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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Illumina Gets an Upgrade and a Downgrade

Illumina (ILMN) got upgraded from 'Hold' to 'Buy' by TheStreet Ratings today (02012.11.29) prior the market opening. ILMN closed yesterday (02012.11.28) at $51.58. 52-week range: $25.65 - $55.39. Three days ago a firm named Robert W. Baird downgraded ILMN from 'Outperform' to 'Neutral.'

NeuroMetrix--Insider Buy Recorded

NeuroMetrix (NURO) continues to be a drag on the GDT::Portfolio; however, I was glad to see to that company's CEO bought some NURO at $0.55 back on 02012.11.09. Yesterday, 02012.11.26, NURO closed at $0.51. 52-week range: $0.45 - $1.63.

Yahoo! YHOO Hits a New 52-Week High

Yahoo! (YHOO) hit a new 52-week high of $19 today (02012.11.26) before closing at $18.75. Volume was 1.5 times the trailing-3-month average. AP headline: "Yahoo's stock hits $19 for 1st time since [April] 2010". The AP report included the following: "Yahoo had spent $212 million buying back 13 million shares from Oct. 1 through Nov. 8, according to a recent regulatory filing, with $928 million spent so far this year."

Facebook Gets a Buy Rating

Facebook (FB) closed today (02012.11.26) at $25.94, up 8% for the day. Volume was two-times the trailing-3-month average. 52-week range: $17.55 - $45.00. Bernstein Research upgraded FB to "Outperform" from "Market Perform". Despite today's spike our FB investment is still underwater. The Motley Fool had a posting titled "Is Facebook the New Google or Amazon?" The Fool feels Bernstein "sees what a growing number of bulls are starting to see: Facebook is bigger than even its lofty market cap suggests."

52-Week Lows: iRobot and Kratos; 52-Week High: Yahoo!

iRobot (IRBT) hit a new 52-week low last week Friday (02012.11.16) of $16.25. 52-week range: $16.25 - $38.33.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) hit a new 52-week low last week Friday (02012.11.16) of $4.14. 52-week range: $4.14 - $7.79.

Yahoo! (YHOO) hit a new 52-week high last week Thursday (02012.11.15) of $18.16. YHOO closed the next day at $17.76 after hitting an intra-day high of $18.02. It appears as though Wall Street likes what Marissa Mayer is doing as CEO.

Geeknet and Nanosphere Keep Going Down

Geeknet (GKNT) closed at $14.68 on Friday, 02012.11.16. 52-week range: $12.07 - $21.62. Our GKNT investment is now under water and this is beyond frustrating. I am keeping an eye on insider activity (buying) at GKNT's current price. GKNT's SIR (Short Interest Ratio is a whopping 18.9.

Nanosphere (NSPH) closed at $2.42 on Friday, 02012.11.16. The company has lost ~32% of its market value since hitting a new 52-week of $3.89 on 02012.08.28. Our NSPH is still above water, but that will stop being true if NSPH hits $2.25.

Stewart Enterprises Stock is Dying, Yet the Company Lives

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) closed last week (Friday, 02012.11.09) at $7.14. 52-week range: $4.92 - $8.65. STEI is selling well below its 52-week high, yet it has a SIR (Short-Interest-Ratio) of 46.1. On 1 November 02012, there was some insider buying at $7.77. I agree with this Forbes.com headline seen on 02012.11.07: "Top Ranked Dividend Stock STEI Enters Oversold Territory".

Elections Are Done; Fiscal Cliff Ahead?; Gridlock Good?

The GDT::Portfolio sort of stepped over the edge of the looming fiscal cliff during the first couple of days after the 02012 elections. It was not a fun week.

Cray (CRAY) reported 3Q'12 results prior to the market opening on Friday, 02012.11.09, and the stock spiked to a new 52-week high of $13.63. I sold some of our CRAY shares at $13.49. CRAY closed Friday, 02012.11.09, at $13.32.

I like Marc Andreessen and I agree with his assessment.

"A lot business people if you scratch below the surface, you'll find that we're basically antibipartisanship and pro-gridlock. And so I think if you're going to have a Democratic president, having a Republican House is a pretty good counterbalance to that. It's what we've been living with and I think we've been doing fine, and I think we'll live with that for the next four years." -- Marc Andreessen via BusinessInsider.com

Bruker Reports 3Q'12 Results and Raises Guidance

Bruker (BRKR) reported 3Q'12 results prior to the market opening today. I copied the following from the company's press release and added the bolding.

Frank Laukien, President and CEO of Bruker Corporation, commented: "Despite continued softening of demand in certain markets, we are pleased with our double-digit third quarter 2012 organic revenue growth rate, which in part benefitted from our still very significant backlog. Profitability also improved in the third quarter year-over-year. As a result of our third quarter performance, we are raising our full-year 2012 revenue guidance to a range of $1.73 - $1.76 billion, and we are raising our full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $0.75 - $0.79 per diluted share."

BRKR closed at $12.59 on 02012.11.02. 52-week range: $9.91 - $17.10.

Trimble Navigation Reports 3Q'12 Results

Trimble Navigation (TRMB) ended last week with a strong Friday on 02012.11.02 after the company released 3Q'12 results. TRMB's previous close was $48.64. On 02012.11.02, TRMB spiked to $53.30 before closing at $52.68. Volume 2.3 million vs. t3m-avg. of 0.7 million. 52-week range: $38.33 - $55.95. This morning (Monday, 02012.11.05) Trimble issued a plethora of press releases.

Facebook; Level 3 Communications; StemCells; Stewart Enterprises

Facebook (FB) got a nice review from an analyst. "An equivalent valuation for Facebook is $135 billion or $54.47 per share. These numbers could even be conservative."

L-3 Communications (LLL) announced that its Security and Detection Systems division has been "awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract by the TSA to supply medium-speed explosives detection systems. This five-year acquisition program has a rev potential of $549.6 mln for L-3."

StemCells (STEM) announced it has partnered with R Biomedical to "develop and commercialize reagents for Human iPS Cell Research: The first product under the partnership, an 'ultra-primary' human fibroblast cell line from which researchers can generate iPS cell lines, was launched today under the SC Proven brand."

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) got a good review from Zachs Equity Research. "STEI is a good pick for investors seeking both growth and income, based on its solid third-quarter results, steady dividend yield and long-term earnings growth projection of 10.0%."

Wall Street Remains Closed

Wall Street is closed for the second day in a row. The last time it was closed for two consecutive days due to weather was 01888.

Hurricane Sandy Closes Wall Street

It was impossible to repeat 29 October 01929 on 29 October 02012 because of Hurricane Sandy.

iRobot, Illumina, Facebook Report 3Q'12 Results

iRobot (IRBT) reported 3Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.10.23). I don't need to spend much time looking at the results based upon one sentence contained in the company's press release: "The 2012 outlook for [defense and security] has deteriorated and we expect further declines in 2013," said CEO Colin Angle. In after hours trading IRBT was down 20%.

IRBT closed yesterday at $22.64. 52-week range: $19.09 - $38.33. It's possible IRBT will hit a new 52-week low today (02012.10.24).

Illumina (ILMN) reported 3Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.10.23). From the company's press release. "We are very pleased with our operational execution so far in 2012," said Jay Flatley, Illumina's President and Chief Executive Officer. "As a result of our performance and the recent announcement regarding NIH funding under the continuing resolution, we are tightening our 2012 revenue and EPS guidance ranges. However, we remain cautious given the uncertainty of the U.S.fiscal cliff as well as the outcome of the Presidential election."

ILMN closed yesterday (02012.10.23) at $45.19. 52-week range: $25.65 - $55.39.

Facebook (FB) reported 3Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.10.23). Two observations: (1) Facebook ended the quarter with $10.5 billion in "cash." (2) Facebook's effective tax rate has been 40% for the first nine months of 02012.

FB closed yesterday (02012.10.23) at $19.50. 52-week range: $17.55 - $45.00. Pi moment on 02012.10.24... Pre-Market: $22.64 Up $3.14 (16.10%) 7:35AM EDT.

Yahoo! Reports 3Q'12 Results

Yahoo! (YHOO) reported 3Q'12 results after the market closed on 02012.10.22. It was Yahoo!'s first quarterly results under new CEO Marissa Mayer.

"Yahoo! had a solid third quarter, and we are encouraged by the stabilization in search and display revenue," said Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!. "We’re taking important steps to position Yahoo! for long-term success, and we’re confident that our focus on quality and improving the user experience will drive increased value for our advertisers, partners and shareholders."

YHOO closed on 02012.10.22 at $15.77. 52-week range: $14.35 - $16.75.

I liked the following from Yahoo!'s 3Q'12 press release.

"Free cash flow was $920 million for the third quarter of 2012, a 273 percent increase compared to $247 million for the same period of 2011."

"During the third quarter of 2012, Yahoo! repurchased 12 million shares for $190 million."

"In October 2012, Yahoo! entered into a 364-day, $750 million unsecured revolving credit facility. The facility is currently undrawn and is expected to be used for general corporate purposes."

[update::02012.10.23] YHOO hit a new 52-week high of $16.79 before closing at $16.77. Volume was 71.3 million vs. t3m-avg of 18.2 million. I guess Wall Street is thinking Mayer is off to a good start at Yahoo!'s CEO.

Google 3Q'12 Results Miss Expectations

Google (GOOG) reported 3Q'12 results yesterday (02012.10.18) and it caused havoc on Wall Street. The results were supposed to be reported after the markets closed, but they were released early (mid-day). The results of themselves did not please Wall Street and GOOG stock got hit hard. The following headline summarizes things nicely: "Google Shares Slammed! Company Misses Estimates in Premature Earnings Release".

GOOG closed on 02012.10.17 at $755.49. Yesterday (02012.10.18) GOOG hit an intra-day high of $759.42 before the 3Q'12 results were released early. GOOG plunged to $676.00 before closing at $695.00. For the day, GOOG was down 8%. Volume was 12.43 million vs. t3m-avg. of 2.77 million.

