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Chinese Near-Monopoly Focus Media Gets Some Respect
2007-12-15 00:03:00
Following some period of neglect in coverage and enthusiasm in my opinion, Focus Media , a near monopoly flat panel advertising firm in China finally got the respect it deserves. Leading into the Olympics, this stock is positioned to benefit spectacularly from this unique venue given pricing power and market dominance. As usually occurs when the Friday Business Week column "Inside Wall Street" is released, the stocks mentioned get a nice bounce and FMCN was one of them today. As evidenced by today's stock rise in a down market for the US and China, FMCN jumped on the note. As an added bonus, later tonight, Nasdaq announced that the stock will be added to the Nasdaq 100, which will provide an added boost on Monday due to reshuffling required by Index funds and ETFs. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/cont ent/07_52/c4064insidewal394738.htmI've been a holder of FMCN for years now and admittedly, sold half my position when it reached a 200% gain. However, I'm still holding the rema...
More About: Chinese , Respect , Monopoly

Distribution of Wealth in the U.S. ...or Lack Thereof
2007-12-12 03:21:00
Following a recent lecture in my MBA program on distribution of wealth in the U.S. and around the world, I thought I'd do a little research on the topic. Although I'm usually a skeptic and think the press likes to knock the U.S. in general while taking shots at big business and the upper class, the empirical data actually supports the notion that distribution of wealth in the U.S. is not exactly on par with the rest of the developed world and the disparity is increasing rapidly.How do you measure distribution of wealth or lack thereof?There are some key statistical measures which are utilized elsewhere in academia, but in the context cited here, they are primarily utilized for just this topic:Lorenze Curve: Starting with this measure, you can measure what percentage of households possess a certain percentage of total income. Have you ever heard politicians invoke, "The tax cuts benefited the rich because the top earners realized the majority of the tax benefit..." while convenient...
More About: Wealth , Distribution , Lack

Everyday Finance Portfolio Update, Market Moves December 5, 2007
2007-12-06 04:47:00
It's been a while since I've provided an update on portfolio holdings. I have made a few purchases since last update so here's the full monty. For the uninitiated, I'm up pretty significantly this year to the tune of about 50% YTD, primarily due to international holdings. In September, I started selling off Chinese holdings following 100-180% runups. I've got some losers too of course, all is revealed. Following the recent downturn, I sold my puts which I had as a hedge and started to buy back in. As is customary, I've posted the returns compared to the S&P over the past 5 trading days. The portfolio slammed the index with a return of 3% versus a flat week for the SPY (S&P500) ETF.BGC 1.3%BIDU 6.8%BPHX 6.1%CHL 5.6%CIB 0.6%CROX 0.9%FMCN 4.4%GOOG 1%GRMN 0.5%KTII 6%SU 2.4%TKC 7.5%VIP 3.6%WYNN -7.4%Portfolio Average 2.8%Portfolio Median 3.0%SPY (S&P500) 0.2%To elaborate on some new purchases within the past few weeks, TKC, a Turkish telecom has been o...
More About: Finance , Market , Update , Moves

Dozens of Holiday Discount Codes from Major Retailers Published at Everyday
2007-12-05 04:48:00
I came across this incredible list of coupon codes from dozens of major retailers. I checked several of the links and they appear to be legit. I didn't come across any that didn't work. Try them out and report back on the savings you realized through Everyday Finance! Also report back any you find that didn't work out to save some folks the effort.Alloy Coupon Code: ALYGIFT (20% off entire order til Dec. 3, 2007)American Eagle Outfitters Coupon Code: 64152219 (15% off from Nov. 27 - Dec. 11, 2007)Ann Taylor Coupon Code: PRIVATE25 (25% off $100 plus free shipping from Nov. 30 – Dec. 2, 2007)Armani Exchange Coupon Code: STYLE20 ($20 off $100 from ? - ? )Banana Republic Coupon Code: BRHOLIDAY (20% off from Nov 27 – Dec 24, 2007)Bare Escentuals Coupon Code: BEFAMILY (20% off from Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 2007)Barnes & Noble Coupon Code: T4N3B6W (25% off Single Item on Nov 27 – Dec 10, 2007)Bath and Bodyworks Coupon Code: VELVET10 ($10 off $30 from Nov. 27 - Dec. 2, 2007)Bed Ba...
More About: Holiday , Published , Major , Discount , Retailers

