Monday, December 31, 2012

Bought Some Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI)

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) was the second to worst YTD performing GDT::Portfolio stock on Friday, 02012.12.28. Today, Monday, 02012.12.31, I added to our Altairnano investment buying some ALTI shares at $2.09.

Bought Some NeuroMetrix (NURO)

NeuroMetrix (NURO) was the worst YTD performing GDT::Portfolio stock on Friday, 02012.12.28. Today, Monday, 02012.12.31, I added to our NeuroMetrix investment buying some NURO shares at $0.46.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Bought Some Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM)

Earlier this month I sold some Cray, Yahoo! and LookSmart to raise some cash to do some end of the year buying. Today (02012.12.28) I added to our Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) holdings buying at $1.32. Despite the buy our ASTM investment remains underwater.

Bought Some Facebook (FB)

I put in a good-till-cancel order to buy a nanoiota lot of Facebook (FB) at $26.00. The order was placed yesterday (02012.12.27) after the market closed. FB closed yesterday at $26.05.

Today (02012.12.28) FB opened at $25.49 and that is the price our buy got executed. Between the open and now (~8:19am MST) FB had an intra-day low of $25.15.

Our FB investment is underwater with our average cost per share at $27.15.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Bought Some Mace Security International (MACE)

Mace Security International (MACE) has been a crappy investment for us, but that didn't stop me from buying some MACE today (02012.12.27) at $0.28. MACE dilution has been a problem this year. From the company's 3Q'12 press release issued on 02012.12.11: "Weighted average shares for computing loss per share for the nine months ending September 30, 2012 and 2011 were 58,946,441 and 25,116,345 respectively." At $0.28, MACE was two cents above it's net book value per share of $0.26.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Bought Some StemCells (STEM)

StemCells (STEM) continues to be a cash burner, but that didn't stop me from buying some STEM today (02012.12.26) at $1.57. 52-week range: $0.59 - $2.67.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Geeknet Needs Geeks To Think ThinkGeek

Geeknet (GKNT) has a high SIR (Short Interest Ratio), yet the stock has a thin float. GKNT closed yesterday (02012.12.23) at $16.58. 52-week range: $12.07 - $21.62. I will sell some GKNT shares at $21.99 (7 $Pi).

Geeknet is ThinkGeek. I'm still bummed that Geeknet got rid of Slashdot. I hope ThinkGeek is having a busy end of year. I hope when geeks think about buying geeky stuff, they think ThinkGeek.

Sold Some CRAY At 5 $Pi ($15.71)

Cray (CRAY) continues to do well and today (02012.12.24) I sold some of our CRAY shares at $15.71. The sale price was arbitrarily chosen to be 5 times $Pi. 5 * Pi ~= 15.70796325, which when rounded to the nearest penny is 15.71. 5 times $Pi ~= $15.71. I will sell more CRAY shares when they hit 6 times $Pi (i.e. $18.85).

CRAY closed yesterday (02012.12.23) at $15.59. 52-week range: $6.09 - $15.81.

While I was writing this Cray posting, CRAY spiked to a new 52-week high of $15.87.

Friday, December 21, 2012

iRobot On My Mind

iRobot (IRBT) has been doing well over the span of the last few months. Here's a headline I saw yesterday (02012.12.20): "The Downside to Robots? Almost None at Motley Fool (Thu, Dec 20)". I disagree with Motley Fool and it has to do with timing. IRBT closed yesterday (02012.12.20) at $19.02. IRBT 52-week range: $16.25 - $38.33. In other words, IRBT has lost more than 50% of its value over the span of the last ten months.

On 02012.02.08, IRBT closed at $38.30. One day later, on 02012.02.09, IRBT closed at $25.17. It subsequently fell to its current 52-week low of $16.25 on 02012.11.16.

I'd like to think the downside for IRBT is almost none. At 9:03am MST on 02012.12.21, IRBT was at $18.69 giving the stock a PSR (Price Sales Ratio) of 1.13 (I think this is low). iRobot has approximately $6.84 per share with $0 debt. Short Interest Ratio for IRBT is 11.9 (I think this is high).