Here are my observations of the 3Q'12 results: free cash flow of $3.13 billion; capital expenditures were $872 million; "cash" at $45.7 billion; effective tax rate of 22%. From Google's press release: "Headcount – On a worldwide basis, we employed 53,546 full-time employees (36,118 in our Google business and 17,428 in our Motorola business) as of September 30, 2012, compared to 54,604 full-time employees as of June 30, 2012."

IBM and Google

IBM is not a GDT::Portfolio stock, but I'm a fan of IBM. IBM reported 3Q'12 results on 02012.10.16. The following are a couple of items from the company's press release.

"IBM ended the third-quarter 2012 with $12.3 billion of cash on hand and generated free cash flow of $3.1 billion, excluding Global Financing receivables, down approximately $0.3 billion year over year. The company returned $4.0 billion to shareholders through $1.0 billion in dividends and $3.0 billion of share repurchases."

IBM’s tax rate was 24.6%.

Google (GOOG) closed yesterday 02012.10.17 at $755.49. Google reports 3Q'12 results after the market closes today (02012.10.18).

Illumina; Level 3 Communications; StemCells

Today (02012.10.16) was a frustrating day because the NASDAQ was up 1.21%, yet many of the GDT::Portfolio stocks didn't go up.

Illumina (ILMN) managed close up a few pennies after getting hit hard yesterday (02012.10.15). Yesterday, ILMN closed down 6% on volume that was 4.5x t3m avg.

Level 3 Communication (LVLT) closed at $22.82, up 5.6% for the day. Volume was average.

StemCells (STEM) closed at $2.40 today (02012.10.16), up 6.7%. The company "announced the launch of four new SC Proven human neural stem cell (NSC) kits for use in neuroscience research." I agree with this SeekingAlpha.com headline: "Nobel Prize Validates Recent Stem Cell Headlines". The GDT::Portfolio needs Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) to stop falling.

Alcatel-Lucent; Aastrom Biosciences; Google

I took the week off from paying much attention to the stock markets and now that I've gotten around to looking at last week's performance all I can say is... Yuck!

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) hit a new 52-week low of $0.91 on Thursday (02012.10.11). It's a bummer ALU is once again a penny stock (although it did end the week at $1.00).

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) hit a new 52-week low of $1.44 on Tuesday (02012.10.09) and this is a major bummer. ASTM's CEO is quitting, so the company is searching for a replacement. The company needs to attract somebody with a strong resume.

Google (GOOG) failed to hit any new highs this week, yet numerous investment firms have increased their GOOG target prices to the $850-$900 range. My initial target remains $2000. GOOG closed on Friday, 02012.10.12, at $744.75. 52-week range: $556.52 - $774.38.

Aastrom Biosciences CEO Quits and ASTM Hits 52-Week Low

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) hit a new 52-week low of $1.50 before closing at $1.51 on Friday (02012.10.05). The company's CEO quit. In a nutshell: I'm pissed. When you have only tiny allotments of cash to invest, those tiny investments are critically important to the overall health of a portfolio. I purchased tiny amounts of ASTM on 02012.08.09 at $1.73 and on 02012.09.27 at $1.63. I wound have never made these buys if I knew the company's CEO was going to quit. From the company's press release.

Tim M. Mayleben has decided to retire from his position as the company's president and chief executive officer once the company has hired his successor.

I don't know why Mr. Mayleben quit Aastrom Biosciences. Is this company a sinking ship?

Mayleben quoted in the company's press release.

I believe we have earned our leadership position in regenerative medicine and that this is a good time to bring in a new CEO to take Aastrom to the next level of clinical and commercial success.

Leap of faith time... I can only hope Mr. Mayleben is good at assessing what he can and cannot do and that he knows Aastrom has a hit a stage that is best managed by somebody else.

The new CEO that Aastrom Biosciences can attract will say a lot about the future of the company.

Nanosphere is Getting Noticed

Nanosphere (NSPH) closed yesterday (02012.10.03) at $3.59. 52-week range: $0.99-$3.89. Today I saw the following two headlines.

"5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar" by StockPickr.com

"Long-Term BioTech Play at Motley Fool (Fool.com)"

Both postings were bullish on NSPH.

Illumina Spikes Up

Illumina (ILMN) showed signs of life yesterday (02012.10.02). ILMN closed at $51.00, up 4% for the day. Intra-day high was $52.96. Volume was 8.85 million vs. trailing-3-month avg. of 1.33 million. 52-week range: $25.57 - $55.39. The rumor mill says Roche may try to acquire Illumina for $60 per share.

Facebook: Cool or Not Cool?

Facebook (FB) remains one of our underwater investments. FB closed Friday (02012.09,28; end of 3Q'12) at $21.66. My average cost per FB share is $27.90. The following are two Facebook related headlines I saw this morning from two different publications.

"Is Facebook the Next MySpace?" by MotleyFool.com

"Will Facebook Become the Next E-Commerce Success?" by WallStCheatSheet.com

If only I knew because I don't think it can be both.

3Q'12 Ends... Quickie GDT::Portfolio Top 10 Review

The GDT::Portfolio Top 10 at the end of 3Q'12.

(1) Google (2) Cray (3) Geeknet (4) iRobot (5) Red Hat (6) Yahoo! (7) Nanosphere (8) Hanger (9) Illumina (10) Bruker

The GDT::Portfolio Top 10 one year ago at the end of 3Q'11 isn't that much different than it is now. Level 3 Communications was #10, but it's now #13. Nanosphere was #16 and now it's #7. Geeknet and Google were number #1 and #3, respectively, but now Google is #1 and Geeknet is #3. iRobot and Cray were number #2 and #4, respectively, but now iRobot is #4 and Cray is #2. Red Hat and Yahoo! remained unchanged at #5 and #6, respectively. Illumina dropped from #7 to #9 (insert Nanosphere at #7). Bruker dropped from #8 to #10. Hanger moved up from #9 to #8.

Bought Aastrom Biosciences; StemCells Inc. Spikes Up

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) continues to languish below $2, so I added to our ASTM holding buying shares at $1.63. I bought some ASTM early last month (on 02012.08.09) at $1.75. 52-week range: $1.52 - $2.91.

StemCells (STEM) spiked today after the company issued a press release having the following headline: "StemCells, Inc. Achieves Spinal Cord Injury Milestone With First Neural Stem Cell Transplant Into Patient With Sensory Function Below the Level of Injury". STEM closed yesterday (02012.09.26) at $1.93. Earlier today (02012.09.27) STEM hit $2.27. 52-week range: $0.59 - $2.67. With an hour left in trading, STEM volume was 10.1 million vs. trailing-3-month average of 2.6 million.

Google Turns 14 Tomorrow

Google (GOOG) hit a new all-time high yesterday (02012.09.25) of $764.89. At that price GOOG was up almost 2.1%, but at the end of the day GOOG closed down $0.22 (twenty-two cents).

Yesterday (02012.09.25) the state of California legalized self-driving cars.

Today I saw the following headline at AllThingsD.com. "Google Play’s 675,000 Apps Have Been Downloaded 25 Billion Times".

Google turns 14 tomorrow on 02012.09.27.

Red Hat Reports 2Q'13 Results

Red Hat (RHT) reported 2Q'13 results after the market closed today (02012.09.24). RHT is a widely followed stock and according to the headlines that I'm seeing it appears as though the company did not meet expectations. Might be a tough day for RHT tomorrow. I liked the following from Red Hat's 2Q'13 press release.

Operating cash flow was $103.9 million for the second quarter, as compared to $77.1 million in the year ago quarter. At quarter end, the company’s total deferred revenue balance was $944.4 million, an increase of 16% on a year-over-year basis. Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of August 31, 2012 was $1.36 billion.

RHT closed today (02012.09.24) at $57.54. 52-week range: $37.85 - $62.75.

[02012.09.26] Quoting self: "Might be a tough day for RHT tomorrow." Today, 02012.09.26, the 'tomorrow' was yesterday and yesterday (02012.09.25) was a tough day. RHT closed at $55.08, down ~4.3%. Volume was 5M vs. t3m avg. of 3M.

Google (GOOG) Hits an All-Time High

Google (GOOG) hit a new all-time today (02012.09.24). Now, just like Amazon.com (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL), every new 52-week high for GOOG will be a new all-time high.

MarketWatch.com reported that "Citigroup has raised its price target for Google GOOG to $850 from $740." I might consider selling some GOOG when it hits $2,000.

[02012.09.24] GOOG closed today (02012.09.24) at $749.38 after hitting an all-time high of $750.14. Volume was 3.56 million vs. trailing-3-month average of 2.31 million.

New 52-Week Highs: Cray; Google; Hanger; Stewart Enterprises

New 52-week highs often result in new 52-week highs... On Friday, 02012.09.21, the following GDT::Portfolio stocks hit new 52-week highs: CRAY $13.56 (close $13.47); Google (GOOG) $734.92 (close $733.99); Hanger (HGR) $29.60 (close $28.50); Stewart Enterprises (STEI) $8.50 (close $8.42).

Cray Spikes Up; Google Nears All-Time High

Cray (CRAY) had a big day yesterday (02012.09.20) spiking to a new 52-week high of $13.25 before closing at $13.18. I was curious to see how CRAY opened this morning and it started the day with small gap opening and then continued up to another new 52-week high of $13.49. Yesterday's volume was slightly above the trailing-3-month (t3m) average and today's volume--90 minutes into trading--has almost reached the t3m average. I haven't seen any Cray news; therefore, I clueless as to what's going on with CRAY shares.

Google (GOOG) hit an intra-day high this morning of $734.50, which is less than 2% below its all-time high of $747.24 (hit on 02007.11.07). Yesterday (02012.09.20), Jim Cramer--who has a wide following--rated GOOG a buy. GOOG has stayed about $700 for six consecutive days.

Yesterday (02012.09.20) ended with CRAY and GOOG at #1 and #2, respectively, in the GDT::Portfolio. Cray: Supercomputing. Google: 21st century Informatics.

Yahoo! Reduces Its Alibaba Holdings

Yahoo! (YHOO) raised $4.3 billion by selling some of stake in Alibaba. Yahoo! announced that $3.65 billion is going to shareholders.

