Twitter (TWTR) Correction in Progress?

Twitter (TWTR) fell 13% on Friday, 02013.12.27, closing at $63.75. 52-week range: $38.80 - $74.73. Pre-market trading today (02013.12.30) hints that TWTR might fall some more when the market opens. TWTR started this month at $41.57, so it's had a great month despite Friday's huge decline.

My Stock Market Prediction For 02014

There are two trading days left in 02013. I'm not into making predictions, but I will make one prediction of 02014: Some stocks will go; some stocks will go down; and some stocks (although I suspect not many) will end 02014 unchanged.

Should Have Bought More Twitter (TWTR)

Twitter (TWTR) keeps making new 52-week (and all-time) highs. Today (02013.12.23) TWTR closed at $64.54 after hitting a new all-time high of $64.99.

Posting from 02013.11.08...

Twitter (TWTR) was falling and I placed an order to buy a nano-sized amount of TWTR at 13 $Pi ($40.84). Now I want TWTR to go down more because I want to buy more TWTR at a lower price. Next buy price is 10 $Pi ($31.42).

The $31.42 didn't happen, but our "nano-sized" TWTR investment is up 58% in less than two months.

As of right now the "do not chase" investment strategy was a mistake.

TWTR 52-week range: $38.80 - $64.99.

Google (GOOG) and Amazon.com (AMZN) Close Above $1100 and $400, Respectively

On 20 December 2013, Google (GOOG) hit and closed about $1,100 for the first time in its history. Also on 20 December 2013, Amazon.com (AMZN) hit and closed about $400 for the first time in its history.

GOOG closed above $1,000 for the first time on 18 October 2013. It took GOOG 63 days to increase $100. AMZN closed above $300 for the first time on 12 July 2013. It took AMZN 161 days to increase $100.

GOOG closed on 20 December 2013 at $1,100.62 (intra-day high was $1,101.17) giving Google Inc. an approximate market value of $367.7 billion. AMZN closed on 20 December 2013 at $402.20 (intra-day high was $404.72). giving Amazon.com Inc. an approximate market value of $184.1 billion.

Red Hat (RHT) Reports Solid 3Q'14 Results

Red Hat (RHT) reported 3Q'14 results after the market closed yesterday (02013.12.19) and today (02013.12.20) RHT spiked to a new 52-week high. RHT closed yesterday at $49.00 and today it gapped open at $56.42.

The following paragraph was copied from Red Hat's 3Q'14 press release.

Operating cash flow was $95 million for the third quarter, as compared to $100 million in the year ago quarter. At quarter end, the company’s total deferred revenue balance was $1.12 billion, an increase of 14% on a year-over-year basis. Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of November 30, 2013 was $1.33 billion after repurchasing approximately $40 million of common stock, or approximately 920 thousand shares, in the third quarter. Red Hat has repurchased approximately $239 million of common stock, or approximately 5.0 million shares, during the first nine months of fiscal 2014.

Sold Some Level 3 Communications (LVLT) at 10 $Pi ($31.42)

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) spiked to a new 52-week high of $31.97 this morning (02013.12.19) and that resulted in the sale of some LVLT shares at 10 $Pi ($31.42). The sale was of some high priced shares and that leaves our remaining LVLT holdings a modest [0] investment that's nicely above water.

[0] Modest implies I'd be content, if finances allow, to never sell another LVLT share.

Sold Some iRobot (IRBT) at 12 $Pi ($37.70)

iRobot (IRBT) spiked up today (02013.12.17) and I sold some IRBT shares at 12 $Pi ($37.70).

iRobot (IRBT) Gets a Rash of Upgrades

iRobot (IRBT) closed up 6.64% yesterday (02013.12.16) at $31.30. 52-week range: $17.97 - $41.12. Yesterday's volume was 2.5 times the trailing-3-month average. At least three investment firm upgraded their IRBT ratings. One example headline: "iRobot upgraded to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James". It appears as though Google's recent robotics investments has turned the spotlight on the robotics industry.

Bought Some More Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP)

Bought some more Adamis Pharmaceuticls (ADMP) yesterday (02013.12.16) at $5.60. Last Friday I bought some ADMP at $6.05.

Google (GOOG) Buys Boston Dynamics... What About iRobot (IRBT)?

Google (GOOG) has acquired eight robotics companies during the last six months. A couple of days ago it was reported that Google had purchased Boston Dynamics. Google's aggressive move into robotics makes me wonder about our iRobot (IRBT) investment. Is iRobot now in direct competition with Google? Hmm... Has Google considered buying iRobot?

At the end of 3Q'13 Google had $56.2 billion in cash. IRBT at $29.35 gives iRobot an approximate market value of $847 million. IRBT 52-week range: $17.97 - $41.12. IRBT price-sales-ratio (PSR) is 1.85 (GOOG's PSR is 6.23). iRobot has ~$150 million in "cash" and $0 debt.

iRobot (IRBT) and Boston Dynamics are both headquartered in Massachusetts and are ~12 miles apart from each other.

Bought Some More Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP)

Bought some more Adamis Pharmaceuticls (ADMP) yesterday (02013.12.13) at $6.02. The executed a 1:17 stock split and then had a public offering of 3,720,000 shares of common stock at $5.95 per share.

Sold Some Illumina (ILMN)

Sold some Illumina (ILMN) yesterday (02013.12.13) at $102.09 (or approximately 32.5 $Pi). ILMN 52-week range: $48.00 - $102.67. I would be a happy man if I never sold another ILMN share.

Facebook (FB) is Being Added to the S&P 500

Facebook (FB) is being added to the S&P 500 on 02013.12.20. Yesterday (02013.12.11) FB closed at $49.38. This morning FB spiked to $51.27. 52-week range: $22.67 - $54.83.

NeuroMetrix (NURO) Has Another Wild Day

NeuroMetrix (NURO) reported yesterday (02013.12.10)--prior to the market opening--issued a press release having the title: NeuroMetrix to Partner with Omron Medical Devices for Distribution of NC-stat DPNCheck in China. NURO previous close was $3.00; it had a gap open at $3.55 (up 18.33%); and, it spiked to an intra-day high (and new 52-week high) of $4.25 (up 41.67%). But, at the end of day, NURO closed at $3.10 (up 3.33%). Volume was 8.52 million vs. 0.69 million.

US Airways (LCC) is Now American Airlines (AAL)

US Airways (LCC) ended trading at $22.55 on Friday, 02013.12.06. 52-week range: $12.65 - $25.49.

American Airlines (AAL) started trading yesterday (Monday, 02013.12.09) at $23.95. AAL had intra-day high of $25.44 and an intra-day low of $23.45 before closing at $24.60.

Bought Some More Crexendo (EXE) at $Pi ($3.14)

GDT::Portfolio's Crexendo (EXE) investment has been holding steady (i.e. not up, not down). Steven G. Mihaylo, the Chairman and CEO of Crexendo, keeps executing tiny buys of EXE shares and his most recent buys were at $3.

On 02013.12.06, Yahoo! Finance reports the EXE short-interest-ratio at a whopping (at least to me) 26.3. There are ~10.74 million EXE shares and insider ownership is at ~55%. Estimate float: ~5.38 million. During the last three months the average trading volume has been 8,166.

Google (GOOG) Nearing $1,100

Google (GOOG) hit a new 52-week high this morning leaving it $30.17 away from $1,100. Each new 52-week high is a new all-time high for GOOG.

GOOG hit $1,000 for the first time on 02013.10.18 and it has stayed above $1,000 since 02013.10.23.

GOOG closed yesterday (02013.12.05) at $1,057.34. 52-week range: $682.42 - $1,069.83.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Hits New 52-Week High

Alcatel-Lucent (LU), a GDT::Portfolio bottom-feeder, hit a new 52-week high of $4.55 today (02013.12.05). ALU 52-week low: $1.10.

ALU closed 02012 at $1.39. ALU closed today (02013.12.05) at $4.51. Year-to-date ALU is up 224%. Yeah! But, not really. Despite a 224% increase in one year, GDT::Portfolio's ALU investment remains well under water.

I'm will sell some ALU shares over time; however, my hope is to take some ALU shares to the grave. ALU is my connection to Ma Bell and for that I am grateful.

Sold Some Yahoo! (YHOO) at 12 $Pi ($37.70)

Yahoo! (YHOO) hit a new 52-week high of $38.15 before closing at $38.01 today (02013.12.04). For the day YHOO was up almost 4.3%. I sold some YHOO at 12 $Pi ($37.70).

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) Insider Buying

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) has seen some recent insider buying. The buys were executed in the $6.40 - $6.70 range.

KTOS closed yesterday (02013.12.03) at $6.77. 52-week range: $4.08 - $9.16. KTOS 52-week high of $9.16 was hit on 02013.09.12, which means KTOS has decreased approximately ~26% in the span of three months.

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Pops on Black Friday

Aastrom Bioscience (ASTM) closed on Black Friday (02013.11.29) at $4.35, up 27.57% for the day. Intra-day high was $4.50. 52-week range: $3.16 - $86.00.

ASTM isn't a penny stock these days thanks to a 1:20 stock split on 02013.10.16. Almost four years ago ASTM split 1:8.

Amazon.com (AMZN) Nearing $400

Amazon.com (AMZN) made a new all-time high of $387.00 today (02013.11.27) before closing at $386.60. It will be interesting to see if AMZN hits $400 before 02013 comes to an end. At its current price AMZN's PSR (Price Sales Ratio) is at 2.49 and I consider that low.

[update::02013.12.04] AMZN hit $399.00 on 02013.12.02.