[update::02012.12.23] Yikes! Yesterday (02012.12.22), after I posted this posting about iRobot, IRBT dropped 4.31% and closed the day at $18.20. Trading volume was 2.88 million vs. a trailing-3-month average of 0.28 million.

Red Hat Reports 3Q'12 Results

Red Hat (RHT) reported 3Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.12.20). I liked the results. Red Hat continues to be a growth company. It's possible that someday the "The Accidental Quadruple" will be written.

From Red Hat's 3Q'12 press release.

Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of November 30, 2012 were $1.35 billion. [...] In Q3, we used our strong balance sheet and cash flow to repurchase approximately $52 million of common stock.

RHT closed yesterday (02012.12.20) at $52.61. 52-week range: $40.34 - $62.75. RHT is well below the accidental quadruple price of $67.48.

[update::02012.12.21] Oops... I wanted to make the following observation. At the end of 2Q'12, Red Hat had "total cash" of $1.36 billion. The company ended 3Q'12 with $1.35 billion in cash, yet it spent $52 million on its own shares.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Illumina Spikes On Roche Speculation

Illumina (ILMN) spiked to a new 52-week high today of $57.00 after there was news that Roche might make another bid for the company. ILMN closed at $56.19 up ~7.7% for the day. Volume was about 5.3 times the trailing-3-month average.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Altair Nanotechnologies No Longer a Penny Stock

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) executed their 1:6 reverse stock split yesterday (02012.12.18). Prior to the split, ALTI closed at $0.47 on 02012.12.17. It opened yesterday at $2.34; hit an intra-day high and low of $2.74 and $2.29, respectively; and closed at $2.47. Volume was 48,400.

Hmm... Six times $0.47 is $2.82; therefore, ALTI opened down 17% and at one point it was down almost 19%. For the day it was down 12.4%.

There are now approximately 11,589,652 ALTI shares. Finance.Yahoo.com shows that ~63% of ALTI shares are closely held. If true, then ALTI has a float of ~4.3 million shares.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Cray Likes Germany

Cray (CRAY) announced yesterday (02012.12.17) that the company was "awarded a $39 million contract from the North-German Supercomputing Alliance (HLRN) to deliver a distributed Cray XC30 supercomputing system, which will be operated at two sites -- the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) and the High Performance Computing Center (RRZN) at Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany."

From the press release.

"With these large installations in Berlin and Hannover, Cray continues to strengthen its presence internationally and expand its coverage across the European HPC landscape."

CRAY closed yesterday (02012.12.17) at $14.83. 52-week range: $6.08 - $15.14.

Stewart Enterprises Still Not It's Own Customer

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) reported 4Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.12.17) and I think they had a solid quarter. From the press release.
During the fourth quarter of 2012, the Company repurchased 1.1 million shares of its Class A common stock for $8.3 million under its stock repurchase program.

STEI bought back 1.1 million shares at an average price per share of $7.54 per share. In addition, during FY'12 the company reduced the total number of shares by 3.5%.

STEI closed yesterday (02012.12.17) at $7.53. 52-week range: $4.92 - $8.65. According to Finance.Yahoo.com, the Short-Interest-Ratio (SIR) for STEI is a whopping 48.1.

Unless our financial situation dictates otherwise, the plan it to hold onto a small amount of STEI shares until either the company or I go belly up.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Google Hires Ray Kurzweil

Google (GOOG) has made Ray Kurzweil into a Googler. Kurzweil starts working at Google on Monday, 02012.12.17. GOOG closed on Friday, 02012.12.14, at $701.96. 52-week range: $556.52 - $774.38.

MDBX (MedBox) is a Bit Volatile

Stocks::Stuffer posting from 5 December 02012...
MedBox Added To GDT::WatchList
MedBox (MDBX) is not a GDT::Portfolio stock, but W. Hollywood, CA-based company's stock has had an interesting trading history. Went public at $3.25 on 29 Aug 02012; hit an intra-day low of $0.05 on 28 Sep 02012; hit an intra-day high of $215.00 on 25 Nov 02012; closed at $23.50 on 04 Dec 02012. According to Finance.Yahoo.com, there are approximately 11 million MDBX shares outstanding with an approximate 1.91 million float. On 03 Dec 02012, MedBox issued a press release about a "patent pending storage and retrieval lockbox system called the Lockbox Rx." Prescription Vending Machines, Inc. is a MedBox subsidiary.