"This outcome is terrific for Yahoo. It generates liquidity to create substantial value for our shareholders, while retaining a meaningful amount in the company to invest in our future. Also, because we still own 23 percent of Alibaba's common stock, we have the opportunity to benefit from future upside when Alibaba IPOs." -- Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! CEO

I like that Yahoo! still owns 23% of Alibaba's common stock because Alibaba is a China-based Internet company.

How this $3.65 billion is going to be passed onto shareholders as yet to be announced, but it does work out to ~$3.09 per YHOO share.

YHOO closed yesterday at $15.86. 52-week range: $13.11 - $16.79. The news of the Alibaba sale was not "good" enough news to propel YHOO to a new 52-week.

Nanosphere; iRobot; Google

Headlines...

"Nanosphere (NSPH): A Low-Risk, High-Growth Diagnostic Stock" via TheStreet.com

They lost me at "low-risk". NSPH closed yesterday (02012.09.19) at $3.50. 52-week range: $0.89 - $3.89

"Deal Costs To Hold Down iRobot" via SeekingAlpha.com

This appears to be the case. IRBT closed yesterday (02012.09.19) at $24.73. 52-week range: $19.09 - $38.33. iRobot acquired Evolution Robotics on 02012.09.17 and prior to the announcement IRBT was at $26.01. I like the deal.

"Red Hat Inc. Second Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek" via WallStCheatSheet.com

Today (02012.09.20) is Friday and Red Hat reports 2Q results next Monday on 02012.09.24. RHT closed yesterday (Thursday) at $57.58. 52-week range: $37.85 - $62.75. I'll sell some RHT at $67.48.

Bruker Sees Some Insider Buying

Bruker (BRKR) had some insider buying on 02012.09.14. Joerg Laukien and Frank Laukien each bought 100,000 BRKR shares at $13 per share. Joerg now owns ~18,187,755 shares and Frank owns ~39,059,445 shares. Collectively, the two Laukiens own ~34.4% of Bruker's outstanding shares.

BRKR closed yesterday (02012.09.18) at $13.37. 52-week range: $9.91 - $17.10.

Geeknet Sells Slashdot, SourceForge, Freecode

Geeknet (GKNT) announced that Dice Holdings (DHX) has "acquired Geeknet's online media business, including Slashdot and SourceForge. Dice Holdings acquired the business for $20 million in cash." This works out to ~$3.09 per GKNT share. The online business accounted for about 16% of Geeknet's revenues.

From Geeknet's press release.

Ken Langone, Chairman of Geeknet, added, "We are very pleased to find a new home for our media business, providing a platform for the sites and our media teams to thrive. With this transaction completed, we will now focus our full attention on growing ThinkGeek."

GKNT closed yesterday (02012.09.17) at $18.46. 52-week range: $12.07 - $21.62.

[update::02012.09.18] GKNT closed at $19.09, up 3.4% for the day. Volume as just slightly above average.

iRobot Acquires Evolution Robotics

A couple of weeks ago (on 02012.09.04) I had a posting titled "Is iRobot an Appliance Company". Today (02012.09.17), after the market close, iRobot (IRBT) announced it has acquired privately-held Evolution Robotics, Inc. (ER). iRobot is using its cash to buy ER for $74 million. It appears iRobot's cash is ~$176.72 million. I copied the following from the iRobot press release.

In 2010, ER launched Mint, an automatic floor cleaning robot designed exclusively for hard surface floors, which offers a different approach to cleaning than iRobot’s current products."

In addition, Paolo Pirjanian, CEO of Evolution Robotics, is becoming iRobot's Chief Technology Officer.

From my backseat driver perspective, this seems like a good move for iRobot.

IRBT closed on 02012.09.17 at $26.01. 52-week range: $19.09 - $38.33.

Apple, Amazon.com, Google, DJIA... Oh My

Is Wall Street sending a message that it wants another four years of Obama? 3rd-quarter ends in two weeks. 3rd-quarter 401K/IRA statements might make a lot of people happy.

Apple (AAPL) is not a GDT::Portfolio stock, but it's nearing $700 a share while it continues to make new 52-week highs. Each new 52-week high is a new all-time high. At $696.03, Apple Inc. has an approximate market value of $652.06 billion.

Amazon.com (AMZN) is a GDT::Portfolio stock and it continues to hit new 52-week highs. Just like AAPL, for AMZN each new 52-week high is a new all-time.

Google (GOOG) is a GDT::Portfolio stock and it continues to hit new 52-week highs; however, these highs are not new all-time highs. Once Google hits a new 52-week high of $747.24 (it's all-time high that was hit on 02007.11.07), then for GOOG each new 52-week will be a new all-time high. Go GOOG!

DJIA all-time high is 14,198.10 and it was reached on 02007.10.11. The DJIA is at 13,609.24 on 02012.09.14 at 12:24pm ET. In other words, the DJIA is within 5% of its all-time high.

Illumina is Our Primary Genomics Investment

Illumina (ILMN) has been doing well lately, so I thought it was time to do another ILMN related posting. A few days ago on 02012.09.11 Illumina issued three press releases that I thought were good press releases.

"Illumina Launches TruSightTM Targeted Sequencing Content Sets"

"Designed by recognized experts at leading institutions, the content sets offer cost-effective, streamlined, targeted sequencing for specific genetic diseases or conditions."

"Illumina Announces Expedited Individual Genome Sequencing Service (IGS)"

"Illumina has long believed that sequencing will become a mainstream practice in the clinical setting. By delivering a whole human genome in as little as two weeks, we have taken significant strides towards that goal," said Illumina President and CEO Jay Flatley.

"Illumina and Partners HealthCare Announce Alliance to Introduce Next-Generation Sequencing Clinical Interpretation and Reporting Tools"

"Illumina and Partners HealthCare share a vision of better patient care through genomics," said Matt Posard, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Illumina’s Translational and Consumer Genomics business. "This alliance highlights our commitment to a collaborative model that will establish the new standard in NGS clinical-based applications and enable a truly integrated, high-quality solution."

ILMN closed yesterday (02012.09.13) at $46.48. 52-week range: $25.57 - $55.39.

Bought Some Altair Nanotechnologies

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) has been a bad investment for us, but I liked a press release that the company issued a couple of days ago and decided to add to our ALTI holdings. The buy was executed at $0.77 per ALTI share. From the press release.

"Altairnano signed an agreement with Shenhua Science & Technology (Shenhua S&T) and its research affiliate, the National Institute of Clean and Low-carbon Energy (NICE), to jointly develop, deploy and promote industrial applications of lithium titanate-based energy storage systems in China."

The following is a quote from Altairnano's CEO Alexander Lee.

"Altairnano is pleased to work with a company like Shenhua, who concluded that our technology and knowledge of electric grid energy storage systems is well positioned to meet their aggressive growth targets. This agreement sets the foundation for rapid commercialization within China."

ALTI 52-week range: $0.40 - $1.48.

Red Hat Gets a 'Buy' Rating

Red Hat (RHT) got a 'Buy' rating from Jefferies. I'm a FLOSSer (i.e. user of Free Software Open Source Software); therefore, I like being a Red Hat shareholder because they are an Open Source company. RHT starts today (02012.09.13) at #5 in the GDT::Portfolio. RHT closed yesterday (02012.09.12) at $57.32. 52-week range: $37.85 - $62.75.

[02012.09.13] Jim Cramer, some investment dude who is widely followed, was quoted saying Red Hat (RHT) "remains an inexpensive stock."

Yahoo! A Silicon Valley Peyton Place

Yahoo! (YHOO) might receive $7.6 billion by selling its 40% stake in Alibaba. There are approximately 1.18 billion YHOO shares. According to my calculator that equates to approximately $6.44 per share. Yahoo! has about $1.91 per share in cash and minimal debt. YHOO closed yesterday at $15.16. 52-week range: $13.11 - $16.79.

Do you Yahoo!? Yes, I still do. But it has been extremely frustrating being a long-term YHOO shareholder.

Big Difference Between 4 Years and 3.5 Years

"Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" has become a buzz-question for this year's presidential election.

Rewind four years to 6 September 2008...

DJIA was 11,221 and is now 13,293, up 19%
NASDAQ was 2,261 and is now 3,136, up 37%
S&P 500 was 1,242 and is now 1,436, up 16%

Rewind 3.5 years to 9 March 02009...

DJIA was 6,470 and is now 13,293, up 105%
NASDAQ was 1266 and is now 3,136, up 148%
S&P 500 was 667 and is now 1,436, up 115%

Amazon.com; Google; Red Hat

Amazon.com (AMZN) hit yet another new 52-week high of $252.70 before closing yesterday (02012.09.06) at $251.38. Each new 52-week high is also a new all-time high. A couple days ago Forbes Magazine had a posting titled "The Ten Most Innovative Companies In America" and Amazon.com was ranked #3.

Google (GOOG) hit yet another new 52-week high of $699.89 before closing yesterday (02012.09.06) at $699.40. GOOG's all-time high was $747.24 on 02007.11.07.

Red Hat (RHT) was #4 on Forbes Magazine's "The Ten Most Innovative Companies In America" rankings. RHT closed yesterday (02012.09.06) at $59.10. 52-week range: $36.61 - $62.75.

[update::02012.09.07] GOOG opened today at $700.00. Yes. According to Finance.Yahoo.com, GOOG opened today at exactly 700 bucks.

Stewart Enterprises Ain't Dead Yet

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) reported solid 3Q'12 results yesterday (02012.09.05) after the markets closed. I liked the following from the company's press release.

"Generating operating cash flow of $30.3 million, or an increase of 22 percent, and free cash flow of $26.7 million, or an increase of 41 percent."

I also liked this...

"During the third quarter we repurchased 1 million shares of our common stock for an average price of $7.26 per share, resulting in a more than 5 percent decrease in total shares outstanding in the last twelve months. Over the last three years, we have increased our quarterly dividend by more than 60 percent, resulting in a return of approximately $36 million in dividends to our shareholders over the same time period. Even after the significant deployments of cash flow, our balance sheet and liquidity remain strong with $79 million in cash and marketable securities on hand with no amounts borrowed on our $150 million credit facility."

STEI closed yesterday (02012.09.05) at $7.61. 52-week range: $4.92 - $7.78.