NASDAQ Hits 4,000

NASDAQ composite index opened yesterday (02013.11.25) at 4,004.37; hit an intra-day high of 4,007.09; and closed at 3,994.57. It was the first time the NASDAQ was above 4,000 since September 02000. Even at 4000, the NASDAQ is still well below its all-time high of 5,132.52 (intra-day high on 10 March 02000). I liked the following quote.

"It's taken 13 years to get back. It just shows the magnitude of that bubble we expanded back in 1999 and 2000." -- Jack Ablin of BMO Private Bank

Illumina (ILMN) Nearing 1-Hecto-Dollar ($100)

Illumina (ILMN) is nearing 1-hecto-dollar ($100). Yesterday (02013.11.21) ILMN hit a new 52-week high of $99.70 before closing at $98.85. For ILMN every new 52-week high is also a new all-time high.

[update::02013.11.23] ILMN's intra-day high yesterday was exactly 1-hecto-dollar ($100.00).

Spire (SPIR) Remains Open For Business

Spire (SPIR) reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed on 02013.11.19. SPIR closed on the 19th at $0.61. The day SPIR opened down a penny, but hit an intra-day high of $0.65 before closing down a penny at $0.60. Yesterday (02013.11.21), SPIR opened down four pennies (down 6.67%) and stayed there for the entire day.

Spire issued a press release yesterday having the following headline: Spire Installs Turn-key PV Module Line in Partnership with an Eastern European Company. According to Spire's CEO Roger Little: There is a great deal of demand for solar in this region... I hoping Roger isn't bullshitting us.

SPIR closed yesterday (02013.11.21) at $0.56. Volume was only 1,901 (vs. 12,588). 52-week range: $0.11 - $0.99.

Yahoo! (YHOO) Increases Share Buyback Program

Yahoo! (YHOO) announced it has increased its share buyback authorization by $5.0 billion. In addition, Yahoo! announced the issuance of $1 billion in convertible debt.

YHOO closed yesterday (02013.11.19) at $34.63. 52-week range: $18.20 - $36.19. In early morning trading today YHOO spiked to $35.82.

[update::02013.11.21] YHOO hit a new 52-week high yesterday (02013.11.20) of $36.22 before closing at $35.62. After the close Yahoo! announced "Pricing of Upsized Offering of $1.25 Billion Convertible Senior Notes Due 2018."

NeuroMetrix (NURO) Spikes Up Again on Heavy Volume--Why?

NeuroMetrix (NURO) continues to trade in a way that I don't understand. On 02013.11.07 (one week ago) I had a posting titled: "NeuroMetrix (NURO) Spikes Up on Heavy Volume--Why?".

Here is a summary of NURO's November prices. 02013.11.01 NURO closed at $1.53. 02013.11.06 NURO closed at $1.91. 02013.11.07 NURO close at $2.41 after hitting an intra-day high of $3.09 (volume was 9.55 million). 02013.11.08 NURO closed at $1.98. 02013.11.11 NURO closed at $1.83. 02013.11.12 NURO closed at $2.24.

Yesterday, 02013.11.13, NURO closed at $2.79. Volume was 4.42 million versus 0.33 million.

Today, 02013.11.14, pre-market (which means nothing to me), NURO is at $3.45 (up 16+%). 52-week range: $1.47 - $3.66.

[02013.11.14] NURO opened this morning at $3.04, spiked to an intra-day high of $3.09, and closed at $2.61 (down ~6.5%). Volume was 5.34 million vs. 0.33 million.

Red Hat (RHT) Gets Upgraded

Red Hat (RHT) 52-week low currently is $41.89 hit on 2013.10.19. Since that 52-week low, RHT's highest close had been yesterday (02013.11.12) at $44.60. Today (02013.11.13), research firm Piper Jaffray upgraded RHT to 'Overweight' from 'Neutral' and RHT ended the day at $46.37 (up almost 4% for the day). Volume was 5.45 million versus 1.85 million. I still consider RHT a pricey stock, but I think it's worth more than $46.37.

Cray (CRAY) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Cray (CRAY) reported 3Q'13 results yesterday (02013.11.11). When it comes to Cray providing guidance, the following is true.

Actual results for any future period are subject to large fluctuations given the nature of Cray's business.

Generally, I don't like it when the CEO starts off press release with sentences like the following.

"We didn't achieve the financial results we were anticipating for the third quarter as a couple of large acceptances shifted out of the quarter, and we now expect to have both of them completed during the fourth quarter," said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray.

CRAY closed yesterday at $22.21. 52-week range: $12.40 - $28.59.

Bought Some Twitter (TWTR)

Twitter (TWTR) was falling and I placed an order to buy a nano-sized amount of TWTR at 13 $Pi ($40.84). Now I want TWTR to go down more because I want to buy more TWTR at a lower price. Next buy price is 10 $Pi ($31.42).

I didn't want to chase, but TWTR needed to be a GDT::Porfolio stock for numerous reasons.

Geeknet (GKNT) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Geeknet (GKNT) reported 3Q'13 results this morning (02013.11.08) and I thought they had a good 3rd-quarter.

GKNT hit a new 52-week high of $19.97 on 02013.10.29 (just 8 trading days ago). Yesterday (02013.11.07) GKNT closed at $17.69. In otherwords, GKNT is down ~11.4% is eight days. Yuck! Especially for a stock that is an important stock in the GDT::Portfolio.

GKNT was at $18.89 (up 6.78% on minimal volume) at 11:07AM EST on 8 November 02013.

NeuroMetrix (NURO) Spikes Up on Heavy Volume--Why?

NeuroMetrix (NURO) is a GDT::Portfolio bottom-feeder, but something happened yesterday (02013.11.06) with NURO and I don't know why. NURO closed yesterday (02013.1.06) at $1.91, up 22%. Intra-day high was $2.12. Volume was 1.17 million versus 0.13 million. 52-week range: $1.47 - $3.66. Pre-market numbers are hinting that NURO might continue spiking upward when the market opens today (02013.11.07).

[update::02013.11.07] I'm somewhat confused. It's 12:39pm EST and trading NURO volume is at 6,181,619. According to Yahoo! Finance there are approximately 3 million NURO shares. Note: NURO is at $2.76, up 45%.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Nanosphere (NSPH) reported 3Q'13 results today (02013.11.06) prior to the market opening. NSPH is an important GDT::Portfolio stock. The following a couple of items from the 3Q'13 press release.

Nanosphere is re-affirming its 2013 revenue guidance of $10-11 million.

Nanosphere re-affirms its 2013 new customer placement guidance of 150-200.

Nanosphere ended 3Q'13 with ~$49.3 million in "cash", which is ~$0.82 per NSPH share.

NSPH closed yesterday (02013.11.05) at $1.87. 52-week range: $1.72 - $4.49.

Twitter (TWTR) IPO is Nearing

Twitter (TWTR) is getting ready to go public. Interestingly, TWTR will trade on the NYSE. The following was reported yesterday (02013.11.04) by Reuters.

Twitter raised its price range to $23 to $25 per share on Monday, but kept the offering size at 70 million shares. That means it will raise up to $2 billion if an overallotment option of 10.5 million shares is exercised.

Twitter's expected market value is $13.6 billion. Right now Facebook and LinkedIn have market values of $117.17 billion and $26.71 billion, respectively.

I'd be okay buying some TWTR at $25, but I won't chase it.

[update::02013.11.07] TWTR starts trading today (02013.11.07). Twitter went public at $26. I tried to placed an order to buy some TWTR at 8 $Pi ($25.13), but Scottrade.com didn't allow me to place the order. My Facebook status update today: "To buy or not to buy?" is not the question. The question is: "At what price to buy?" If TWTR is like GOOG, we might never buy; but, if TWTR is like FB, we'll buy.

Facebook (FB) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Facebook (FB) reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed today (02013.10.30). The press release started with the following.

For nearly ten years, Facebook has been on a mission to connect the world," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. "The strong results we achieved this quarter show that we're prepared for the next phase of our company, as we work to bring the next five billion people online and into the knowledge economy."

It appears as though Facebook exceeded expectations because FB is up 9% in after hours trading.

I found this interesting: Facebook's effective tax rate during 3Q'13 was 41%. Facebook ended 3Q'13 with $9.33 billion in "cash."

FB closed today (02013.10.30) at $49.01. 52-week range: $18.87 - $54.83. At 4:50pm EDT (after hours) FB was at $53.67.

[update::02013.10.31] The markets just opened and FB is down almost 4% at $47.15. Things sure changed during the after after hours.

Hanger (HGR) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Hanger (HGR), the longest held GDT::Portfolio stock, reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed yesterday and I thought they had a good quarter. HGR closed yesterday (02013.10.29) at $35.75. 52-week range: $22.38 - $37.39. Hanger appears to be growing despite the uncertainty of the politics of the health care industry. From the 3Q'13 press release:

The Company anticipates generating cash flow from operations of between $90 million and $100 million in 2013 and investing a total of $35 million to $40 million in capital additions. The Company will continue its acquisition program with a goal of closing acquisitions that total approximately $20 million in annualized revenues in 2013.

It's tempting to place an order to sell some HGR at 12 $Pi ($37.70), but my next target sell price at 13 $Pi ($40.84).

[update::02013.10.31] HGR hit a new 52-week high of $38.14 yesterday (02013.10.30) before closing at $37.35.

Amazon.com (AMZN) Spikes Up

Amazon.com reported 3Q'13 results and Wall Street sent AMZN up ~9.4% on Friday, 02013.10.26. AMZN closed at $363.39 after hitting a new all-time high of $368.40. I didn't like Jeff Bezos when we bought Amazon.com, so I was impatient getting rid of our shares. Now I like Jeff Bezos and I like how he runs Amazon.com. I consider Amazon.com a 21st century Informatics company.

iRobot (IRBT) Experiencing Extreme Volatility

I posted the following two days ago on 02013.10.24.

iRobot (IRBT) reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed today (02013.10.22). The press release started out with "bad" news.

