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."