[update::02012.09.06] A few minutes after I posted this I took a peek at STEI's SIR (Short Interest Ratio). Finance.Yahoo.com is reporting it being a whopping 45.3. 27% of STEI shares are closely held and "institutions" own 72% of the shares. STEI has to be above $10 before I consider selling any of our shares.

[update::02012.09.06 (after market closed)] STEI hit a new 52-week high of $8.38 before closing at $7.98, up almost 5% for the day. Volume was 1.23 million vs. trailing-3-month avg. of 0.3 million.

Is iRobot an Appliance Company?

With increasing frequency I'm seeing iRobot (IRBT) grouped with "appliance" companies. I saw a headline this morning (02012.09.04) the is representative of the stuff I've been seeing lately. "Equity Research on Whirlpool Corp. and iRobot Corp. - Appliance Companies Looking to Enhance Products Through Innovation" via MarketWire.com

iRobot (IRBT) ended August 02012 at #3 in the GDT::Portfolio, so it's an important stock for us. IRBT closed Friday, 02012.08.31, at $25.19. 52-week range: $19.09 - $38.33. IRBT's PSR (Price-Sales-Ratio) is 1.51, which I think is low; however, Whirlpool, which is not a GDT::Portfolio stock, has a PSR of 0.32.

StemCells Inc. Reports Good Stem Cells News?

StemCells (STEM) reports "good" news?

"Today [02012.09.03] StemCells Inc. announced that interim six-month data from the first patient cohort in the Company's Phase I/II clinical trial of its proprietary HuCNS-SC(R) product candidate (purified human neural stem cells) for chronic spinal cord injury continues to demonstrate a favorable safety profile, and shows considerable gains in sensory function in two of the three patients compared to pre-transplant baselines. The third patient remains stable."

The company's press release included the following.

"To see this kind of change in patients who truly have the worst-of-the-worst type of injury to the spinal cord is very exciting. To our knowledge, this is the first time a sensory change of this magnitude has been reported in patients with complete spinal cord injury following a stem cell transplantation. We clearly need to collect more data to establish efficacy, but we are encouraged. We are pushing ahead with our trial and plan to dose the first patient with an incomplete injury soon."

STEM closed last week (Friday, 02012.08.31) at $2.17. 52-week range: $0.59 - $2.55.

[update::0212.09.04] STEM had quite a day. Previous close was $2.17; opened at $2.55; spiked to an intra-day high (and new 52-week high) of $2.67; closed at $2.20, up ~2.3% for the day. Volume was 13.7 million vs. trailing-3-month average of 1.9 million. 13.7 million shares is almost 50% of the float and 45% of all of the outstanding shares. Disclaimer: There is something about the STEM trading volume that I don't know about.

[update::0212.09.05] STEM closed at $2.13, down ~3.2%. Volume was 4.5 million. Intra-day low was $1.96. When it comes to STEM, volatility rules.

Hanger Making New All-Times Highs?

Hanger Inc. has been a company for over 150 years. I can't find out when the company went public, but I did find out via Google that HGR hit an intra-day high of $2750 on 01999.01.08. Yesterday, 02012.08.31, HGR hit an intra-day (and new 52-week high) of $29.01 before closing at $28.61. Three days ago, on 02012.08.29, HGR closed at $27.98. In other words, it has been 13 years since HGR has been this high. HGR has made new 52-week highs for three days in a row and it appears as though each new 52-week high is a new all-time high.

The following are to graphs that go as far back as I go back using the free finance tools provided by Google and Yahoo!.

StemCells Previous Pop Lost, But STEM Pops Again

"StemCells, Inc. to Announce Interim Data on Spinal Cord Injury Trial at the 2012 Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society" was a press release issued by StemCells, Inc. yesterday (02012.08.30) morning. The "meeting" is taking place on Monday, 02012.09.03 (i.e. Labor Day in the U.S.).

Two days ago STEM closed at $1.61. Yesterday it closed at $1.96 after hitting an intra-day high of $2.03. Yesterday's volume was 7.6 million compared to a trailing-3-month average of 1.7 million. Today (02012.08.31), at 8:12am MST, STEM is at $2.17. Volume is already at 5.8 million. STEM 52-week range: $0.59 - $2.55.

Headline seen this Friday morning by Thomson Reuters One: "PropThink: STEM Gains on Anticipation of Interim Trial Data to be Presented Monday"

Duh!

"Share price is likely to remain strong on Friday and into the meeting, as most analysts expect some positive results from the trial. If Monday`s data looks good for STEM, shares may climb higher on momentum, however, negative results will have disastrous effects on the stock. STEM is up 140% in 2012." -- PropThink.com

Again, duh!

[update::02012.08.31] STEM closed at $2.15 today (02012.08.31), up ~9.7% for the day. Intra-day high was $2.24. Volume was 9.8 million. I blogged about STEM volume back on the 26th of July.

Making New Highs: Amazon.com, Google, Hanger

There are going to be fewer postings to this blog because I'm back in school and that takes up a good chunk of my time.

It's around 8:00am MST on Friday, 02012.08.31. The following are some observations.

Amazon.com (AMZN) hit a new 52-week high of $250.00 yesterday (02012.08.30). Each new 52-week high is new all-time high.

Google (GOOG) is continuing to make new 52-week highs. Two days ago (02012.08.29) it hit a new 52-week high of $688.99.

Hanger (HGR) is continuing to make new 52-week highs. Today is the 3rd day in a row HGR has hit a new 52-week high.

Amazon.com Hits an All-Time High

Amazon.com (AMZN) hit a new all-time high of $246.87 on Friday, 02012.08.25. I bought a 100 shares of AMZN on 02001.12.24 at $9.46. Sadly, I've sold off 90 of the shares over the last 11 years. The ten shares that we still own, which I have no plans to ever sell, are up 2,450%.

It appears AMZN started trading on 01997.05.16. It closed on its first day of trading at $1.73 (adjusted for splits: 2:1 on 01998.06.02; 3:1 on 01999.01.05; 2:1 on 01999.09.02). Great dot-com heyday example: In 01999, Amazon.com split their stock twice.

Geeknet; Yahoo!; Hanger

I don't know which stock I find most frustrating: Geeknet or Yahoo! Geeknet (GKNT) has dropped under $18 today (02012.08.24), while Yahoo! (YHOO) is under $15.

Earlier this week Geeknet announced that the president and CEO of ThinkGeek is quitting. I consider this opportunity for Geeknet to bring in a real geek to run ThinkGeek. I hope they take advantage of this opportunity, but right now it appears Wall Street is skeptical.

Wall Street also appears to be skeptical as to what Yahoo!'s new CEO is going to accomplish. Here's a headline I saw at the Motley Fool today: "Yahoo Takes on the World: $4 Billion War Chest and a New CEO".

Hanger (HGR) is one stock that I've never sensed any frustration with. Today (02012.08.24) some firm named Stephens initiate HGR coverage with an 'Overweight' rating. There target price is $35. HGR closed yesterday at $26.87. 52-week range: $14.57 - $27.90. HGR hit the $27.90 52-week high three days ago on 02012.08.21.

StemCells Gets a 'Buy' Rating

StemCells (STEM) got a buy recommendation. "Maxim Group initiated coverage of this company with a rating of Buy and a price target of $2.50." STEM closed yesterday (02012.08.22) at $1.46. STEM hit an intra-day high of $2.31 just one month ago on 02012.07.25. Today, STEM hit an intra-day high of $1.75 on heavy volume. With 30 minutes left in trading it's at $1.66, up almost 14%.

NeuroMetrix Has Some Insider Buying

NeuroMetrix (NURO) has seen some insider buying this month (August 02012). The buys, which have not been large, have been split between two officers of the company. Buy prices were $0.64 and $0.70. NURO closed yesterday (02012.08.22) at $0.65.

52-Week Lows and Highs on 02012.08.20

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) hit a new 52-week low of $1.56 yesterday (02012.08.20) before closing at $1.66, down almost 9% for the day. TheFlyOnTheWall.com reported "Aastrom (ASTM) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital." In a nutshell, I'm frustrated that ASTM is priced below $2 per share. I'd add to our holdings at its current price, but ain't got the money to do so.

Facebook (FB) hit a new 52-week low of $18.75 yesterday (02012.08.20) before closing at $20.01.

Google (GOOG) hit a new 52-week high of $678.87 yesterday (02012.08.20) before closing at $675.54.

Hanger (HGR) hit a new 52-week high of $27.48 yesterday (02012.08.20) before closing at $27.36.

Nanosphere (NSPH) hit a new 52-week high of $3.68 yesterday (02012.08.20) before closing at $3.60.

Comparing Apple, Google and Facebook

Apple (APPL) hit a new all-time high of $648.19 yesterday (02012.08.17) before closing at $648.11. Apple's market value was ~$607.54 billion. Apple went public on 7 September 01984.

Google (GOOG) hit a new 52-week high of $677.25 yesterday (02012.08.17) before closing at $677.14. Google's market value was ~$221.45 billion. GOOG's all-time high is $747.24 and it was hit on 02007.11.07. Google went public on 19 August 02004.

Facebook (FB) hit a new all-time low of $19.00 yesterday (02012.08.17) before closing at $19.05. Facebook's market value was ~$40.81 billion. FB's all-time high is $45.00 and it was hit on 02012.08.14. Facebook went public on 18 May 02012.

[update::02012.08.19]
I'm creating some math fodder using my version of the Big Three. Here's some numbers for those of you who like numbers. In the span of 28 years (01984-02012) Apple Inc. stock has increased 21,458%. In the span of 8 years (02004-02012) Google Inc. stock has increased 697%. In the span of 3 months (5/18-8/18 of 02012) Facebook Inc. stock has decreased 50%. #JustNumbers

There's something about Apple Inc. having a market value of $607,540,000,000 that I find interesting. Apple Inc.'s market value is only seven percent less than the combined market values of Exxon Mobil and Wal-Mart. Apple Inc.'s market value is 24% greater than the combined market values of IBM and Microsoft.

Bought More Facebook; Google Up; Taxing Capital Gains

Facebook (FB) hit a new all-time low of $19.69 yesterday (02012.08.16) before closing at $19.87. Speaking of FB... I added to our FB holdings this morning buying some FB shares at $20.00.