"I am pleased to report that we delivered Q3 results in line with our expectations." -- iRobot CEO Colin Angle

On 02013.10.22 IRBT closed at $36.45. After the close the company announced 3Q'13 results. The next day, on 02013.10.23, IRBT opened at $32.50, down 10.8%. IRBT closed yesterday at $34.86, down 4.4% for the day. Volume was 2.1M vs. trailing-3-month avg. of ~0.46M. Today, IRBT closed at $37.64, up almost 8.1%. Volume: ~0.8M. I don't know what's going on. In a nutshell, I don't need to know what's going on because I consider IRBT a long-term investment. I believe robotics is our future and iRobot is a robotics company.

Sold Some US Airways (LCC) at 7 $Pi ($21.99)

US Airways (LCC) hit a new 52-week high of $22.09 yesterday (02013.10.23) and I sold some LCC at 7 $Pi ($21.99). Note: The sold LCC shares were purchased at $Pi on 02008.06.16.

iRobot (IRBT) Reports 3Q'13 Results

iRobot (IRBT) reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed today (02013.10.22). The press release started out with "bad" news.

"I am pleased to report that we delivered Q3 results in line with our expectations." -- iRobot CEO Colin Angle

IRBT closed today (02013.10.22) at $36.39. 52-week range: $16.25 - $41.12.

Here's an update before I even pushed the "Publish" button...

I was typing this posting in without having looked at after-hours trading. I just checked after-hours trading (it's almost 1:20pm MST) and IRBT is down almost 9%. The company met expectations, so like said... "bad" news.

Sold Some Yahoo! (YHOO) at 11 $Pi ($34.56)

Yahoo! (YHOO) hit 11 $Pi ($34.56) today (02013.10.22), so I sold some shares to generate a Pi moment. Unless finances dictate otherwise, my next YHOO sell target price is 16 $Pi ($50.27).

Illumina (ILMN) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Illumina (ILMN) reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed on 02013.10.21. Reuters headline: "Illumina beats estimates for the eighth straight quarter". In after hours trading ILMN was up 6+%.

From Illumina's press release.

"These results highlight another quarter of solid operational execution and record financial performance," said Illumina’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Jay Flatley. "We continue to be pleased with the robust global trends demonstrated by our business and believe we are positioned to continue to deliver strong growth."

ILMN closed today (02013.10.21) at $81.76. 52-week range: $44.78 - $85.81.

Google (GOOG) Hits a Giga-Dollar; Sold 1 GOOG at Hecto-Pi $Pi ($986.46)

Google (GOOG) hit $1000 today (02013.10.18). Note: 10/18 is Exascale Day (switch the / in 10/18 to 10^18; 10^18 is the value of the exa- metric prefix). It only seems fitting that GOOG hit 1 kilo-dollar on Exascale Day. To generate a hecto-Pi Pi moment, I sold a GOOG share at 314 $Pi (314 is Pi rounded to the nearest hundredth (3.14) times 100; 100 is 10^2, which is the metric prefix hecto-).

[02013.10.19] GOOG closed yesterday at $1011.41, up $122.61 (13.8%) for the day. Volume was ~11.6 million vs. trailing-3-month avg. of 2 million.

Facebook (FB) Hits a New 52-Week/All-Time High

Facebook (FB) hit a new 52-week/all-time high today (02013.10.17) of $52.22 before closing at $52.21. There's a good chance that Google's (GOOG) 3Q'13 results, which were reported today after the market closed, will be good news for FB. Facebook Inc. ended today with a market value of $127.15 billion. FB also ended today at #9 in the GDT::Portfolio. Because we own a nano-amount of Facebook shares, I have to be a user and advocate of Facebook.

Google (GOOG) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Google (GOOG) reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed today (02013.10.17). I immediately went to read the company's press release after seeing GOOG was up over 8% in after hours trading. In a nutshell, Google had another great quarter. Free cash flow: $2.79 billion; capital expenditures: $2.29 billion; workforce increased by 1984 workers; effective tax rate: 15%; and, "cash" at end of the quarter: $56.2 billion.

GOOG closed today (02013.10.17) at $888.79. 52-week range: $636.00 - $928.00. Based on after hours trading it's possible Google will hit a new 52-week/all-time high tomorrow.

Yahoo! (YHOO) Reports 3Q'13 Results

Yahoo! (YHOO) reported 3Q'13 results after the market closed. It was 1:09pm Arizona Time when I decided to look to see how YHOO was doing after hours. If % change was green, then earnings must have been acceptable; otherwise, red would imply disappointment. Percent change was green and YHOO was up over 6%. 10 minutes later it was up only 2%. What does this mean for YHOO tomorrow? I haven't a clue.

I liked the following Yahoo! announcement.

Yahoo also announced today that it has entered into an amendment to the share repurchase and preference sale agreement with Alibaba Group. The amendment reduces the maximum number of shares of Alibaba Group that Yahoo is required to sell in connection with a qualified initial public offering of Alibaba, from 261.5 million shares to 208 million shares.

And I liked the following.

"In Q3, we generated free cash flow of $249 million and returned an additional $1.7 billion to shareholders through buybacks," said Ken Goldman, CFO of Yahoo. "As we exit Q3, we are extremely pleased with the strength of our balance sheet, with nearly $3.2 billion in cash and securities, and we are well positioned with ample liquidity to fund our future investments for growth."

YHOO closed today (02013.10.15/Petascale Day/Ada Lovelace Day) at $33.38. 52-week range: $33.06 - $34.32.

Bought Some More Nanosphere (NSPH) at $1.91

Nanosphere (NSPH) closed yesterday (02013.10.14) at $1.91 and this morning I bought some more NSPH at $1.91. 52-week range: $1.72 - $4.49. Our NSPH investment is currently underwater; however, I remain optimistic about the company long term.

Geeknet (GKNT) Hits a New 52-Week High

Geeknet (GKNT) hit a new 52-week high today (02013.10.14) of $19.02 before closing at $18.79, up almost 5% for the day. The last time GKNT closed above $19 was when it closed at $19.05 on 02012.10.08. GKNT is an important GDT::Portfolio stock, so I'm hoping more new 52-week highs are coming soon. I have order in place to sell some GKNT at 7 $Pi ($21.99).

Cray (CRAY) Gets Hammered

Cray (CRAY) closed down 11% at $23.07 on Friday, 02013.10.11. 52-week range: $11.76 - $28.59. Volume was almost 3.5 times the trailing-3-month average. In a nutshell, I think the government shutdown can have a negative impact on Cray's immediate and short term business.

Bought Some More Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) at $0.23

I've been keeping our investments in StemCells (STEM) and Aastrom Bioscience at or near the same dollar amount. I bought some STEM two days ago; therefore, I bought some ASTM today (02013.10.10) at $0.23. Right now STEM and ASTM are #21 and #25, respectively, in the GDT::Portfolio.

[02013.10.11] I bought the ASTM shares yesterday just before the market closed. After the market closed, Aastrom Biosciences announced a 20-to-1 reverse stock split. From the press release: "Following the reverse stock split, the company expects to have approximately 4.4 million shares of common stock outstanding."

Sold Some Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) at $4.20

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) closed on 02013.10.03 at $2.64. Subsequent closing prices have been $3.16 (10/04), $3.56 (10/07), $4.12 (10.08) and $5.05 (10/09). The ~91% upward spike has happened on heavy volume. I do know why ALTI is doing what is doing, so I sold some ALTI at $4.20 on 02013.10.08. The sold shares were sold at a loss; however, the shares that remain in the GDT::Portfolio are now well above water.

Bought Some More StemCells (STEM) at $1.49

I need my head examined, but I added more StemCells (STEM) today (02013.10.08) at $1.49. I decided to buy some STEM after the company announced they had completed a public offering. From the press release.

"The Company sold a total of 12,845,500 units, which includes the underwriter's full over-allotment option. The Company sold the units at a public offering price of $1.45 per unit and received total proceeds, net of offering expenses, underwriting discounts and commissions, of approximately $17.3 million. Each unit sold consists of one share of common stock, par value $.01 per share, and a warrant to purchase one half share of common stock. The warrants have an exercise price of $1.80 per share, are exercisable immediately, and will expire five years from the date of issuance."

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) is Shrinking Its Workforce

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) is a GDT::Portfolio bottom-feeder. Yesterday (02013.10.07) ALU closed at $3.85. 52-week range: $0.91 - $4.02. ALU's 52-week high of $4.02 as reached five days ago on 02013.10.03. Yesterday, after the market closed, Alcatel-Lucent announced it was cutting 15,000 jobs, or ~15% of its workforce over the span of the next two years. The company also said it's going to add 5000 workers to support growth areas. The job cuts by geography: "4,100 positions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; 3,800 in the Asia-Pacific region; and 2,100 in the Americas."

On 02013.10.03, Raymond James downgraded ALU to 'market perform' from 'strong buy.'

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) Spikes Up on Heavy Volume

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) is a GDT::Portfolio bottom-feeder. The company has once again changed upper management and yesterday (Friday, 02013.10.04) ALTI shares closed up 19+%. Trading volume was 10.7 times the trailing-3-month average.

I was hesitant to post this posting because I'm fully aware that ALTI could give it all back this coming Monday; nonetheless, I would be good for the GDT::Portfolio if ALTI moved into the top 15 (right now it's at #22).

ALTI closed on 02013.10.04 at $3.16. 52-week range: $2.02 - $4.32.