Prosper.com: A Model of Financial Innovation
2007-12-05 04:21:00
A financial innovation comes in many forms. They are generally invented, commercialized and adopted for purposes that both benefit the general populous and of course, generate some form of profit or return on investment for the innovator. Although not always initially developed for genuinely altruistic purposes, these innovations often evolve into newer, more broadly adopted systems and exchanges. With this evolution, there are often unintended consequences, for better or worse.Prosper .com is a model of financial innovation. The Prosper peer-to-peer lending marketplace makes consumer lending both more affordable to borrowers compared to virtually any competing legal option, while enabling investors to partake in an entirely new asset class, which has the potential to provide net returns exceeding the risk-free rate of return in the marketplace. While Prosper claims to also have some socially rewarding aspect to it, the true market driver for this new exchange was precipitated by the...
More About: Financial , Innovation , Model

Gift Card Hell: Bombay Going out of Business
2007-12-03 23:31:00
A while back, my wife received a Bombay gift card for $50. Today, she went to the local Bombay store and was welcomed by a going out of business sale. Since they were still technically open for business and accepting payment for their wares, one would posit that they would also accept a gift card in their denomination since someone had to pay them $50 cash previously. Not the case. The woman at the desk claimed that they were no longer accepting gift cards. My wife was irate and questioned how they could be selling items for cash and credit but not for a gift card purchased through their store. The associate actually let loose a real zinger. She completely crossed the line between a professional answer based on facts and a personal note. She said, "You know, I just don't get why you're so upset. I've had people in here with $200 cards that weren't as upset as you are." My wife was astonished. She said, "$50 is a fair amount of money, I'm a stay at home wife and this w...
More About: Business , Card , Gift , Hell

The Crash Market Stock
2007-11-30 04:19:00
Guest post from Greg, an Everyday Finance contributor; bio at bottom.Market to Fed: Don’t fight the tape!Well seasoned traders know that for any trade to work, to work big, that trade needs to be in sync with primary trend of the market.Now clearly the Fed is a not for profit enterprise but their well healed trading houses should have know better. For months we have witnessed an expanding money supply and for months we have seen a strong bid come into the markets at the most opportune times. But regardless of all the stimulus and props, the markets have spoken loud and clear as the Dow closed below its August lows. Reasserting the traders principal that it is never wise to fight the tape. For all the Feds machinations and rate cuts it seems we may still be on the verge of a bear market.To be honest, we thought the Fed would be able to inject enough liquidity to keep the markets levitated. We thought this Bull Run in Gold Stock s would coincide with further strength in the stock mar...
More About: Crash

New Investment Vehicle Research
2007-11-28 04:09:00
I came across this article and was enlightened by the prospect of altering your returns based on index performance, which in some cases eliminates the risk of loss or increases your returns. I'm not referring to Proshares ultra and shorts, as I've posted about in the past. I'm referring to structured notes and structured investments.In this world nothing's for free; you forfeit some returns in an obscene year where the market returns say, 40%. But how about getting your principle back in a year when the market tanks 25%? Without oversimplifying or spoiling the article, take a read on this article from the recent Carnival, of which I'm a member as well. I want to give credit where credit is due to this blogger for bringing this little-known vehicle to light for me.http://www.coddleshell.com/making-mone y-without-the-risk-of-losing/Downside: You do forfeit some of a huge upside if it occurs and you are locked in until the expiry of the contract.I will revisit this topic after...
More About: Research , Investment , Vehicle