Google (GOOG) hit a new 52-week high of $674.64 yesterday (02012.08.16) before closing at $672.87.

Op-Ed from the New York Times: "Should We Stop Taxing Capital Gains?" My response: Yes and no. Set the tax rate to 0% for long-term (5 years? 10 years?) capital gains, but increase the tax rates as holding periods decrease.

George Soros Likes Facebook?

Facebook (FB) seems to be of some interest to George Soros. I'm not a fan of George Soros, but according to SEC filings the Soros Fund Management LLC has bought 341,000 FB shares at an average per share price of $31.09.

Our FB investment is underwater. I continue to have good-till-cancel order open to buy some FB at 6-Pi dollars (i.e. $18.85). FB was at $20.85 at 11:19PM MST on 02012.08.15.

Google Hits New 52-Week High

Google (GOOG) hit a new 52-week high of $672.85 yesterday (02012.08.14). It closed at $668.66. GOOG's all-time high was $747.24 on 02007.11.07.

Wall Street liked the news that Google was reducing its workforce, which needed to be done after it acquired Motorola Mobility.

Andy Kessler is an E.F. Hutton To Me

I usually find myself agreeing with Andy Kessler and I consistently enjoy reading what he writes. Kessler posted this yesterday (02012.08.13): Bull market 30 years old today

"[the] move from a Dow Jones closing at 777 on August 12, 1982 through 13,161 today is an era defining trend." -- Andy Kessler

I agree with Kessler when he says, "Printing money doesn’t drive markets, productive ideas do."

Aastrom Biosciences Hits New 52-Week Low

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) reported 2Q'12 results on Tuesday (02012.08.07) after the market closed. Yesterday (Wednesday, 02012.08.08), ASTM hit a new 52-week low of $1.74 (previous 52-week low was $1.75). Today (02012.08.09), prior to the market opening, I read the transcript from the 2Q'12 conference call. I've placed an order to add to the ASTM holdings. I particularly liked how the CEO started off his initial segment of the conference call.

I will highlight one near-term unfortunate aspect of the warrant exchange is that it has put some near-term downward pressure on our stock as many of these shares are sold by, again, these warrant holders, which I think we all know to be very short-term oriented and so we think they are finding their way into longer-term investor hands, but again, the transition, this movement of these shares from the warrant holders, which tend to be much more short-term focused and not fundamental focused and into longer term more stable hands is a process.

ASTM close yesterday at $1.74. 52-week range: $1.74 - $2.91.

[update::02012.08.09] Added to our ASTM holdings. Buy price was $1.75.

NeuroMetrix Pops?

The market just opened (02012.08.06) and there's some news concerning NeuroMetrix (NURO) that must be "good" news. After the first 30 minutes of trading, trading volume was already 10-times the trailing-3-month average. NURO closed last week at $0.65. Today, NURO opened at $0.68 and spiked to $0.84 before dropping to its current price of $0.72.

TheFlyOnTheWall.com reported "NeuroMetrix receives 510(k) premarket notification for pain relief device".

I'll probably edit (update) this posting when I learn more.

[02012.08.06] Via Briefing.com: NeuroMetrix "confirmed that is has received 510(k) clearance for its SENSUS Pain Management device from the FDA." NURO closed today at $0.80, up 23% for the day. Intra-day high was $0.85. Volume, at 990,472 shares, was almost 16-times the trailing-3-month average and ~8% of the float.

LookSmart Reports 2Q'12 Results and Says No To PEEK

LookSmart (LOOK) has been a dumb investment for me, but I considered the $1 per share offer by PEEK Investments to buy LookSmart as unacceptable. Turns out LookSmart's board of directors agree.

"Our Board unanimously believes that PEEK's unsolicited offer is financially inadequate, fails to capture the value of LookSmart's market positioning and growth opportunities, and is not in the best interests of LookSmart stockholders," said Dr. Jean-Yves Dexmier, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LookSmart.

LOOK closed at $0.90 on Thursday, 02012.08.02. LOOK rejected PEEK's offer and reported 2Q'12 results after the market closed. On Friday, 02012.08.03, LOOK hit an intra-day low of $0.76, before closing at $0.83.

About LookSmart's 2Q'12 results... "The Company ended the quarter with $20.2 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, compared to $24.8 million at December 31, 2011." The company has approximately $1.17 per LOOK share in cash.

Automated Trading Systems Are Scary

I agree with the following assessment.

Building error-free trading software is impossible, and that makes today's stock markets even more fragile. -- Fortune Magazine's Facebook

Finance.Fortune.CNN.com:: Why Knight won't be the only one

Amazon.com and the Future

Headline seen today (02012.08.02) at Motley Fool: "The Danger of Investing in the Future". Initially, I wasn't going to read the posting because I've already learned about the "danger" of investing in the future, but I changed my mind and read it. For the most part it was noise, but I did want to comment on the following statement written about Amazon.com's CEO/founder: "Jeff Bezos has generally done a good job of making the future fit his vision." A "good" job? Tough grader. I give Bezos an A+.

AMZN closed yesterday (02012.08.01) at $232.09. 52-week range: $166.97 - $246.71. Note: the 52-week high is also the all-time high.

AMZN closed at $1.73 (adjusted for splits) on its first day of trading on 16 May 01997. In other words, in the span of 15 years AMZN has increased approximately 13,315.6%. {Chart}

Cray Reports 2Q'12 Results and CRAY Dumps

Cray (CRAY) reported 2Q'12 results after the markets closed yesterday (02012.07.31). Today, 02012.08.01, CRAY is down almost 4%. I thought Cray had a great quarter, but some investors don't like the company's growth prospects.

I liked the following.

"The big news of the -- for the quarter was our first ever petascale supercomputer installed on a large commercial customer."

CRAY closed at $12.43 yesterday (02012.07.31). 52-week range: $4.96 - $12.93.

[update::02012.08.02] CRAY closed at $11.37 yesterday (02012.08.01), down ~9.6% for the day. Multiple sources reported the following: "A short-sale restriction was triggered in trading of Cray's stock on the Nasdaq OMX earlier in the session."

Aastrom Biosciences: Warrants Exercised and an Upgrade

Aastrom Bioscience (ASTM) issued a press release after the markets closed yesterday (02012.07.30) concerning the conversion of warrants into common stock.

"We are extremely pleased with the results of the exchange, which has improved the company's capital structure, removed most of these complex and dilutive warrants, and reduced the number of fully diluted Aastrom shares by more than six percent. We are now in a much better position to continue to attract high-quality, long-term investors to Aastrom who will no longer have to be concerned about the potential future impact of these warrants," said Tim Mayleben, Aastrom's president and chief executive officer.

The warrant count is not zero. From the press release: "There now remain 308,100 December 2010 warrants outstanding with an exercise price of $3.22 and an expiration date of December 15, 2015."

I don't know anything about WBB Securities, but they like ASTM.

02011.02.09... initiated coverage: Sell
02011.12.06... upgraded rating to: Hold
02012.04.16... upgraded rating to: Speculative Buy
02012.06.04... upgraded rating to: Buy
02012.07.24... upgraded rating to: Strong Buy

ASTM closed yesterday (02012.07.30) at $1.96. 52-week range: $1.75 - $2.91.

High Short-Interest-Ratio GDT::Portfolio Stocks

Numerous GDT::Portfolio stocks have high SIRs (Short-Interest-Ratios) on 02012.07.30.

Stewart Enterprises (STEI): 29.00 SIR at $6.80
Illumina (ILMN): 24.80 SIR at $42.30
Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI): 17.30 SIR at $0.47
Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM): 14.00 SIR at $2.00
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS): 13.40 SIR at $5.70
iRobot (IRBT): 12.50 SIR at $24.63
Level 3 Communications (LVLT): 11.90 SIR at $18.70
Geeknet (GKNT): 9.70 SIR at $19.73

Facebook Reports 2Q'12 Results

Facebook (FB) reported 2Q'12 results yesterday (02012.07.26) after the market closed and today (02012.07.27) FB shares opened $23.21, down 13.5%.

Reuters headline from this morning: Facebook shares down on lack of financial outlook.

Hmm... I consider this good news. In a nutshell, Facebook might be taking a long-term view of their business.

TheStreet.com headline from this morning: Facebook Proves It Stinks to Be a Long-Term Investor.

I agree! It has sucked being a long-term investor here in the 21st century.

Forbes.com headline from this morning: Six Reasons Facebook is a $7 Stock

This morning I placed an order to add to our FB holdings. The buy price is $21.99, so it won't surprise me if today's intra-day low is $22.00. [Why $21.99? Multiply Pi by seven and round to the nearest penny.]

FYI... Facebook ended 2Q'12 with $10.2 billion in "cash".

Investor.FB.com::Facebook Reports Second Quarter 2012 Results

StemCells Volume Has Been Interesting

StemCells Inc. (STEM) has had heavy volume during the last seven trading days. By heavy I mean the following: There are 25.3M STEM shares (~22.6M float), yet during the last seven trading days STEM volume has totaled ~66M. STEM closed yesterday (02012.07.26) at $2.05. 52-week range: $0.59 - $4.00. During the last eight trading days STEM has ranged from a low of $0.87 to a high of $2.31.

[02012.07.27] ~3.5M STEM shares traded yesterday (02012.07.26). That's approximately 15% of the float. STEM closed at $1.78, down 15+% for the day. Prior the market opening today (02012.07.27), StemCells Inc. announced the following.

"The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has approved an award to the Company [StemCells Inc.] and its collaborators for up to $20 mln under CIRM's Disease Team Therapy Development Award program. The award is to fund preclinical development of co's proprietary HuCNS-SC product candidate as a potential treatment for cervical spinal cord injury."

My guess is today will be yet another high volume day.