[02013.10.08] Yesterday (Monday, 02013.10.07), ALTI closed at $3.56, up ~16%. Intra-day high was $4.30, just two cents below its 52-week high. Volume was 385,800, ~22 times trailing-3-month average. ALTI was up even though the NASDAQ was down almost 1% for the day. I have not seen any "news" that account for the last two days of trading in this stock.

Red Hat (RHT) Hits New 52-Week Low

Red Hat (RHT) hit a new 52-week low yesterday (02013.10.03) of $44.31 before ending the day at $44.91. RHT's 52-week high: $57.10. Red Hat's PSR (Price-Sales-Ratio) has dropped below 6. For comparison, AAPL (Apple) and MSFT (Microsoft) have PSRs of 2.6 and 3.6, respectively.

RHT has always been a pricey stock, so I'm not surprised it's struggling. Two days ago Forbes.com had a posting titled: "Open Source Is Good And All, But Proprietary Is Still Winning."

I don't have many RHT shares to sell; therefore, my next sale price remains $67.48.

StemCells (STEM) Tanks Again

StemCells (STEM) is tanking this morning (02013.10.02) after the company issued the following press release.

StemCells, Inc. (STEM) today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of an aggregate of 11,170,000 units at a public offering price of $1.45 per unit. Each unit consists of one share of common stock, par value $.01 per share, and a warrant to purchase one half share of common stock. The warrants have an exercise price of $1.80 per share, are exercisable immediately, and will expire five years from the date of issuance. The Company expects to receive gross proceeds of approximately $16.2 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other estimated offering expenses. The Company has also granted the underwriters a 30 day option to purchase up to an additional 1,675,500 units to cover over allotments, if any.

Dilution, dilution, dilution.

STEM closed yesterday (02013.10.01) at $1.68. 52-week range: $1.37 - $2.50. $1.45 (which also includes a warrant) is a lot cheaper than $1.68; thus, the crash.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Reports Good News

Nanosphere (NSPH) might end 3Q'13 on a positive note after the company issued a press release this morning (02013.09.30) having the following title: "Study Demonstrates Significant Clinical and Economic Impact of Nanosphere's Verigene Blood Culture Test... Average per Patient Hospital Cost Savings of $60,000 and 22 Day Reduction in Length of Stay Observed"

On 02013.09.14 (two weeks ago) I had a Stocks::Stuffer posting titled: "Nanosphere (NSPH) Tanks Again".

NSPH closed last week (02013.09.27) at $2.07. 52-week range: $1.72 - $4.49.

[02013.09.30] Never mind. NSPH is down ~4.4% just a couple of minutes into trading. Today has gotten off to a dark red start.

Facebook (FB) Might Hit $50 Today

Facebook (FB) might hit $50 today (02013.09.25). FB closed yesterday at $48.45 after hitting a new 52-week/all-time high of $49.66.

Headlines from the today and yesterday...

Facebook gets buy rating at Canaccord; $60 target

Facebook price target raised to $54 from $36 at Oppenheimer

Facebook upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup

I liked this headline: "China lifts Facebook ban ... a bit"

FB at $50 gives Facebook Inc. a market value of ~$121 billion.

[update::02013.09.25] FB didn't hit $50 today. FB's intra-day high was $49.54. FB closed at $49.46 giving the company an approximate market value of $120.45 billion.

[update::02013.09.26] FB opened today at $50.00. 25 minutes into trading and FB's intra-day high has been $50.09. Two headlines from this morning.

Facebook tops $50 as Goldman raises price target

Facebook price target raised to $60 from $37 at Jefferies

Sold Some Yahoo! (YHOO) at 10 $Pi ($31.42)

Yahoo! (YHOO) spiked to a new 52-week today (02013.09.24) and we sold some YHOO shares at 10 $Pi ($31.42).

Red Hat (RHT) Reports 2Q'14 Results (Down ~11% Premarket)

Red Hat (RHT) reported 2Q'14 results after the market closed yesterday (02013.09.23) and today in premarket trading RHT shares are down 10+%. RHT closed yesterday at $52.93. 52-week range: $44.92 - $57.30.

ANALysts are concerned about "billings."

"The billings phenomenon is not reflective of longer term growth rates of the company," said Red Hat's CEO Jim Whitehurst.

It's possible today will provide a good buying opportunity for long-term investors, but for existing shareholders it might suck.

"When we look at the business, we still feel good about it," said Whitehurst.

I do, too. Our next RHT sell price remains $67.48.

[update::02013.09.24] RHT closed at $46.74, down ~11.7% for the day. Volume was ~12x the trailing-3-month average. In a nutshell, RHT wasn't a red hot stock today.

Sold 1 Amazon.com (AMZN) Share at 1-Hecto $Pi ($314.16)

Amazon.com (AMZN) hit a new all-time high this morning (02013.09.19) and to create an Amazon.com related Pi moment I sold one AMZN share at 1-hecto $Pi ($314.16).

US Airways (LCC) Gets an Upgrade

US Airways (LCC) got upgraded by JP Morgan. LCC closed yesterday (02013.09.18) at $18.72. 52-week range: $10.15 - $19.70. LCC's 52-week low was almost one year ago, so the stock has increased by ~84% in the span of a year. JP Morgan thinks there is a 50/50 chance that the US Airways/American merger will happen. I have an order to sell some LCC at 7 $Pi ($21.99).

Bruker (BRKR) Hits a New 52-Week High

Bruker (BRKR) hit a new 52-week high of $21.11 this morning (02013.09.16). The company seems to be generating lots of good news and investors appear to be noticing. BRKR was this high for a brief time in 02011, but prior to that we have to go all the way back to late-02002 (i.e. over a decade ago). BRKR has a PSR (Price-Sales-Ratio) of ~1.91, which I consider low for a technology stock.

The following is from a 12 September 02013 Bruker press release.

Bruker Corporation today announced that it has acquired Prairie Technologies, Inc. (Prairie), a provider of life science fluorescence microscopy products. The acquisition strengthens Bruker’s position in life science markets, adding to the Bruker Nano Surfaces Division’s existing life science atomic force microscopy (Bio-AFM) systems.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Tanks Again

Nanosphere (NSPH) fell 8.5% yesterday (02013.09.13) after the company announced they were issuing more shares. NSPH closed at $1.84 after hitting an intra-day low of $1.77. 52-week range: $1.72 - $4.49. Volume was 3.52 million versus trailing-3-month average of 0.73 million.

Nanosphere is offering 15,000,000 shares at $1.75 with an additional 2,250,000 shares allocated to cover over-allotments. Nanosphere needs the money to fund working capital.

Yahoo! (YHOO) Hits a New 52-Week High

Yahoo! (YHOO) spiked to a new 52-week high of $30.27 before closing yesterday (02013.09.12) at $29.65. AP reported that the last time YHOO was above $30 was 5.5 years ago. SeekingAlpha.com had a posting today titled: "Why Yahoo Has Upside Potential To The Mid-$30s". Yahoo! reported that it now has over 800 million users. I've placed an order to sell some YHOO at 10 $Pi ($31.42).

Numerous 52-Weeks Highs, But Still Lots of Laggards

Illumina (ILMN), Level 3 Communications (LVLT), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KT0S) and Facebook (FB) all hit new 52-week highs yesterday (02013.09.11). Bruker (BRKR) missed making a new 52-week high by four cents. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) hit a new 52-week high during yesterday's yesterday (02013.09.10). Google (GOOG), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Yahoo! (YHOO) are all less than 5% away from their 52-week highs. Despite all this good news, the GDT::Portfolio isn't taking off because the second and third tier stocks such as Nanosphere (NSPH), Spire (SPIR), NeuroMetrix (NURO), StemCells (STEM), Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM), Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) and Mace Security Intl. (MACE), are still well below their 52-week highs.

Facebook (FB) Hits an All-Time High

Facebook (FB) hit an all-time high of $45.09 today (02013.09.11) before closing at an all-time closing high of $45.04. FB's 52-week low: $18.80.

Bought Some More Crexendo (EXE) at $Pi ($3.14)

I added to our Crexendo (EXE) holdings yesterday (02013.09.09) buying EXE at $Pi per share. Our average cost per EXE share is now at one penny less than $Pi.

Crexendo (EXE) Has a Large Short Interest Ratio

Crexendo (EXE) is the most recent addition to the GDT::Portfolio (two buys: 7/5/02013 and 7/11/02013). Our investment in Crexendo is small and I'm thinking of adding to it on Monday (tomorrow).

EXE closed on 02013.09.06 at $3.10. 52-week range: $2.00 - $3.50.

According to Yahoo! Finance, EXE has a SIR (Short Interest Ratio) of 39.3. There are ~10.71 million outstanding EXE shares and insider ownership is listed at ~55%. The trailing-3-month average daily trading volume has been 8,669 shares.

Facebook (FB) is Approaching Its All-Time High

Facebook (FB) spiked to a new 52-week high of $44.36 this morning (02013.09.06). FB's all-time high is $45.00. Facebook's market value is nearing $108 billion.

I saw this headline prior to the market opening today: "Facebook price target raised to $55 from $40 at SunTrust".

Google Inc. Since 4 Sep 01998 (GOOG since 19 Aug 02004)

Google Inc.'s incorporation date was on this day (9/4) in 01998. This morning, prior to the stock market opening, GOOG is priced at $860.38 giving Google Inc. an approximate market value of $286,520,000,000.

Informative Geeknet (GKNT) Article at SeekingAlpha.com

Geeknet: The Money Man Behind Home Depot Is Now Totally Into This Small Cap is an informative article about Geeknet (GKNT) posted to SeekingAlpha.com.

GKNT closed Friday, 02013.08.30 at $16.68. 52-week range: $12.38 - $19.99.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Has an Insider Buy

Nanosphere (NSPH) had an insider buy recorded on 02013.08.22. It was a small buy--10,000 shares at $2.02 per share--but an insider buy is an insider buy.