Garmin Defying Market Direction, Strong on Holiday Sales
2007-11-26 22:39:00
Following some rosy news and predictions from analysts related to Garmin 's (GRMN) prospects around the holiday season, the stock closed up 5% at $97 per share. During intraday trading, the stock touched $101. This, on a day when the major market indices tanked at the close. Prior to the end of bidding for Tele Atlas, I had anticipated a pop in the stock regardless of whether Garmin won or lost the deal. This was a classic "removal of uncertainty" discount that was built into the stock.http://everydayfinance.blogspot.com /2007/11/profiting-from-situational-analy sis-of.htmlEveryday Finance Trading Update:Following the dip prior to the bidding escalation, I bought more shares at 87 as evidenced in the aforementioned post. During today's trading, I sold half of my position at 100 based on a 10% pop in mid session. I'm still holding some shares anticipating some additional holiday cheer when 4th quarter earnings are reported, but I am also growing increasingly bearish on the mark...
More About: Holiday , Market , Sales , Strong

A Solid Performer for Shaky Times
2007-11-26 00:44:00
Given the recent turbulence in the market, I thought I'd share some stocks more likely to weather the storm than the momentum plays I'd been focused on earlier in the year. I have serious doubts about a return to previous market highs any time soon given the likelihood of continued subprime contagion. However, like in every sideways or down market, there are stalwarts that continue to perform strongly regardless of what's happening in the market.One such stock is Iron Mountain (IRM). Iron Mountain is the largest storage and protection company in the world. As companies start to mature and look for contingency planning and protection, they turn to Iron Mountain. The U.S. accounts for only half its business, so in coming quarters, you'll continue to see an added benefit from the weak dollar exchange into earnings (the dollar just hit an ALL TIME low versus the Euro this week). They've been buying up competitors and breaking into new product lines, as evidenced by last week's pur...
More About: Times , Solid , Performer , Perform , Soli

Drucker: Ideas of Management Genius Still Relevant Today
2007-11-23 20:57:00
After reading Drucker’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship, it was evident that some of his ideas are still relevant 20 years later, which was quite impressive. However, some of his ideas weren’t necessarily as applicable today as they were in the 80’s. In fact, some of the companies he cited as successes in his book are no longer relevant; perhaps victims of their own success, or they failed to heed his advice at the time of its writing. Aside from whether his ideas are still necessarily valid or invalid, some of his ideas were either oddly relevant today in different ways than he initially articulated that he couldn’t have predicted then, or in some cases, over - generalized or based on common sense, even for the timeframe written.It was interesting for me to see the focus Drucker had on “high tech” not being the panacea it’s often made out to be. Although I was only 10 in 1985, I still don’t even think back to a “high tech” environment even existing. I do recall ...
More About: Ideas , Management , Today , Relevant , Genius

2007 Market Gains Neutralized; How You Can Get It Back
2007-11-22 03:32:00
Today, Nov. 21, was the coup de grace for what has been a relatively painful couple of months in the stock market. We may not have seen the worst yet, especially in the U.S. Investors have seen the S&P500 go from a YTD double digit gain as recently as October to a flat year following today's session. What's going on here?Well, as has been widely publicized, the subprime contagion has not been pretty. There seem to be more skeletons in the closet than initially thought. What hasn't been so widely publicized is the likely impact of a continuously falling dollar and the likely inflation that another rate cut will precipitate. It's finally sinking in that a steady drop in the U.S. savings rate combined with increased debt burdens equals an eventual recession; the economists are gradually upping their predicted odds monthly. And, don't forget a slowdown in the private equity buyout boom. Remember during the summer all you heard about was private equity? Now crickets. The deals j...
More About: Market , Back