Illumina; iRobot; Level 3 Communications

Illumina (ILMN) was upgraded to Outperform from Sell at CLSA today (02012.07.25). I don't know anything about CLSA, but an upgrade is an upgrade. ILMN closed yesterday (02012.07.24) at $41.52. 52-week range: $25.57 - $63.69. Illumina reported 2Q'12 results yesterday and here is one observation from the press release: "We are very pleased with our operational execution for the first half of 2012 and the resulting financial performance," said Jay Flatley, Illumina’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "While some uncertainty exists with respect to academic and research funding in the second half of the year, our outlook is generally as we anticipated. Accordingly, we are re-affirming our 2012 revenue guidance and increasing our non-GAAP earnings per fully diluted share guidance to between $1.50 - $1.60 (previously $1.40 - $1.50)."

iRobot (IRBT) reported 2Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.07.24). IRBT hit a new 52-week low of $19.09 yesterday before closing at $19.49. 52-week range: $19.09 - $38.33. In a nutshell: Home robot business doing great. Military robot business struggling. iRobot is expanding its Healthcare robot business.

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) reported 2Q'12 results prior the market opening today (02012.07.25). LVLT closed yesterday (02012.07.24) at $20.42. 52-week range: $16.51 - $36.00. From the press release: "We continue to expect to generate positive Free Cash Flow for the second through fourth quarters of 2012, in the aggregate."

Yahoo!; StemCells; Nanosphere; Google

I took almost two weeks off from the stock market and today (02012.07.24) I've been reviewing what's going on with GDT::Portfolio stocks.

Yahoo! (YHOO) issued an important press release on Monday (02012.07.16): Yahoo! Appoints Marissa Mayer Chief Executive Officer. I found this announcement a pleasant surprise. Mayer was employee number 20 at Google. On the next day (02012.07.17) Yahoo! reported 2Q'12 results and here are two notes: (1) "Cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable debt securities were $2,401 million at June 30, 2012 compared to $2,530 million at December 31, 2011, a decrease of $129 million." (2) "During the second quarter of 2012, Yahoo! repurchased 30 million shares for $456 million."

StemCells (STEM) had quite a day last Tuesday (02012.07.17). STEM closed the previous day at $0.87 and on Tuesday it closed at $1.80. Trading volume was 16.9 million. Yesterday (02012.07.23), STEM hit an intra-day high of $2.26 before closing at $1.89. Trading volume remains heavy. Here's the why... StemCells, Inc. Announces Its Human Neural Stem Cells Restore Memory in Models of Alzheimer's Disease

Nanosphere (NSPH) director Mark Slezak added to his NSPH holdings buying one million shares (indirectly) at $2.40 per share on Wednesday (02012.07.18).

Google (GOOG) reported 2Q'12 results on Thursday, 02012.07.19, and they were good. My take: $3.48 billion free cash flow; $43.1 "cash"; 54,604/34,311 Googlers (includes 20,000+ from Motorola Mobile); $774 million in capital expenditures; 19% effective tax rate. GOOG closed up 2% on the release of the 2Q'12 results.

Nanosphere Gets Another 'Buy' Rating

I've sort of ignored the market this week.

On Monday, 02012.07.09, I sold some Nanosphere (NSPH) at $3.50. It was a limit order that I didn't expect to hit, but it did. I found out today that also on Monday Nanosphere was "upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Roth Capital."

NSPH closed last week (02012.07.06) at $3.19. It opened this week (02012.07.09) at $3.40 and it spiked to $3.57 before closing at $3.41. The next day (02012.07.10) it closed at $3.12 and yesterday (02012.07.11) it closed at $3.00.

Stewart Enterprises Gets a 'Buy' Rating

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) has been in the GDT::Portfolio since 11 September 02003 (i.e. almost nine years). Stewart Enterprises is in the death care industry. The following are two headlines seen on 3 July 02012.

+ Cemetery Stock Stewart Enterprises Back From the Dead (Minyanville)
+ Stewart Enterprises initiated with a Buy at UBS (theflyonthewall.com)

With respect to the Minyanville headline: I didn't know that Stewart Enterprises had been "dead."

STEI closed on 02012.07.03 at $7.40. 52-week range: $4.92 - $7.88.

There are approximately 86,720,000 STEI shares. The following is data mined from Yahoo! Finance.

+ % of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: 27%
+ % of Shares Held by Institutional & Mutual Fund Owners: 72%
+ % of Float Held by Institutional & Mutual Fund Owners: 99%

STEI short-interest-ratio is at ~29.2.

Sold Some Cray (CRAY)

I sold 4.5% of our CRAY holdings today (02012.07.03) at $12.59. Interestingly, the limit order was to sell CRAY at $12.57 (i.e. $4pi), but the trade took place at $12.59 (which was also a new 52-week high).

Nanosphere Gets a 'Buy' Rating

Nanosphere (NSPH) hit a new 52-week high of $2.59 yesterday (02012.07.02) before closing at $2.52. Trading volume was 2.08 million versus trailing-3-month average of 0.33 million. Today (02012.07.03), Nanosphere was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" by Jefferies. The "buy" rating comes when NSPH is 183% above its 52-week low.

Spire At Risk of Being Delisted

On 30 December 2011, Spire received a notice from NASDAQ "advising" the company that is was violating the Minimum Bid Price Rule (penny stock) and the Minimum Pulic Market Value Rule ($15 million). The company had until 26 June 2012 to remedy the rule violations.

On 27 June 2012, received a notice from NASDAQ saying they are violation of the "minimum value" rules again.

SPIR closed on 02012.06.29 at $0.60 (well below a buck) giving Spire Corp. a market value of ~$5.09 million (well below $15 million).

SPIR has a grocery store-like PSR (Price Sales Ratio) of 0.1.

There are ~8.56 million shares outstanding with ~26.31% closely held giving SPIR a thin float of ~6.23 million.

SPIR 52-week range on 02012.07.01: $0.38 - $2.66.

Spire reported 1Q'12 results on 02012.05.10 (i.e. almost two months ago).

"We anticipate the softness in the solar industry to continue for a while longer. However, the bottom in equipment spending is expected to occur sometime toward the end of 2012, as manufacturers begin capital improvement programs including equipment updates and expansion. Market researchers predict a return to double digit growth sometime in 2013 that would extend for at least the next several fiscal years. We are positioned to capitalize on this projected growth with the recent introduction of our newest simulator, the Spi-Sun SimulatorTM 5600SLP and new Spi-AssemblerTM 8000. We are also combining our solar product lines by offering systems capabilities to our manufacturing line customers."

Spire is in a tough spot because implementing a reverse stock split does not do anything to change the company's market value.

LookSmart Worth More Than a Buck Per Share

LookSmart (LOOK) has an investor group interested in buying the company for a buck per share. LOOK closed Friday (02012.06.29) at $0.73. I agree with others who believe LookSmart still has ~$1.20 per share in cash. I also agree with a SeekingAlpha.com posting this morning (02012.07.02) that LookSmart is worth more than its cash per share. It's probably wrong to admit it, but I'm starting to feel better about our LOOK investment.

[update::02012.07.02] LOOK closed at $0.89, up ~22% for the day. Intra-day high was $0.95. Volume was almost 10-times the trailing-3-month average.

GDT::Portfolio End of 2Q'12 Review

The GDT::Portfolio at the end of 2Q'12.

Top 10 (Tier One)

(1) Cray [supercomputing]; (2) Geeknet [ecommerce]; (3) Google [Informatics]; (4) iRobot [robotics]; (5) Red Hat [open source]; (6) Yahoo! [Informatics]; (7) Hanger [healthcare]; (8) US Airways [transportation]; (9) Illumina [genomics]; (10) Bruker [scientific equipment].

Red Hat, Hanger, and US Airways should be in Tier Three. Yahoo! should be mid-Tier Two.

Tier Two

(11) Nanosphere [molecular diagnostics]; (12) Level 3 Communications [Internet pipe]; (13) Stewart Enterprises [deathcare]; (14) Amazon.com [ecommerce]/Informatics]; (15) Aastrom Biosciences [stem cells]; (16) Trimble Navigation [positioning systems]; (17) iParty [retail]; (18) Comcast [communications/media]; (19) LookSmart [Informatics; (20) Axion Power [batteries]

Stewart Enterprises, Amazon.com, Comcast, and Trimble Navigation should be Tier Three stocks. Nanosphere and Aastrom Biosciences need to be in Tier One.

Tier Three

(21) Spire [solar]; (22) Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [government security systems]; (23) Mace Security [security products]; (24) NeuroMetrix [diabetes diagnostics]; (25) Facebook [Informatics]; (26) AT&T [telecommunications]; (27) Altair Nanotechnologies [batteries]; (28) StemCells [stem cells]; (29) Lucent-Alcatel [telecommunications]; (30) Digital Angel [RFID]; (31) Isotechnika [biopharmaceuticals]

Spire needs to be in the Top 10. Altair Nanotechnologies, StemCells, and NeuroMetrix should be in the Top 15. Digital Angel is going to be removed from the portfolio before this year is over.

2Q'12 Ends Today

2Q'12 ends today (02012.06.29) and I'm looking forward to reviewing the GDT::Portfolio over the weekend. I'll make a few observations now.

I'm disappointed that Nanosphere (NSPH) didn't make a new 52-week high yesterday (02012.06.28), but I was glad to see the stock hold onto recent gains on heavy volume.

It's nice to see Stewart Enterprises (STEI) above $7. Right now (7:04am MST on 02012.06.29) STEI is at $7.07. 52-week range: $4.92 - $7.88.

Hanger (HGR) is less that 2% from a new 52-week high.

Cray (CRAY) hit a new 52-week high of $12.24 today (02012.06.29). My order to sell some CRAY at $12.57 is still in the system.

I Like New 52-Week Highs, But...

There are some stocks in the GDT::Portfolio that are approaching new 52-week highs. I like new 52-week highs. The problem is that some of these new 52-week highs are approaching only because the existing 52-week highs are decreasing while prices are staying flat.

Let's use iParty (IPT) as an example. In one month, IPT's 52-week will drop from $0.28 to ~$0.20. Right now (7:00am MST on 02012.06.28) IPT is at $0.22.

Nanosphere Pops

Nanosphere (NSPH) issued a press today (02012.06.27) titled "Nanosphere Receives FDA Authorization to Market Its Gram-Positive Blood Culture Test". I can't even begin to explain what a "gram-positive blood culture test" is used for, but I do know that investors like the news. At 12:43pm EDT NSPH is at $2.34, up 22.4% for the day. Volume is 1.7 million with three hours left before the market closes. Trailing-3-month average volume has been 0.22 million. NSPH 52-week range: $0.89 - $2.41.