NSPH closed yesterday (Friday, 02013.08.30) at $2.10. 52-week range: $1.72 - $4.49.

On 02013.08.31, our NSPH was just slightly below water and was #12 in the GDT::Portfolio.

Red Hat (RHT) Continues To Be an Open Source Leader

It's been a while since I last posted about Red Hat (RHT). Today (02013.08.29), Red Hat issued a press release announcing "it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for On-Premises Application Platforms (1)." I agree with Craig Muzilla's opinion: "In my opinion, Red Hat’s position in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant validates our track record of innovation and proven solutions for application development." -- Craig Muzilla, Red Hat's VP of Middleware.

RHT closed yesterday (02013.08.28) at $50.32. 52-week range: $44.92 - $60.00. My next target price for RHT remains unchanged at $67.48.

Geeknet (GKNT): 13 Days of Consecutive Buying by Kenneth Langone

Geeknet (GKNT) closed Friday (02013.08.23) of last week at $16.54 (up 5.22% for the day). 52-week range: $12.38 - $19.99.

Kenneth Langone has purchased GKNT shares for 13 consecutive trading days (Aug 5th-Aug 21st). I'm not sure what's going to happen to GKNT when Langone stops buying.

Facebook (FB) Nearing $100 Billion Market Value

Facebook (FB) hit a new 52-week high of $40.63 today (02013.08.23).

Facebook went public on 18 May 02012 at $38.00. Intra-day high on the IPO day was $45.00 (current all-time high also). FB closed its first day of trading at $38.23.

FB's 52-week low of $17.55 was on 4 September 02012.

FB closed today (02013.08.23) at $40.54, up 5.16%.

Facebook's market value at the close of 02013.08.23 was $98.73 billion (i.e. ~$100 billion).

NASDAQ Experiences an Unacceptable Length of Downtime

Today (02013.08.22) the NASDAQ was down for a stretch because of "technical" difficulties.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) Hitting New 52-Week Highs

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) hit a new 52-week high of $7.37 yesterday (02013.08.21) and today it's made another new 52-week high of $7.73. The following is from a press release the company issued yesterday.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. \has won a federal defense contract valued at $6 billion over the life of the five-year deal. Under the agreement, Kratos will provide continuous monitoring as a service to the Department of Homeland Security for its 'Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program.' The program is designed to protect federal and government information technology networks from cybersecurity threats."

KTOS 52-week range: $4.08 - $7.73.

Facebook (FB) Gets a Buy Recommendation

Facebook (FB) got a 'Buy' recommendation from Janney Capital. Janney initiated Facebook coverage with a $50 price target.

FB closed yesterday (02013.08.19) at $37.81. 52-week range: $17.55 - $39.32. Right now (02013.08.20 at 7:30am MST) FB at $38.00 is #10 in the GDT::Portfolio.

Some Good News Concerning Mace Security Intl. (MACE)

Mace Security International (MACE) has had some insider buying, although I haven't seen it on Yahoo! Finance. Business Wire reported that "senior management has purchased 149,000 shares of Mace stock in the open market (MACE) through the 2nd quarter of 2013."

The following tweet is from yesterday (02013.08.15).

Requests for Mace® Brand Pepper Sprays Continue to Increase Across the Country - Yahoo! Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/requests-mace-brand-pepper-sprays-171300134.html via @YahooFinance

It appears as though mace users use Mace's mace.

MACE closed yesterday (02013.08.15) at $0.54. 52-week range: $0.16 - $0.59.

Bought Some More Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) at $0.30

I must need my head examined, but I bought some more ASTM today (02013.08.15) at $0.30. The ASTM purchase adjusts the GDT::Portfolio so that it has equal sized investments in Aastrom Bioscience (ASTM) and StemCells (STEM).

US Airways (LCC) Takes a Hits

US Airways (LCC) has taken a hit because there are attempts to block the company's merger with American Airlines. Two weeks ago (August 1st) LCC hit an intra-day high of $19.59. Yesterday (02013.08.13) LCC closed at $16.36 and so far today it has had intra-day low of $15.35. The problem is with the U.S. Justice Department along with attorneys general of six states and the District of Columbia. LCC's 52-week range: $9.90 - $19.70.

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Crashes Again

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) lost almost 50% of its market value today (02013.08.13) when the market opened. Copying from Briefing.com:

InPlay: Aastrom Biosciences prices public offering of 29 mln shares of its common stock, and warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 29 mln shares of common stock, at $0.30 per share (shares halted)

ASTM closed yesterday at $0.53 and today it opened at $0.31. One week ago, on August 6th, ASTM hit an intra-day high of $0.89.

Title of a Stocks::Stuffer posting from August 3rd: "Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Spikes Up--Why?"

Let the shareholder class action suits begin.

Cray (CRAY) Hits New 52-Week High

Cray (CRAY) hit a new 52-week high yesterday (02013.08.08) of $28.42 before closing at $28.01. 52-week range: $11.11 - $28.42.

Geeknet (GKNT) Insider Buying by Kenneth Langone

Geeknet (GKNT) had some insider buying on August 5th and 6th. Kenneth Langone added to is GKNT holdings buying 9,136 shares at ~$15.14 per share. Langone is a former CEO and Chairman of the Board of Geeknet. Langone is still a Geeknet Director. It appears as though Langone owns ~4.2% of the GKNT shares.

GKNT closed yesterday (02013.08.07) $15.09. 52-week range: $12.38 - $19.99. Trailing-three-month trading volume: 32,366.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Poised to Crash?

Nanosphere (NSPH) reported 2Q'13 results and today (02013.08.07) NSPH is probably going to crash. From the 2Q'13 press release:

"However, our experience with our initial customer base has clearly taken considerably longer than anticipated which will necessitate a reset of our 2013 revenue guidance from $13 million to $15 million to a range of $10 million to $11 million and 150 to 200 placements from 200 to 250 placements."

Many investors don't want to hear the CEO say, "This recast reflects the extended timeline from three months of time to implementation to approximately eight months."

NSPH closed yesterday (02013.08.06) at $2.92. 52-week range: $1.72 - $4.49.

[update::02013.08.07] The market has yet to open. "Jefferies downgraded Nanosphere citing limited near-term visibility following the company's Q2 miss. The firm lowered its price target for shares to $2 from $5.50."

[update::02013.08.07] NSPH closed at $2.07, down almost 30% for the day. Volume was 5.1 million vs. 0.8 million. Previous close was $2.92; opened at $2.29; intra-day low $1.95; closed at $2.07. I added to our NSPH holdings buying some NSPH at $2.06.

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Spikes Up--Why?

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) spiked on Friday, 02013.08.02, and I don't know why. ASTM has been a terrible investment for the GDT::Portfolio, so I am skeptical of yesterday's 35.6% gain.

ASTM closed on 02013.08.02 at $0.59. Intra-day high was $0.68. 52-week range: $0.33 - $1.94. Volume was 3.87 million vs. 0.37 million.

ASTM crashed during March of this year.

[update::02013.08.05] ASTM closed today at $0.77, up 31.2%. Volume was 4.44 million vs. 0.37 million. Still, from my vantage point, there's been no news.

Sold Some Cray (CRAY); CRAY Spikes Up on 2Q'13 Results

Cray (CRAY) had a great day yesterday (02013.08.01).

I sold some CRAY at $25.80 (market price). Previous close was $23.17.

CRAY closed yesterday at $28.80. 52-week range: $11.11 - $28.29.

Hanger (HGR) Dumps on 2Q'13 Results

Hanger (HGR) took a hit today (02013.08.01) after reporting 2Q'13 results. Five day chart.

Yesterday, prior to the release 2Q'13 results, HGR hit a new 52-week high of $37.39. Right now: $31.01, $5.91(16.01%) at 11:33AM EDT.

Trimble Navigation Limited (TRMB) Reports 2Q'13 Results

Trimble Navigation Limited (TRMB) reported 2Q'13 results and the CEO started off the conference call with the following:

Good afternoon. The issues that impacted us in the first quarter remained with us in the second quarter. These revolved around inconsistent market conditions in multiple regions, deferrals of investment due to continuing economic uncertainty, harsh weather and confusion around government funding sources.

I liked hearing the following with respect to the company's three-year outlook.

We're still rock solid on the idea that we're an organic double-digit growth company.

TRMB closed yesterday (02013.07.30) at $28.02. It opened down today at $27.43. Right now at 8:30am MST it is at $28.29. 52-week range: $21.60 - 332.03.

Mace Security Intl. (MACE) Continues Going Up

Mace Security Intl. (MACE) hit a new 52-week high of $0.59 today (02013.07.30). The following chart is for the last 12 months.

On 02013.04.12, MACE closed at $0.42, up ~56% for day. So far MACE has been able to hold onto that gain. Back on April 12th I wrote: "When MACE hits $2, I sell all stocks."

Facebook (FB) Spikes On 2Q'13 Results

Facebook (FB) had a gap open this morning after reporting 2Q'13 results yesterday (02013.07.14). FB closed yesterday at $26.51 and open today at $33.51, up ~26%. Our FB holdings--at least right now--are no longer underwater.

[update:02103.07.26]

iRobot (IRBT) Dumps On 2Q'13 Results

iRobot (IRBT) is getting hit hard today (02013.07.24) after reporting 2Q'13 results after yesterday's close. Right now: $34.07 Down $4.50 (11.67%) 10:09AM EDT. I have not listened to the conference call, but probably will when time permits.

IRBT 52-week range: $16.25 - $41.12.