Is our Dollar a "Worthless Piece of Paper"? How to Profit from a Weakening
2007-11-20 04:44:00
According to Iran's President Ahmadinejad, it is. These were his sentiments to fellow OPEC members yesterday panning the dollar's depreciation in recent years. As oil is a dollar denominated commodity, OPEC members are concerned over the fall in the U.S. Dollar . Since they are seeing the value of their dollar reserves decline while paying more for goods and services from the European Union, their economies have seen a surge in internal inflation.Towing the standard party line, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez proclaimed that the "empire of the dollar has to end". These statements are actually rather infantile, regardless of translational drift, coming from heads of state, but the weakening dollar issue has started to gain traction. It's actually making press with the guy on the street and somewhat disturbingly, Supermodel Bundchen has demanded payment in Euros from U.S. based Proctor and Gamble. What's going on here?While our multinationals have benefited tremendously from a fal...
More About: Profit , Paper , Piece , Wort

Dialing in on the Emerging Market Bonanza
2007-11-20 04:20:00
Today, I had the pullback I was looking for in international stocks to load up again following some profit-taking in September. I had recently posted about TurkCell (TKC), a leading wireless operator in Turkey. The stock pulled back from a high of 28 to the 26 range today, so I bought in. In after hours, the stock is back up over 2%, generally unaffected by the selloff in other markets today. The stock is up close to 100% year over year versus a virtually flat U.S. market during the same timeframe.Turkey's economy has been booming and Turkcell is a great way to benefit from the rising in the standard of living in the region. While there may be some trouble brewing on the border of Iraq, things are starting to look a bit better given the perception that Iran has stopped the flow of weapons into the country. Although the two issues are not directly related, stability in the region is stability in the region, allowing the U.S. diplomacy and military efforts to stay the course. Destabi...
More About: Market , Dial

Easy Come, Easy Go. Aetna Redemption, Hit and Run Drivers
2007-11-18 23:43:00
Although I have little in common with Michael Moore's socialist agenda, his take on health insurers stuck a chord with me and really hit home after the lousy personal experience with our family as posted in the "from hell" rant:http://everydayfinance.blogspot.com/ 2007/09/health-insurers-are-from-hellhow- to.htmlComically, while pursuing the issue through my employer, my wife called Aetna for a completely different issue. While she was talking to a supervisor on the phone about an unrelated issue, she relayed our horror story and the woman was actually empathetic and said she would act as an advocate to right this wrong by her company. She gave my wife her contact info and championed the issue all the way through. So, in the end, we are still not covered moving forward for this condition which was not "medically significant", but Aetna agreed to cover the back-billed several hundred dollars. This just goes to show that with some persistence and luck, you can actually have a seemi...
More About: Drivers , Redemption , Easy , Hit and Run

Garmin Management...Genius
2007-11-17 22:51:00
This article just about sums it up. Garmin let Tom Tom overbid for Tele Atlas, saddling it with debt, while management negotiated with Navteq for a map deal through 2015. By bidding for Tele Atlas, Garmin was able to achieve a better negotiation stance for the deal with Navteq and they didn't' really need Tele Atlas after all! Disclosure: Long GRMNhttp://www.marketwatch.com/news/story /garmin-quits-tele-atlas-battle/story.asp x?guid=%7B44E89DAE%2DF62D%2D4010%2DB8AB%2 D624A5393B367%7Dwww.everydayfinance.blogs pot.com
More About: Management , Genius , Armin

Free $25 at UPromise and Black Friday Deals at Amazon
2007-11-17 22:33:00
When I see new signup deals come through, I pass on. With this one, there's a free $25 to those signing up and shopping through their network by the end of the year. Opportune for the holiday season!Additionally, Amazon has some pretty wild Black Friday deals. I've been using Amazon more often than I used to, the deals are tough to beat. Customers will get gift wrapping for $.99 per item. There's a widget to the left with the deal of the day, feel free to peruse.www.everydayfinance.blogspot.com
More About: Free , Black Friday