[update::02012.06.28] NSPH closed yesterday (02012.06.27) at $2.32. Intra-day high of $2.55 was also a new 52-week high. Volume was 3.88 million compared to a trailing-3-month average volume of 0.22 million.

Axion Power Intl.: Added to Our AXPW Holdings

The title of this posting was used on a posting from 16 May 02012.

Today (02012.06.21) I added to our Axion holdings by buying AXPW shares at $0.35. One month ago I bought some AXPW at $0.39.

Our AXPW holdings are undewater, but they are little less underwater given today's purchase.

Red Hat Reports 1Q'13 Results

Red Hat (RHT) reported 1Q'13 results after the market closed on 02012.06.20. The following was copied from my Yahoo! Finance screen prior to me looking at the 1Q'13 results.

$56.50 Down $0.42 (down 0.74%) 4:00PM EDT
After Hours: $50.00 Down $6.50 (down 11.50%) 4:31PM EDT

Needless to say, without looking at the 1Q'13 results, it appears as though Red Hat did not exceed exceeded expectations.

My observations about 1Q'13 results...

"Operating cash flow was $124.4 million for the first quarter, as compared to $90.2 million in the year ago quarter."

"Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of May 31, 2012 was $1.3 billion after repurchasing approximately $30 million, or approximately 550,000 shares, of common stock in the first quarter."

Red Hat believes FY 02013 has gotten off to a good start and I agree.

RHT closed today (02012.06.20) at $56.60. 52-week range: $31.77 - $62.75.

CRAY Hits New 52-Week High

Cray (CRAY) made a new 52-week high of $12.00 yesterday (02012.06.19) before closing at $11.84. I am hoping to see another 52-week high today, but as of 8:40am MST it hasn't happened (intra-day high as been $11.99).

Historically, CRAY's all-time high (I think) was on 2 September 01997 when it hit ~$72.76. CRAY's most recent high was ~$55.96 on 10 September 02003. Five years later, 12 November 02008, it reached its all-time low of $1.15.

[update::02012.06.20] CRAY made a new 52-week high of $12.12 today before closing at $11.92.

Geeknet: Insiders Bought This Month (June)

Geeknet (GKNT) had some insider buying earlier this [June] month.

http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/gknt/insider-trades

Hmm... I guess it may be possible insiders are planning on taking this company private.

GKNT closed yesterday at $18.00. 52-week range: $12.07 - $27.85.

Rewind to 27 May 02012... Geeknet (GKNT) had some insider buying this [May] month. Yesterday (02012.05.26) GKNT closed at $16.47. 52-week range: $12.07 - $30.23. The insider buying took place between May 14th and May 23rd at prices ranging from $14.45 and $14.86.

Cray Gets a 'Buy' Rating

Okay... I've seen this multiple times today (02012.06.18), so I might as well comment.

Cray (NASDAQ:CRAY): Needham reiterated its rating of Buy for this company and changed its price target from $12 to $14.

CRAY closed Friday (02012.06.15) at $11.54. 52-week range: $4.96 - $11.87.

I'd like to see CRAY at $14 because I have an order to sell some CRAY at $12.57 ($4 Pi).

Yahoo!; Google; Mace Security

Yahoo! (YHOO)... I might have to stop using Yahoo! in order to sell our YHOO holdings. I believe the stock is currently undervalued at $15.whatever, so I remained convinced it will appreciate in value the moment our 'sell' order is executed.

Google (GOOG)... The company needs to do something to get GOOG shares moving upward. I continue to believe Google has a bloated workforce, so I'd like to see the company reduce the number of Googlers it has on the payroll.

Mace (MACE)... MACE showed signs of life on Friday (02012.06.15) when it closed at $0.25 on heavy volume, but today (02012.06.18) the stock is down a couple pennies.

A popular acronym these days... PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain).

Stewart Enterprises is Not Dead Yet

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) reported 2Q'12 results over a week ago on 02012.06.07. I missed the press release, but today (02012.06.15) I noticed the STEI SIR (Short Interest Ratio) was at 34 and that prompted me to look for "news." The following was copied from the 2Q'12 press release.

"For the second quarter of 2012, we generated the highest quarterly revenue, gross profit and adjusted earnings per share in four years."

Sounds good to me! I also liked the following highlight from 2Q'12: "operating and free cash flow of $20.7 million and $16.8 million, respectively."

The 2Q'12 press release ended with the following.

"Over the last two and a half years, the Board has increased our dividend by 60 percent, which reflects its commitment to returning capital to our shareholders through the payment of dividends and its continued confidence in the Company's financial condition and our ability to consistently generate cash flow."

I guess many investors do not believe Stewart Enterprises can sustain this performance.

STEI closed yesterday (02012.06.14) at $6.67. 52-week range: $4.92 - $7.88. Current SIR is 34.8.

Nanosphere; Cray, Aastrom Biosciences; Hanger

I took a few days off from following the stock markets last week, so today this morning I am looking to see how the GDT::Portfolio did last week. Here are a couple of items that caught my attention.

[item] Top Buys by Directors: Slezak's $289.2K Bet on NSPH - Forbes http://onforb.es/LujBkb via @sharethis

Nanosphere (NSPH) closed Friday, 02012.06.08, at $1.97 putting NSPH at #10 in the GDT::Portfolio.

[item] Cray (CRAY) hit a new 52-week high of $11.50 on Friday, 02012.06.08.

[item] Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) continues to report what I think is good news. From Wednesday, 02012.06.08: Ixmyelocel-T Shown to Protect Heart From Damage in Murine Model of Heart Failure - Yahoo! Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ixmyelocel-t-shown-protect-heart-220000784.html via @YahooFinance

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) closed Friday, 02012.06.08, at $2.26. One week earlier it closed at $1.96.

[item] Hanger (HGR) shareholders approved the company changing its name from Hanger Orthopedics to Hanger Inc.

LookSmart To Buyback LOOK Shares

LookSmart (LOOK) announced last week (on 02012.05.31) that it's allocated $1 million to buy LOOK shares. On the day of the announcement LOOK spiked from $0.81 to $0.90 before closing at $0.83. LOOK ended last week (02012.06.01) at $0.85. At this price the company could buy ~1.18 million LOOK shares, which would be ~6.8% of the total number of LOOK shares outstanding. Insider ownership is ~17%; therefore, 1.18 million LOOK shares is ~12.2% of the float. 52-week range: $0.53 - $1.90.

iRobot Hits New 52-Week Low

iRobot (IRBT) hit a new 52-week low of $19.46 yesterday (02012.06.01) on heavy volume. IRBT closed at $19.83. 52-week range: $19.46 - $38.33. IRBT under $20 is a bummer for the GDT::Portfolio. The SIR (Short Interest Ratio) in IRBT is still high at 10.1.

Speaking of yesterday... uglier than ugly. DJIA down 2.22%; NASDAQ down 2.82%; S&P 500 down 2.46%.

iParty to Execute a Reverse Stock Split?

iParty (IPT) hit an intra-day high of $0.23 yesterday (02012.05.30) before closing down almost 10% at $0.19. Back on May 2nd I wrote the following: If IPT can move above two dimes, then a move to three dimes could happen quickly. Yesterday's IPT volume was heavy (177,700 vs. trailing-3-month average of 18,266). It appears as though iParty wants to execute a reverse stock split. The ratio has yet to be decided, but the company mentioned a range of 1:5 to 1:20.

This is the third time this month I blogged about iParty...

[02012.05.04] iParty (IPT) closed at $0.21 yesterday (02012.05.03). Today is down a penny at $0.20. Interesting news story involving an iParty store. iParty defends offensive favors. Some IPT insider buying has taken place at $0.19. The dollar amounts invested were small, but they were insider buys nonetheless.

[02012.05.02] iParty (IPT) reported decent 1Q'12 results last week on 02012.04.25. Now IPT shares seems are near $0.20, which appears to be a resistance price. If IPT can move above two dimes, then a move to three dimes could happen quickly. $0.29 is the 52-week high. When it comes to historical pricing, Finance.Yahoo.com for IPT goes back to 30 December 01999 when it opened at $3.72. I think the last time IPT closed above a buck was when it closed at $1.01 on 26 April 02004 (i.e. 8 years ago).

Geeknet: Insiders Bought This Month (May)

Geeknet (GKNT) had some insider buying this month. Yesterday (02012.05.26) GKNT closed at $16.47. 52-week range: $12.07 - $30.23. The insider buying took place between May 14th and May 23rd at prices ranging from $14.45 and $14.86. http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/gknt/insider-trades

US Airways Hits New 52-Week High

US Airways (LCC) hit a new 52-week high for the second day in a row today (02012.05.25). I mention this only because new 52-week highs aren't happening with much frequency these days. LCC closed yesterday (02012.05.24) at $12.16 after making a new 52-week high of $12.23 and today it hit $12.40. Right now LCC is #9 in the GDT::Portfolio and this means the portfolio sucks right now. I placed an order to sell some of our LCC shares at $12.57 ($4Pi).

Facebook: Added to Our FB Holdings

I added to our Facebook holdings today (02012.05.22) buying a small number of share at $31.42. When I placed the order FB was at $33.04. I decided to place an order at a slightly lower price not really caring if the buy got executed. To determine the buy price I rounded the product Pi (3.141592653589793238) and ten to the nearest penny.

Facebook Drops Well Below IPO Price

Facebook (FB) is down 13.3% right now at $33.14 (02012.05.21 at 9:54am EDT). Probably won't take long before the shareholder class action suits start getting filed.

Interesting tidbit... On 21 May 02012, Google (GOOG) has remained above its IPO price for 2,832 consecutive days, but Facebook (FB) could do it for only one day.

Facebook Added To the GDT::Portfolio

Facebook (FB) has become a GDT::Portfolio stock. I bought some FB today (02012.05.18) at $40.89. The stock went public at $38.00. Our FB investment was on the nano-scale (i.e. very low dollar amount).

I decided to buy some FB after experience a Facebook $Pi moment...

Axion Power Intl.: Added to Our AXPW Holdings

Axion Power Intl. (AXPW) reported 1Q'12 results prior to the market opening yesterday (02012.05.15). Today, I added to our Axion holdings by buying AXPW shares at $0.39.