Sold Some Illumina (ILMN) at 25.318 $Pi ($79.45)

Illumina (ILMN) closed yesterday (02013.07.23) at $73.77. I had a goog-till-cancel order to sell at 25 $Pi (78.54). Illunima reported 2Q'13 results after the market closed and it spiked to $79.45 (23.318 $Pi) at the open.

Our business demonstrated strong trends globally and our 2013 strategic initiatives for robust long-term growth are progressing as planned. As a result we are raising our expectations for 2013 financial performance. -- Illumina Inc.

Google (GOOG) Reports 2Q'13 Results

Google (GOOG) reported 2Q'13 results on Thursday (02013.07.18) and I liked them.

Free cash flow was $3.09 billion. Capital expenditures were $1.6 billion. As of June 30, 2013, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $54.4 billion. Effective tax rate was 24%. On a worldwide basis, we employed 44,777 full-time employees (40,178 in Google and 4,599 in Motorola Mobile) as of June 30, 2013.

GOOG closed at $910.68 prior to the quarterly results. On Friday (02013.07.19), GOOG closed at $896.60 after hitting an intra-day low of $875.61. GOOG 52-week range: $598.25 - $928.00.

Larry Page (Google's CEO): "The shift from one screen to multiple screens and mobility creates tremendous opportunity for Google. With more devices, more information, and more activity online than ever, the potential to improve people’s lives even more is immense."

Sold Some Yahoo! (YHOO) at 9 $Pi ($28.27)

Yahoo! (YHOO) spiked on 02013.07.17 and I ended up selling some YHOO at 9 $Pi ($28.27). During the week just ended, YHOO hit a new 52-week of $29.83 before ending the week at $29.11. My next YHOO sell target is 12 $Pi ($37.70).

Amazom.com (AMZN) Closes Above $300 For the First Time

Amazona.com (AMZN) ended the week on Friday, 02013.07.12, at a new all-time high of $307.55. It was AMZN's first time closing above $300. I have a good-time-call order to sell one AMZN share at 1-hecto $Pi ($314.16). I don't really want to sell any AMZN, but I want an Amazon.com/Pi moment.

Bought Some More Spire (SPIR) at $0.32

Spire (SPIR) began trading on the OTCQB Marketplace yesterday (02013.07.05) and the company promptly lost ~41% of its market value. Previous close was already a depressed $0.41 when SPIR opened yesterday at $0.11. SPIR closed at $0.27. Volume was ~89,000 vs. trailing-3-month average of 16,725. Current Real-Time Best Bid & Ask $0.271 / $0.35 (2500 x 2500).

Three months ago Spire's CEO, Roger Little, said the following:

"Based on current industry forecasts, the Company expects the PV equipment market to exhibit a recovery and expansion cycle beginning in late 2013 or the first half of 2014, with the expected increase in global demand extending through at least the next several years. As this resurgence evolves, the Company believes that it is well positioned to capitalize on the market trends, including equipment re-tooling, the growth of regional PV module manufacturing, and PV module supply chain transactions."

Despite believing Spire can stay in business long enough for the solar markets to recover, I brought down our average cost per share buying some SPIR yesterday (02013.07.05) at $0.32.

Crexendo (EXE) Added To the GDT::Portfolio

Crexendo (EXE) was added to the GDT::Portfolio at $3.12 per share. Some key statistics: 2.14 PSR (price-sales-ratio); $0.52 cash per share with $0 debt; ~55.7% insider ownership; ~10.57 million shares outstanding; 10.8 SIR (short-interest-ratio).

Tempe, AZ-based, Crexendo is "a hosted services company, provides cloud-based products and services for businesses and entrepreneurs primarily in North America." Mr. Steven G. Mihaylo, age 69, the company's Chairman and Chief Exec. Officer.

EXE closed on 02013.07.03 at $3.00. 52-week range: $2.00 - $3.99.

Sold Some Hanger (HGR) at 11.03 $Pi ($34.64)

Hanger (HGR) opened today (02013.07.05) at $34.64. I had an order to sell some HGR at 11 $Pi ($34.56). Due to the spike opening, we sold some HGR at 11.03 $Pi.

Illumina (ILMN) Has a Pi Filled Day

Illumina (ILMN) was downgraded today by an investment firm. For the day (02013.07.02), ILMN closed at $73.44, down 3.71%. ILMN intra-day low was $72.68. During the day ILMN was down both $3.14 per and down 3.14%.

I have a good-till-cancel order to sell some ILMN at 25 $Pi ($78.54). I thought there was a chance the sale would have happened today because yesterday ILMN hit a new 52-week high $77.14. Too bad the investment firm couldn't have waited a few days to issue their downgrade. From Forbes.com: "Piper Jaffray downgraded Illumina (ILMN) from overweight to neutral on valuation and applied a $70 target price."

Sold Some iRobot (IRBT) at 13 $Pi ($40.84)

iRobot (IRBT) spiked to a new 52-week high this morning (02013.07.01) and I sold some IRBT at 13 $Pi ($40.84).

2Q'13 GDT::Portfolio Quickie Review

2Q'13 has ended. By a difference of only $3.52, iRobot (IRBT; robotics) came in #1 followed by Google (GOOG; informatics) at #2. Cray (CRAY; supercomputing) #3; Illumina (ILMN; genomics) #4 and Geeknet (GKNT; geeky retail) #5.

Rounding out the top 10: Yahoo! (YHOO; informatics) #6; Red Hat (RHT; open source software) #7; Bruker (BRKR; scientific equipment) #8; US Airways (LCC; air travel) #9; Hanger (HGR; medical devices) #10. 2Q'13 ended with Facebook (FB; informatics) #14.

The GDT::Portfolio will remain week until some of the following stocks move toward the top 15: Spire (SPIR; solar) #19; NeuroMetrix (NURO; medical devices) #20; StemCells (STEM; stem cells) #21; Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI; lithium batteries) #22; Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM; stem cells) #23. Mace Security (MACE; personal security products) at #12 needs to move into the top 10. Illumina, Red Hat, US Airways and Hanger need to drop out of the top 10. Amazon.com (AMZN), at #13, needs to become move into tier three of three.

I wrote the following at the end of 1Q'13...

Forecast: I refuse to believe that the NASDAQ's all-time high is going to be a 20th century event. In other words, I believe the NASDAQ will hit a new all-time high sometime in the 21st century. When will this happen? I haven't a clue. The last NASDAQ all-time high occurred with nine months left in the 20th century. It's possible that here in the 21st century the decade is the new century; however, we have been slow to make this transition. If we assume a score is the new century, then the NASDAQ's new all-time high could occur prior to the end of the current decade (i.e. 02020). Note: The NASDAQ closed 02013.03.28 at 3276.52. An increase from this level to its all-time high of 5132.52 will be a ~57% increase.

The NASDAQ ended 2Q'13 at 3403.25; i.e., up ~3.9% during the last three months.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Down, Up, Down, _____

Nanosphere (NSPH) has been having an interesting week. On Monday NPSH closed at $3.64. On Tuesday NSPH closed at $3.36, down 7.7% on heavy volume. On Wednesday NSPH closed at $3.54, up 5.4% of average volume. On Thursday NSPH closed at $3.31, down 6.5% on heavy volume. I don't know what's going on, but it could end of quarter portfolio adjustments.

Today (02013.06.28) ends 2Q'13 for the GDT::Portfolio and NSPH starts the day in the #10 spot.

[update::02013.06.29] The blank in the title can be filled in with DOWN. Yesterday (02013.06.28), NSPH closed at $3.07, down 7.25%. NSPH intra-day low yesterday was $3.00. Volume was a whopping 7.34 million shares, almost 10 times the trailing-3-month average. NSPH has ~55.8 million shares outstanding. 7.3M is ~13% of 55.8M. NSPH ended 2Q'13 at #11 in the GDT::Portfolio.

Bought Some More Facebook (FB) at 7.5 $Pi ($23.56)

Title from Stocks::Stuffer posting on 02013.06.16: "Facebook (FB) Buy Order Has Been Entered". The order was placed when FB was at $23.63 and the buy price was $23.56 (i.e. 7.5 $Pi).

iRobot (IRBT) and Mace Security (MACE) End a Bad Week Nicely

Today ended a bad week for many of the GDT::Portfolio stocks; however, iRobot (IRBT) and Mace Security (MACE) had good days today (02013.06.20).

IRBT closed at $38.00, up 1.71%, but trading volume was 9.5 times the trailing-3-month average. Some brokerage firm increased their IRBT target price to $45.

MACE closed at $0.435, up 14%+, on trading volume that was 12.8 times the trailing-3-month average. MACE made a new 52-week high today (02013.06.20).

Red Hat (RHT) Reports 1Q'14 Results

Red Hat (RHT) reported 1Q'14 results after the market closed today (02013.06.19).

"The first quarter was a solid start to Fiscal 2014, with both revenue and profitability coming in above the high-end of our guidance. We delivered mid-teens revenue growth driven by customer demand for innovative open source technologies based on a high-value subscription model." -- Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO

I liked this: "Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of May 31, 2013 was $1.22 billion after repurchasing approximately $179 million, or approximately 3.6 million shares, of common stock in the first quarter."

RHT closed on 02013.06.19 at $46.24. 52-week range: $44.92 - $60.00.

[update::02013.06.20] From this morning (02013.06.20): "Wells Fargo keeps an Outperform rating on the stock." RHT has been making new 52-week lows, so it has not been an 'outperforming' stock. Use of the word "keeps" implies Wells Fargo has had an 'outperform' rating on RHT for an interval of time. Via Google I found this from 02012:03.29: "Wells Fargo maintains an 'Outperform' on Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) price target range raised from $50-55 to $65-$70."

Will Amazon.com (AMZN) Ever Do Another Stock Split?