Profiting from Situational Analysis of Garmin
2007-11-17 00:50:00
As anticipated, by dropping out of the bidding for map maker Tele-Atlas, Garmin (GRMN) rocketed up 17% today. Not only did the removal of this uncertainty buoy the stock, as occurs routinely with the likes of RIMM and MRK lawsuit settlement news, but now its competitor Tom Tom stands to overpay dearly for Tele Atlas given its relentless bidding pursuit.I had postulated this outcome recently and since upped my stake. Specifically, here was a recent call for action.http://everydayfinance.blogspot.co m/2007/11/garmin-completely-oversoldagain .htmlAs evidenced by my Ameritrade history, I've moved in and out of the stock at opportune times. For now, I plan on holding for another run upward.History07/16/2007 13:15:07 Bought 20 GRMN @ 84.0994 -1,691.9809/27/2007 09:39:06 Sold 10 GRMN @ 117.563 1,165.6211/09/2007 11:45:00 Bought 20 GRMN @ 87.21 -1,754.19Current Value: GRMN 30 97.51 2,925.30A quick excel analysis of the internal rate of return shows an annualized return of 217%. I like to use...
More About: Analysis , Situation , Anal , Armin

Can Unique Infrastructure Funds Bring Structure to your Portfolio?
2007-11-16 05:02:00
Given the global boom and the runup in commodities and emerging market stocks recently, what remaining vestiges of potential remain for investors? Infrastructure holdings such as airports, roads, water systems and power utilities are starting to take off world wide. As emerging market economies start to reach parity with western living standards, burgeoning infrastructure investments will bouy funds focused in this area.Attached are some opportunities and performance measures:Macquarie Global Infrastructure Total Return Fund Inc. (MGU)is a closed end fund investing in infrastructure assets. The one year return for MGU is 20% vs. the paltry 5% gain of the S&P500. Additionally, it carries a dividend yield of 5.3%.Macquarie Infrastructure Co. Trust (MIC) boasts a 30% return and an even higher 6.3% 1 year return.Outside the MacQuarie family, a mutual fund with similar interests is the Kensington Global Infrastructure Fund (KGIAX). While newer than the closed end funds, it boasts a 3...
More About: Portfolio , Unique , Funds , Structure

Invest in Small Cap Cheap Stocks
2007-11-16 04:22:00
Guest post from Greg, Bio at bottom.Looking for cheap stocks? Consider investing in the depressed US Small Cap sector.As contrarian investors we are always on the lookout for value. When we say value we mean those stocks that are beaten down and depressed. After all, value must be found amongst that which nobody else wants.In order to find these diamonds in the rough, we use a number of screens / techniques. Amongst them are:- The CBS Marketwatch industry scanner – used to find the worst performing industries.- Back page of the Economist – ranks global markets by return in local currency and US Dollars (we look for the worst performer).- Ranking the worst performing commodities or bonds and then looking for stocks that are exposed to them.- Ranking returns by market cap i.e. large, mid, small or micro and finding the area of capitalization that has performed the worst.Gazing into the wide expanse of the stock universe we find that in Dollar terms, the US market haze been amongst...
More About: Stocks , Cheap , Invest

Everydayfinance Portfolio Update
2007-11-11 15:40:00
Although it was a dismal week for the markets, I only lost about 1% in the portfolio due to a cascading QQQQ put series. I unloaded some put options at the 53 strike and I still have several naked calls sold at the 57 level, which I would expect to see expire (hence capturing the premium I received at the time of the transaction). For volatility, I don't expect the VIX to stay at the current level, so I bought some Dec 22.5 Puts and a single Dec 30 Call in the event we see another spike down. What I'm forecasting here is more credit trouble and the market imploding further OR a return to previous highs by year end and volatility decreasing. Either way, my options come into the money and I cash in. If somehow, the volatility stays at exactly this level (which would probably be commensurate with a moderate steady decline in share prices), my options will expire worthless. However, I can sleep at night.I also bought back into Garmin (GRMN) at these levels. I had unloaded half ...
More About: Portfolio , Update