"I have previously mentioned that the road to PbC commercialization has been longer than we anticipated, but that we were finding the market opportunities, for our PbC product applications, larger and more diverse than we had initially anticipated." -- Axion CEO Thomas Granville

Another tidbit from the 1Q'12 press release.

"We have received numerous new requests for proposals and quotations, more than half of which have come from new markets for our product. And although these are new opportunities in new markets, it is the historical advantage of PbC batteries that makes the equation work."

And I believe it's possible the Axion "equation" does "work."

AXPW fell a nickel after 1Q'12 results were reported and closed yesterday (02012.05.15) down four cents at $0.38. 52-week range: $0.25 - $0.84.

Science from Scientists; Facebook Going Public

[item] Comcast, iRobot and Google Support STEM Programs in Massachusetts Public Schools Through Science from Scientist caught my attention because Comcast, iRobot and Google are all GDT::Portfolio stocks. Having scientists help students learn about science makes sense to me.

[item] Facebook is going public on Friday (02012.05.18) of this week. The company has increased the size of its IPO. Initial share price will be in the $34 - $38 range. The number of shares was increased by 50.6 million to ~388 million. Facebook Inc.'s IPO might raise $14.75 billion.

Yahoo! Gets Yet Another New CEO; LCC to $18?

Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO Scott Thompson quit just after about four months on the job and now Ross Levinsohn steps in as interim CEO. If I've said it n times, I've said it ++n times: Yahoo! is the Peyton Place of Silicon Valley. YHOO closed on Friday, 02012.05.11, at $15.19.

US Airways (LCC) made a new 52-week high of $11.47 on Friday (02012.05.11) before closing at $11.32. TheFlyOnTheWall.com reported that was "upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee". Sterne Agee's target price was $18. That'd be nice. I have plans to sell some LCC at $12.57 ($4Pi).

Geeknet and Spire Show Signs of Life

Geeknet (GKNT) issued press release announcing "Plans to Conduct Review of Strategic Alternatives for Online Media Business." These online media businesses include Slashdot, SourceForge and Freecode. From the company's press release.

"In making the announcement, the Company stated there can be no assurance that the exploration of strategic alternatives will result in any transaction. The Company undertakes no obligation to make any further announcements regarding the exploration of strategic alternatives unless and until a final decision is made."

GKNT closed at $15.03 on Friday, 02012,05.11, up 14.2% for the day. Trading volume was only 64,537 shares.

Spire (SPIR) reported 1Q'12 results prior to the market opening on Friday, 02012.05.11. From the company's press release.

“We anticipate the softness in the solar industry to continue for a while longer. However, the bottom in equipment spending is expected to occur sometime toward the end of 2012, as manufacturers begin capital improvement programs including equipment updates and expansion. Market researchers predict a return to double digit growth sometime in 2013 that would extend for at least the next several fiscal years." -- CEO Roger Little

SPIR closed on 02012.05.11 at $1.03, up 13.2% for the day. Volume was only 27,940 shares.

STEM at $0.911

StemCells (STEM) closed at $0.911... STEM has been a "call 911" investment for us. Company burns cash. It has stem cells, but Wall Street doesn't seem to give them much value.

StemCells reported 1Q'12 results yesterday (02012.05.10) after the markets closed. Say what?

"We have now established proof of principle that our cells are capable of myelinating nerve axons in an appropriate, progressive and durable way in the brains of patients with a severe myelination disorder." -- StemCells Inc.

Kratos Buying a Drone Maker

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) is making an acquisition and floating more stock. The company is selling 20 million shares at $5.00 per share with the net proceeds going toward to the $155 million purchase of privately held drone maker Composite Engineering Inc.

The details are plentiful... KratosDefense.com::Kratos to Acquire Leading Composite Manufacturer and Aerial Target Systems Provider Composite Engineering, Inc.

KTOS closed yesterday (02012.05.08) at $4.77. 52-week range: $4.61 - $13.47.

Geeknet; US Airways; iParty (I wish)

Checked stocks for the first time today and noticed the NASDAQ was down 1.63%. The GDT::Porfolio was all read except for Geeknet (GKNT) and US Airways (LCC). At one point GKNT was up almost 8%, but right now it's up 1%. LCC is made yet another new 52-week high almost hitting $11. Right now it's at $10.89, up ~1.7% for the day.

iParty (IPT) closed at $0.21 yesterday (02012.05.03). Today is down a penny at $0.20. Interesting news story involving an iParty store. iParty defends offensive favors.

Some IPT insider buying has taken place at $0.19. The dollar amounts invested were small, but they were insider buys nonetheless.

1Q'12 Results: Geeknet, Hanger, Level 3 Communications

Geeknet (GKNT) reported 1Q'12 results prior to the market opening today (02012.05.03). 1Q'12 revenues were 12% higher than those for 1Q'11, but the company lost money. Geeknet ended 1Q'12 with approximately $5.09 per share in cash. GKNT closed yesterday (02012.05.02) at $13.34 after hitting a new 52-week low of $13.00. 52-week range: $13.00 - $30.23. Note: There has been some option exercising going on with GKNT and it appears to have increased insider ownership by about 0.5%.

Hanger (HGR) reported 1Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.05.02). I liked reading this: "The Company's cash flow from operations increased $13.6 million to $1.3 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2012, compared to a use of $12.3 million for the first quarter of 2011." More the press release: "We are very pleased with the strength of this performance and remain confident in achieving our full year guidance. Never the less, we expect the regulatory and reimbursement environment to remain challenging though the remainder of 2012." From my seat in coach I can see that "never the less" being "challenging." HGR closed yesterday (02012.05.02) at $23.29. 52-week range: $14.57 - $27.90.

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) reported 1Q'12 results prior to the market opening today (02012.05.03). From the Level 3 press release: "In the aggregate for the remaining three quarters of 2012, we expect Free Cash Flow to be positive. We continue to have confidence in our outlook for this year, and expect to grow the business for the remainder of 2012." LVLT closed yesterday (02012.05.02) at $24.26. 52-week range: $16.51 - $40.05.

AMZN (Amazon.com) Hit $200 One Year Ago Today

I get a daily email message from Timehop Abe having the subject-line... "Year ago Gerald's day on May 2, 2011"

One year ago today I tweeted the following.

Amazon.com (AMZN) closed on its first day of trading on 01997.05.16 at an adjusted price of $1.73 ($20.75 prior to 2:1 split on 01998.06.02; 3:1 split on 01999.01.05; 2:1 split on 01999.09.02). 5099 days later (i.e. 13 years, 11 months, 16 days) AMZN hit $200 and I captured the moment using Google Finance.

Right now (9:00am MST on 02012.05.02) AMZN is at $230.06. AMZN is up ~13,198.3% in the span of ~15 years.

iRobot; LookSmart (yeah right); iParty

iRobot (IRBT) has turned into GDT::Portfolio laggard and this has been disappointing. I saw the following news this morning: "iRobot initiated with a Sell at CRT Capital." I've seen "initiated coverage with a Sell rating" before and I still don't know what it means. My take: I want to initiate an investment in iRobot, but I want to initiate my position at a price that is lower than the current price. Selling pressures can drive down a stock's price; therefore, existing shareholders need to sell. IRBT closed yesterday (02012.05.01) at $23.55. 52-week range: $22.46 - $38.33.

LookSmart (LOOK) reported 1Q'12 results after the market closed yesterday (02012.05.01). The company ended the quarter with cash per share of ~$1.30. LOOK closed yesterday at $0.95. 52-week range: $0.91 - $1.96.

iParty (IPT) reported decent 1Q'12 results last week on 02012.04.25. Now IPT shares seems are near $0.20, which appears to be a resistance price. If IPT can move above two dimes, then a move to three dimes could happen quickly. $0.29 is the 52-week high. When it comes to historical pricing, Finance.Yahoo.com for IPT goes back to 30 December 01999 when it opened at $3.72. I think the last time IPT closed above a buck was when it closed at $1.01 on 26 April 02004 (i.e. 8 years ago).

Need To Be a Geek To Understand Geeknet?

Geeknet (GKNT) made a new 52-week low today (02012.05.01) of $13.56. I'm clueless as to why GKNT has morphed into a bad investment for us. I like what Geeknet is doing with Slashdot. Today the company announced Slashdot's launch of its "Business Intelligence Website for IT Professionals." Seems like there should be a demand to this type of resource. I agree with Slashdot's assessment that the "field of business intelligence and analytics" is "white-hot." A month earlier Slashdot launched Slashdot TV, which is a "business-to-business technology video channel."

In preparing this posting I came across something that I posted a year ago. From Geeknet's 1Q'11 conference call. In a nutshell... (a) Kenneth Langone made a point to remind us that he (and two others) control 35+% of the stock, so they have a vested interest in the company. (b) He considers the company's "runway" of opportunities to be "limitless" but the company needs to execute. (c) He considers his management team to be one of the strongest he has ever had (he co-founded Home Depot).

Geeknet reports 1Q'12 results on May 3rd.

Back on Pi Day 02012, The Benchmark Company initiated coverage on GKNT with a 'Buy' rating. GKNT closed at $15.10 on 02012.03.13 (the day before Pi Day 02012).

On 02012.05.01, at it's current price of $13.76, GKNT has a PSR (Price Sales Ratio) of 0.78.

Bruker Reports 1Q'12 Results

Bruker (BRKR) announced 1Q'12 results prior to the market opening today (02012.05.01). I liked the following.

Frank Laukien, Bruker’s President and CEO, commented: “We are pleased with our first quarter 2012 results, as we delivered 13.7% organic revenue growth, along with double-digit growth in operating income and net income year-over-year. Our backlog continued to grow even further due to excellent first quarter 2012 orders. The tone in many of our end markets has improved since the fourth quarter of 2011, and our focus on new products and innovative solutions for major secular trends in the life and materials sciences and related industries is resulting in excellent, profitable organic growth.”

I also liked this... "For the first quarter of 2012, Bruker’s cash flow provided by operations was $4.8 million, compared to cash used in operations of ($29.4) million in the first quarter of 2011."

BRKR closed yesterday (02012.04.30) at $15.03.