Amazon.com (AMZN) closed yesterday (02013.06.28) at $281.76. AMZN needs to go up $2.97 in order to hit a new 52-week. AMZN current 52-week high of $284.72 was on 02013.01.25 (i.e. almost five months ago). AMZN nearing $300 has me thinking its time for the company to execute a stock split. During the dot-com heydays of the late 1990s, AMZN split 2:1 on 01998.06.02; 3:1 on 01999.01.05; 2:1 on 01999.09.02. Stocks splits use to be a sign of bullishness, but these days--at least with respect to the stocks I follow--stock splits are a rarity.

To generate a Pi moment, I've placed a good-till-cancel order to sell one AMZN share at $314.16.

Hanger (HGR) Hits a New 52-Week High

Hanger (HGR) has been a great GDT::Portfolio stock and today (02013.06.18) HGR hit a new 52-week high. The market's having a good day; none the less, investors seemed to like this news: Hanger enters new 5-year credit agreement to refinance senior secured credit facilities; Expects annualized accretive impact of $0.12 to $0.13 per diluted share. I have a good-till-cancel order to sell some HGR at 11 $Pi ($34.56). HGR closed yesterday (02013.06.17) at $31.90 and today it's intra-day/new-52-week high has been $32.96.

Sold Some iRobot (IRBT) at 12 $Pi ($37.70)

iRobot (IRBT) spiked today (02013.06.17) to a new 52-week high and I had to sell some shares to generate a Pi moment. Placed an order to sell IRBT at 12 $Pi ($37.70; a dozen Pi dollars). The transaction got executed at $37.81.

Geeknet (GKNT) Wants To Buy GKNT Shares

Geeknet (GKNT) is one of the most important investments in GDT::Portfolio. Today (02013.06.17), Geeknet posted the following press release: Geeknet, Inc. Commences Self Tender Offer to Purchase up to 400,000 Shares. Geeknet believes GKNT shares are a good buy and the company has cash to buy shares. $12 - $14 is Geeknet's buy price interval.

GKNT closed yesterday (02013.06.16) at $13.00. This morning GKNT spiked to $14.04 on the news.

Facebook (FB) Buy Order Has Been Entered

I'm not a fan of holidays, but I like Father's Day.

Today, Sunday, 16 June 02013, I placed a good-till-cancel order to add to our FB investment at $23.56 per FB share. FB closed Friday ,02013.06.14, at $23.63. Despite lowering our average cost per share, our FB investment will still be underwater if the order is executed (transacted).

#PiMoment I was okay buying FB at $23.63, but wanted the buy price to be a multiple of Pi. 7 $Pi was $21.99 and 8 $Pi was $25.13. The buy price of $23.56 is 7.5 $Pi.

Facebook (FB) Remains a GDT::Portfolio Laggard

Facebook (FB) remains an underwater investment for us, but that's short-term. I remain bullish on FB long-term.

I read an article yesterday (02013.06.10) that had the following title: Facebook Is Cheaper Than Google, But Shouldn't Be, Analyst Says.

FB closed yesterday (02013.06.10) at $24.33 giving Facebook a market value of ~$58.83 billion. 52-week range: $17.55 - $33.45.

GOOG closed yesterday (02013.06.10) at $890.22 giving Google a market value of ~$295.34 billion. 52-week range: $556.52 - $920.60.

Right now I'd be content with Facebook's market value being half of Google's market value.

Bought Some More NeuroMetrix (NURO)

NeuroMetrix (NURO) dropped below $2 this morning, so I added to our NURO holdings buying a small number of shares at $2.00 per share. A few days earlier NeuroMetrix announced a "$5 Million Preferred Stock Placement". 52-week range: $1.84 - $5.10.

Stocks::Stuffer posting from 02013.04.15...

NeuroMetrix (NURO) tanked on 02013.04.15 (Boston bombings) and that caused my good-till-cancel buy at $2.20 order to be executed. There was NURO insider buying on 02013.03.11 at $2.39. NURO 52-week range: $1.98 - $5.10.

StemCells (STEM) -- More Cash Implies More Dilution

StemCells (STEM) announced the following on 02013.06.04: Under the terms of the agreement, Lincoln Park will immediately purchase $3.0 million in shares of StemCells common stock at a purchase price of $1.823 per share, which was the average of the prior ten trading days' volume weighted average price. Furthermore, for a period of three years, the Company has the right, at its sole discretion, to sell additional amounts up to $27.0 million of common stock to Lincoln Park subject to certain limitations.

STEM closed yesterday (02013.06.06) at $1.84. 52-week range: $0.61 - $2.67.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Continues To Go Up

I'm still getting caught up after ignoring the stock market on 2013.05.023.

02013.05.28: Nanosphere (NSPH) spiked to a new 52-week high of $4.49.

02013.05.31 headline: Nanosphere coverage assumed with a Buy at Jefferies at theflyonthewall.com(Fri, May 31)

02013.06.03 headline: Nanosphere to Present at the Jefferies 2013 Global Healthcare Conference Marketwired(Mon, Jun 3)

02013.06.05: Nanosphere presented at the Jefferies 2013 Global Healthcare Conference.

02013.06.06 today: NSPH closed at $4.03.

Red Hat (RHT) Making New 52-Week Lows (Is it oversold?)

Red Hat (RHT) has been making new 52-week lows this week. Yesterday, 02013.06.05, RHT hit a new 52-week low of $45.55 before closing at $45.70. RHT 52-week high: $60.00. RHT remains a pricey stock, but I don't know why it is deserving of being in the new 52-week lows list. Yesterday, DividendChannel.com posted to Forbes.com a technical analysis titled: Oversold Conditions For Red Hat (RHT). I don't follow DividendChannel.com, but according to them RHT has a RSI of 29.7 and that implies the stock is oversold. Via DividendChannel.com: "Relative Strength Index, or RSI, measures the momentum of a stock on a scale of zero to 100. A stock is considered to be oversold if the RSI reading falls below 30."

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) To Be Acquired

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) announced, on 02013.05.29 (a week ago) that it was being acquired by Service Corp. Intl. for $13.25 a share. It appears as though numerous shareholders are not happy with this news. Here are three example headlines: SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Law Office of Brodsky & Smith, LLC Announces Investigation of Stewart Enterprises, Inc. and Attention STEI Shareholders: The Proposed Acquisition of Stewart Enterprises Inc by Service Corporation International Under Investigation by The Young Law Firm and Stewart Enterprises, Inc. Stockholders Seeking More Money, Information in Buyout Should Contact Deans & Lyons Law Firm. I've always joked that I would either die a STEI shareholder or be a STEI shareholder when the company went belly up. Our STEI investment is minimal; therefore, I'm indifferent with respect to this transaction.

Will Spire (SPIR) Ever Hit $Pi ($3.14) Again?

Spire (SPIR) is having an up-on-heavy-volume-day today (02013.05.21). Right now SPIR is at $0.78, up ~27.64%, at 9:59AM EDT. Volume is almost 10-times trailing-3-month average. Yesterday (02013.05.20), SPIR closed at $0.61, up a dime, on good volume. SPIR 52-week range: $0.33 - $1.00.

Will SPIR ever hit $Pi again? The possibilitist in me says it's possible the answer is yes.

[update::02013.05.21] SPIR closed at $0.75, up ~22.7%. Volume was 210,917 vs. trailing-3-month average of 8,889.

Yahoo! (YHOO) To Acquire Tumblr

Yahoo!(YHOO) closed last week on 02013.05.17 at $26.52. Over the weekend Yahoo! acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash. Opinions of the acquisition are running from extreme bearish to extreme bullish. I don't know if it's a good deal or bad deal--only time will tell (duh!). Note: I don't use Tumblr, but I use Yahoo! everyday.

YHOO closed at $26.52 on 02013.05.17. 52-week range: $14.59 - $27.68. YHOO is down ~1% in pre-market trading on 02013.05.20.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) Upgraded

On May 15th, Zacks Investment Research upgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. (KTOS) to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

KTOS closed on $5.31, $5.61, $5.79, and $5.87 on May 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, respectively. 52-week range: $4.08 - $6.19.

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) Update

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) appears to be making progress.

On May 8th, Altairnano had a press release titled: "Proterra 'Bus of Tomorrow' Showcased in Altairnano Demonstration". The press release reminded readers that a couple years earlier U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, called Proterra the "bus of tomorrow." Proterra is powered by Altairnano's batteries. "Altairnano's solution is the best we have found in the industry for fast charging of buses," said Proterra founder Dale Hill.

On May 10th, a Friday, ALTI closed at $2.12 (52-week low was $2.02).

On May 15th, prior to the market opening, Altairnano released 1Q'13 results. I liked what I read in both the company's 1Q'13 press release and the conference call transcript. From the 1Q'13 press release: "With respect to the critical issue of revenue, we recognized $1.9 million in revenue this quarter, and now have $7.1 million in deferred revenue. Lastly, when we add in the revenue that we expect to earn from our current customer base, which includes the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, Proterra and the City of Wu'an, it quickly becomes clear why 2013 will be a pivotal year for Altair."

On May 15th and May 16th, ALTI closed at $2.35 and $2.47, respectively. 52-week range: $2.02 - $5.04. During these two trading days ALTI volume as 37,600 vs. t3m-avg. of 17,490.

[update::02013.05.17] To me LOL means Lumps Of Labor, but in this context it means LOL. ALTI opened down 8% today at $2.27. At 7:00am MST it's at $2.22, down 10+%.

Google (GOOG) Hits $911

$911... GOOG hit it today (02013.05.15). If too many people start speculating as to when GOOG will hit one kilo-dollar, then that might be a signal that some bubbles are going to start popping. But, on the other hand, GOOG hitting a $1,000 might signal the start of one of those special bull markets. Dot-com 2.0 (finally)?