Making Money in this Obstreperous Market
2007-11-09 03:59:00
OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you don't routinely hear of the market as being obstreperous. That is, noisy and stubbornly defiant. But, that's what's going on, right? We have credit crisis panic one day and rate cut euphoria the next. During the past couple days, the market has taken a beating and volatility (fear) has set in as indicated in the ^VIX Volatility Index.. While I've been hammered in the Chinese holdings BIDU, CHL, etc., I've also made some nice gains in less sexy "old-industrial" type stocks. General Cable BGC and K-Tron KTII have been defying the market downturns following great earnings earlier in the month. Investors are starting to realize the value in stocks like this. General Cable earnings of $1.11 per share vs. a 90 cent analysts' estimate on revenue of $1.13 billion vs. an estimate of $1.10 billion. K-Tron's share price surged 9% on Nov. 6 when it reported blockbuster earnings as well on a 38% rise in revenue year over year. Ther...
More About: Money , Market

How to Play the Impending Water Shortages
2007-11-06 04:46:00
It's when the press starts to pay attention to a previously mundane and undercovered topic that the smart money gets into a sector. I've been fortunate enough to catch this with everything from CROX and hot Chinese holdings FMCN, BIDU and CHL to GOOG shortly after its IPO. Conversely, I missed it with Apple and Amazon following even the best of buying opportunities. Such is the investor's dichotomy. Tonight, I was listening to a fav, "Bloomberg on the Economy" on Sirius and they had a special guest on espousing his views on the current water shortage and impending crises to come worldwide. I've read about this before, and for a bit, our investment club (when we were active) owned a water ETF, but I haven't revisited in years. Following my trip home, I opened up the paper to see that the cover of the Health & Science section was dedicated to the same topic. Before it hits Oprah and everyone buys in, it's time to roll up our sleeves and do some research. The main ETF that ga...
More About: Play , Water , Ages

Whisper Targets for the Amex Gold Bugs Index
2007-11-06 04:33:00
Guest post from Greg, check out bio and newsletter info below... Shhhhhh!Don’t look now but the Amex Gold Bugs Index has blown through resistance at 401 (the May 2006 high) and made a run to 430 before falling back to the current 419. Based on the lack of excitement and publicity our guess is more to come.Now mind you, a move to new highs is never a fait a compli that a breakout is at hand. Heaven knows we have endured many false breakouts over the years.There are a few technical analysis tools one can use to determine if a breakout is for real. The most popular is a daily close 3% above the breakout level (414 in our case which has been achieved). The other is 3 consecutive daily closes above the breakout level (done). In effect, both indicators are a means of gaining confidence either through price or time.Incidentally, we find it difficult to buy breakouts for this very reason. We never know if they are for real. We prefer to bottom pick oversold stocks – but that’s just ou...
More About: Whisper

Small Biotechs with Enormous Prospects
2007-11-04 02:33:00
Following a note in a recent edition of BusinessWeek, I decided to check out the prospects on Clinical Data (CLDA). The stock is up 175% in the past year. For a small Biotech, this actually isn't any more abnormal than a 90% decline year over year. However, there were some notable characteristics that drew my attention to the prospects of continued gains here:This is an RJ Kirk stock. He's a billionaire investor who owns 40% of the shares of CLDA. If anyone recalls the Shire buyout of New River Pharma for $2.6 billion in February, this was another one of Kirk's inventions...He was the founder and chairman.Kirk also co-founded General Injectables and Vaccines, which was purchased by Schein in 1998.Kirk has obviously shown a penchant for pursuing the right deals and having his companies taken out for premiums following their already impressive ascent.CLDA has an antidepressant in Phase 3, which is not nearly as risky as the earlier stages and with a 40% stake from a veteran biotech...
More About: Small

My GPS Rules...And It's Cheap!
2007-11-04 02:01:00
Since I just posted on the undeserved beating Garmin took last week following its announcement that it's in the running for Tele Atlas, I thought it was relevant to provide my opinion on the actual unit I purchased recently. The Garmin C330 is a more basic model, but it's dropped in price so dramatically to make room for the newer models that I decided to get one from Amazon. This decision was also driven by its endorsement in Consumer Reports as a "CR Best Buy", meaning that for the money, it was the best model in the list of several manufacturers and model numbers. Notably, the unit was listed at over $300 there, but as of today, it's now down to $199 through Amazon. When I ordered mine, I actually paid $229 and now that it's below $200, I wanted to highlight. I got free shipping as well. Anyway, I tried it out this weekend finally, and it works just as anticipated. No more wasting time on Google Maps and printing directions everywhere we go. Happy Driving! Here's the...
More About: Rules , Cheap