MDBX closed at $66.75 on 02012.12.14. The day's range: $61.10 - $110.00.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Apple and Google on 12/12/12

Apple (AAPL) is not a GDT::Portfolio stock, but I like following the company and its stock. Here's a tidbit from yesterday (02012.12.12 [12/12/12]) that I posted to my Facebook today.
12/12/12 is history, but here's a 12/12 tidbit that I missed on 12/12/12. Apple Inc. went public on 12/12/[19]80 and it ended 12/12/80 with a market value of ~$1.778 billion. Apple Inc.'s market value at the end of 12/12/12 was ~$507.03 billion.

AAPL closed yesterday (02012.12.12) at $539.00, well below its 52-week high of $705.07.

Google (GOOG) is a GDT::Portfolio stock and it closed yesterday at $697.56. 52-week range: $556.52 - $774.38. Google Inc.'s market value at the end of 12/12/12 was ~$229.21 billion.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Nanosphere Gets Yet Another FDA Approval

Nanosphere (NSPH) issued a press release on 02012.12.12 having the following headline: "Nanosphere Receives FDA Clearance for C. difficile Test". The press release contained the following quote by CEO Bill Moffitt. "With four new products cleared by the FDA in the last 12 months, we are pleased to lead the market in providing a comprehensive suite of tests that can improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare spending."

NSPH closed yesterday (02012.12.11) at $2.79. 52-week range: $1.20 - $3.89.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Altair Nanotechnology To Execute 1:6 Stock Split

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) announced it is going to execute a 1:6 stock split (note: this is a reverse stock split). The company needs to get its share price above a buck, but this isn't the first time they've given this try. Altairnano executed a 1:4 stock split on 02010.11.16. ALTI closed yesterday (02012.10.10) at $0.50. 52-week range: $0.40 - $1.00.

~70 million shares split 1:6 implies ~11.67 million shares post-split. The approximate float of 27.4 million shares shrinks to ~4.6 million shares. The $0.50 stock price becomes $3.00.

"We are continuing to build upon these recent successes and believe 2013 will bring much stronger financial performance. Maintaining our listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market is important to our current shareholders and should help us attract a broader range of investors to the company," said CEO Alexander Lee.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Red Hat: A Stock For 02013?

Red Hat (RHT) was one of the stocks to make Evercore Partners list of tech stock picks for 02013. Target price: $68. RHT closed last Friday (02012.12.07) at $49.16. 52-week range: $39.19 - $62.75. If Evercore Partners target price is hit, then that means my accidental quadruple target price of $67.48 will be realized.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Trimble Navigation Hits New 52-Week High

Trimble Navigation (TRMB) hit and closed at a new 52-week high of $56.07 yesterday (02012.12.05). Our investment in TRMB is minimal, yet it's #14 in the GDT::Portfolio. I don't have a target price on these shares, but that's because our investment is small. From Trimble's website: "Positioning-centric information is changing the way people, businesses and governments work throughout the world. By applying Trimble's advanced positioning solutions, productivity increases and safety improvements are being realized."

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

MedBox Added To GDT::WatchList

MedBox (MDBX) is not a GDT::Portfolio stock, but W. Hollywood, CA-based company's stock has had an interesting trading history. Went public at $3.25 on 29 Aug 02012; hit an intra-day low of $0.05 on 28 Sep 02012; hit an intra-day high of $215.00 on 25 Nov 02012; closed at $23.50 on 04 Dec 02012. According to Finance.Yahoo.com, there are approximately 11 million MDBX shares outstanding with an approximate 1.91 million float. On 03 Dec 02012, MedBox issued a press release about a "patent pending storage and retrieval lockbox system called the Lockbox Rx." Prescription Vending Machines, Inc. is a MedBox subsidiary.