting shorting one or two of the indexes, or buying puts if you prefer.

I believe we are overdue for a little correction. When, and if it comes, I would use the opportunity to move into a couple of big cap names that have rebounded dramatically- AAPL for one, which I believe is going to $250, and RIMM for another, which I believe is going to $200.

Lots to cover this week. I expect some sort of update from EFSF. SPKL will have Q1 numbers out, as will NIHK. Look for BLOGS on both those events.

Interesting day. The Cisco earnings buoyed the market early, but it couldn’t hold. New all time high oil prices at $122, combined with other rising commodity prices could not keep the market moving north.

The DOW closed down 200, and NASDAQ gave back just under $50. RIMM, a stock I want to see go down, finally pulled back under $130- so I’m starting to gain back some ground on my put options. I need the stock to drop about another 3 points to make some money- with a little luck, that could happen tomorrow.

Despite being a tough day for larger caps, we finally saw a little action in a couple of our micros today.

PhotoChannel (OTC BB: PNWIF) gets honorable mention for perking up nicely. The stock closed at the $3.78 level, up about 4% on the day. The stock also traded just north of 1/4 million shares, which is a nice volume surge for this issue. I’m looking for $4 so this darn thing can hopefully get the long hoped for and wished for NASDAQ SC listing and start getting more institutional sponsorship.

Spicy Pickle (OTC BB: SPKL) keeps trying to break through that $.90 level. Another 100k day- there have been a pretty consistent stream of those days. Persistence will break down resistance on the issue sooner or later.

Despite all the negative stuff going on in the overall economy, the dollar was up more than half a percent again- I believe money is starting to rotate into the oversold dollar, which may help mitigate the insane oil prices.

I think we’re going to get an update in pretty short order on where we are with eFoodSafety and its product line for those who have been waiting.

Tomorrow’s posting will be late as this one has been. Better late than never.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Another day, another yawn. Sorry about last week. If you were looking for some daily commentary, I was otherwise occupied running around NYC for the week, and it makes it tough to get the content side in. The excitement of the FED meeting was the big story for the week, but I covered that in a Thursday/Friday edition.

I was in NY working on two new ideas I will be delivering before the end of the year. I’m going with less ideas, but bigger and better ones.

My observation today is one of frustration. I’m frustrated because there’s an evident change in the character of large caps, but no change at the small and micro cap level- yet.

For the first quarter of 2008, it was “Sell the Rips, Buy the Dips”. My single best trade of 2008 was the Monday morning after the Bear Stearns debacle was announced. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was simply beaten the morning, and I made $21k in two days by having the courage to buy.

In fact, I looked at a chart of AAA mortgage portfolio values today, and it is moving to the upside for the first time in a long time. The porfolios have appreciated from a low of $51 on a $100 par value to about $58- the chart has not broken the downtrend line, but it’s coming close. I’ll show the chart in a future edition- this is a very positive sign for the beginning of the end of the turmoil in the mortgage markets.

However, along with the micros going nowhere, I have been frustrated on the short side of the rips for the last month. Two of the four horseman of the last bull market- AAPL and RIMM just keep going up with no major correction in sight. I caught AAPL the first time, but now I holding nothing as it rockets. I am long a few put options in RIMM right now, and the stock keeps cranking higher.

On the micro front, the stocks I am covering are a snore fest at the present time. SPKL can’t seem to get through $.90- PNWIF gets Costco going, announces Australia, and can’t find any volume. EFSF has been silent on the DRTV campaign, so I guess investors are assuming it’s not working because the stock is very quiet. TCGD and NIHK are in comas. All in all, a very boring period in time.

On the plus side, I guess we needed a period of time where these stocks stopped going down, and simply traded sideways on low volume. We are right in the heart of that period, and I can’t wait for it to resolve to the upside.

On another note- I don’t believe the usual “Go away in May” strategy will work this year. The annual correction has already been priced into these issues, and the only question in my mind is whether we will have a decent rebound before the summer, or if we will have to wait until the Fall.