Garmin Completely Oversold...Again
2007-11-02 03:52:00
Although today was an abysmal day in general, I think Garmin (GRMN) deserves some special consideration at these levels. Following the news that their major source of map content, Navteq was to be acquired, the stock took a nosedive and I posited that the stock was oversold. This was on Oct. 1. Following that post, the stock rose 15% within 4 weeks versus a flat S&P500 performance. http://everydayfinance.blogspot.com/2007/ 10/garmin-completely-oversold-on-navteq.h tml Following 3rd quarter earnings that beat street estimates, the stock is down appreciably again, this time due to its projected bid for Tele Atlas to fill its map-making void. Excluding the effect of foreign exchange rates, earnings climbed to 89 cents per share from 50 cents per share versus an 82 cent concensus. You'd wonder why the stock would react in such a manner. Merrill Lynch postulated that Garmin would ultimately have to increase its bid for Tele Atlas given a likely bidding war with Tom Tom. Re...
More About: Armin

Prosper.com: 6 Months in and Still Exceeding Expectations
2007-10-31 01:49:00
It's been a little over 6 months since I funded my first loan through Prosper .com and my stats are about where I expected they'd be when I started. I have an interest rate (net of defaults) greater than that of the long-run U.S. equities return, it's non-correlated with any other asset class and I've had no real surprises during my tenure. When I got into Prosper.com, I was skeptical, just like anyone else. I did my research, calculated my risks, set my expectations and entered slowly. Prosper allows you to fund loans with as little as $50, so I did the majority of my initial loans at that minimum amount. Once I had exhausted my first $2,000, I doubled up and have no invested that money as well. Since then, I decided to take a couple months off and just reinvest the interest due to the time involved in adequately vetting the loans and to allow some time to review loan performance over time instead of continuing to fund in a rolling fashion only to find out at the 1 year mar...
More About: Expectations , Months , Mont

BluePhoenix Solutions Rises 13% on Earnings, Revenue Victory
2007-10-30 00:41:00
Israel-based BluePhoenix Solutions (BPHX) rocketed 13% today (October 29, 2007) during trading following a reported surge in earnings of 34% and exceeding earnings expectations by a penny per share, at 18 cents. This stock was initially profiled and recommended on July 13 at the following post (55% increase since recommendation). Primary drivers were lack of coverage, momentum in sector, backorders and pricing power. On a valuation basis, I highlighted that the stock may have been unnecessarily affected by the perception of risk given the location. I am still bullish on the stock and the Israeli market in general. Attached is a relevant fund if interested.http://everydayfinance.blogspo t.com/2007/07/international-investing-blu ephoenix.htmlDisclosure: Long BPHX, up 75% since entry.www.everydayfinance.blogspot.com
More About: Victory , Earnings , Revenue , Earning

New Emerging Market Soveriegn Debt ETF Brings Great Returns with Minimal Co
2007-10-28 02:38:00
Powershares has launched a new ETF which tracks the Deutsche Bank Emerging Market U.S. Dollar Balanced Liquid Index. This is a rather long name, so here are the basics:The ticker is PCY and the name of the ETF is PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt Portfolio. By sovereign, it means it invests only in government bonds and not corporate bonds. The countries in which it holds bond positions are generally relegated to the emerging (high yield = high risk) arena, but in holding at least 17 positions, it's well diversified. I've listed some country details below.To date, I haven't been involved in bonds much as I have previously found them to be boring and I also didn't understand them very well. Recently, in completing an MBA course in bond pricing and simultaneously reading the press release on this new ETF, I thought I'd check it out. The nice thing about this index it is has a low/negative correlation to the U.S. market and it still seems to have impressive returns, more ...
More About: Great , Minimal , Erie