Nanosphere (NSPH) Pops On Hitachi Announcement

Nanosphere (NSPH) issued a press release prior to the market opening yesterday (02013.05.14) having the headline Nanosphere Announces Distribution and Collaboration Agreement With Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation. NSPH previous close was $2.78; it opened at $3.18; and hit an intra-day high of $3.35 before closing at $3.11. Volume was 2.47M vs. 0.56M. NSPH 52-week range: $1.50 - $3.89.

I cancelled a NSPH sell order at $Pi ($3.14) prior to the market opening yesterday.

[update::02013.05.15] Nanosphere will be presenting at the UBS Global Healthcare Conference on May 20th. I took a peek at this conference it is a big one.

Geeknet (GKNT) Has Some Insider Buying

Geeknet (GKNT) closed yesterday (02013.05.13) at $13.52. Kenneth Langone has invested another $67,000 in GKNT stock. Langone acquired 2500 shares $13.93 per share on 5/12 and he bought 2276 shares at $14.18 on 5/10. Langone bought 2200 shares at $15.07 on 3/12. Kenneth Langone is the Chairman of the Board of Geeknet Inc.

GKNT had a SIR (Short Interest Ratio) of 14.6 on 02013.04.30. GKNT closed yesterday (02013.05.13) at $13.52. 52-week range: $12.38 - $21.62.

[update::02013.05.15] Prior to the market opening: "Geeknet (Nasdaq:GKNT) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to sell." GKNT closed yesterday at $14.18.

[update::02013.05.17] Langone did more buying on 5/13. 2500 shares $14.12 and 2500 shares (non-open market) at $14.41.

Illumina (ILMN) Has a Strange Trading Day

Illumina (ILMN) had a strange day today (02013.05.10). Yesterday, ILMN closed at $67.16 and today it spiked to an intra-day (and new 52-week) high of $77.11. ILMN ended today at $69.91, up almost 4.1%. Volume was 7.1 million vs. t3m-avg. of 1.2 million. I don't know any Illumina news; nonetheless, it was a strange day.

Sold Some iRobot (IRBT) at 10 $Pi ($31.42)

iRobot (IRBT) hit a new 52-week of $31.79 before closing today (02013.05.09) at $31.33. I sold some IRBT at 10 $Pi ($31.42).

Nanosphere (NSPH) Floats More Stock at $2.60

Nanosphere (NSPH) reported 1Q'13 results after the market closed on 02013.05.07. Yesterday, NSPH closed at $2.49, down 4.2% for the day. The company's 1Q'13 press release included the following: "Nanosphere also raised $5 million through the sale of 1,923,077 shares in an underwritten registered offering at a price of $2.60 per share that are to be purchased by William Blair Small Cap Growth Fund." William Blair has been around since the mid-01930s and they are corporate headquartered in Chicago not to far from Nanosphere.

Geeknet (GKNT) Reports 1Q'13 Results

Geeknet (GKNT) spiked $0.50 near the close yesterday (02013.05.07) and closed at $13.64. Geeknet reported 1Q'13 results before the market opened today (02013.05.08) and at ~7:54am MST GKNT is unchanged with a daily range of $13.45 - $13.68.

ThinkGeek is a fun company, but is it sustainable?

[update::02013.05.08] I read the transcript for Geeknet's 1Q'13 conference call. I like what I read and I like how the new CEO responded to questions.

Bruker (BRKR) and Cray (CRAY) Have Stopped Going Up

Posting from 02013.03.14 (Pi Day)...

Title: Bruker (BRKR) and Cray (CRAY) Keep Going Up

Bruker (BRKR) hit a new 52-high of $19.09 yesterday (02013.03.13) before closing at $19.05.

Cray (CRAY) hit a new 52-week high of $20.79 yesterday (02013.03.13) before closing at $20.71.

Last week CRAY decreased from $20.96 to $16.65; a whopping 20.6% decrease. Since the Pi Day posting, BRKR has decreased 12%. So much for Bruker and Cray keep going up.

Hanger (HGR) Hits a New 52-Week High

Hanger (HGR) closed up 7.07% today (02013.05.02) at $31.67 after reporting 1Q'13 results. HGR's intra-day high of $32.15 was also a new 52-week high. "If only I could find another HGR..." is something that I've said numerous times over the span of the last decade. Hanger's 1Q'13 press release release ended with: "We are reaffirming our previously issued financial guidance for 2013. Despite headwinds like sequestration, we remain focused on delivering quality care for our patients and continued growth for our shareholders."

Facebook (FB) Reports 1Q'13 Results

Facebook (FB) reported 1Q'13 results after the market closed yesterday. FB closed yesterday at $27.43. At 9:39am EDT on 02013.05.02, FB was at $28.41, up ~3.6% in the first ten minutes of trading. 52-week range: $17.55 - $45.00. I guess investors considered Facebook's 1Q'13 results acceptable. A couple of items I noticed from Facebook's 1Q'13 press release: (1) Effective tax rate was 38%. (2) The company has $9.5 billion in cash.

Cray (CRAY) & Trimble Navigation (TRMB) Get Hit Hard On 1Q'13 Results

Cray (CRAY) got hit hard after reporting 1Q'13 results. CRAY closed yesterday at $21.16; opened today at $20.16 and has hit an early intra-day low of $18.70. At 9:55am EDT, CRAY is at $19.74. 52-week range: $9.99 - $23.59.

Trimble Navigation got hit after reporting 1Q'13 results. TRMB closed yesterday at $28.74; opened today at $26.64 and has hit an early intra-day low of $26.25. At 10:01am EDT, TRMB is at $26.31. 52-week range: $20.01 - $32.03.

[02013.05.01] Yikes! CRAY lost ~17% of its market value today closing at $17.56. Intra-day low was $17.44. Volume was 6.3x t3m-avg. TRMB lost 8% of market value closing at $26.43. Intra-day low was $26.04. Volume was 3.8x t3m-avg.

[02013.05.02] CRAY followed yesterday's ~17% crash with an ~1.7% drop today.

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) is Free Falling

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) hit a new 52-week low of $0.61 yesterday (02013.04.29). I looked for recent news and came across the headline: Aastrom files to sell $25M in common at stocktheflyonthewall.com. I did not find any follow-up news, but I suspect the headline is accurate. What a bummer to have to sell part of the company at such a low stock price. These days it is generally regarded as bad news when a company has to sell shares to raise money.

ASTM closed at $0.62 on 02013.04.29. 52-week range: $0.61 - $2.61.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Announces Management Changes

Nanosphere (NSPH) issued a press release yesterday (02013.04.25) after the market closed that contained the following: (a) Ken Bahk appointed as Chief Strategy Officer. (b) Tim Patno departing as Chief Technology Officer. (c) Chad Mirkin, Ph.D. departing as a Member of the Board of Directors.

Chad Mirkin is why NSPH is in the GDT::Portfolio, so I don't know what his departure means.

Two NSPH Pi moments today (02013.04.26): (1) I placed an order to sell some NSPH at $Pi. (2) At 7:09am MST NSPH was down Pi%.

NSPH closed yesterday (02013.04.25) at $2.83. It opened today at $2.73. 52-week range: $1.55 - $3.89.

Sold Some Yahoo! (YHOO) at 8 $Pi ($25.13)

Yahoo! (YHOO) issued a press release today (02013.04.25) having the headline: Now on Yahoo!, It's Saturday Night! I don't watch SNL anymore, but I still like Yahoo! YHOO hit a new 52-week of $25.20 this morning and I sold a small chunk at 8 $Pi. [Yet another 3.14 moment.]

NeuroMetrix (NURO) Has a Wild Ride On 24 Apr 02013

Yesterday (02013.04.24) NeuroMetrix (NURO) announced that it had "entered into an agreement with Omron Healthcare Co., Ltd. to be the exclusive distributor for NC-stat® DPNCheck® in Japan." The press release stated: "Japan one of the top ten countries globally in terms of prevalence of the disease [diabetes], and second among developed nations after the United States." Two days ago NURO closed at $2.23. Yesterday it opened at $2.20, spiked to $2.68 on the Japan news, fell to an intra-day low of $2.10 and closed at $2.12.

Today (02013.04.25) NeuroMetrix (NURO) reported 1Q'13 results prior to the market opening and the 1Q'13 press release ends with the following: "The Company reported a net loss of $2.8 million for the first quarter of 2012 or $1.99 per share. NeuroMetrix reported net cash usage of $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2013 and ended the period with cash resources of $6.9 million.

[02013.04.25] NURO hit a new 52-week low of $1.98 today before closing at $2.05, down 3.13% for the day. Volume was ~67,707 vs. t3m-avg. of ~21,294. I'm going to read the transcript of the company's 1Q'13 conference call, which started prior to the market opening, when time permits.

Weird Headlines (depends on how one defines "weird")

When analysts are ANALysts. Here are two headlines that caught my attention.

"US Airways Group Earnings: Here’s Why Investors Don’t Like These Results" at Wall St. Cheat Sheet (Tue, Apr 23)

US Airways reported 1Q'13 results prior the market opening yesterday (02013.04.23). LCC closed yesterday at $16.30, up 5% for the day. I guess it all depends on how one defines "like."

"Yahoo's Recent Pullback Offers Investors A Great Entry Point" at Seeking Alpha (Wed, Apr 24, 3:51AM EDT)

YHOO closed at $24.38, ~2.4% below its 52-week high. 52-week range: $14.59 - $24.99. I guess it all depends on how one defines "pullback."

DJIA and a Cracker's Tweet on 23 Apr 02013

Yesterday (02013.04.23) The Twitter account for the Associated Press got cracked yesterday and the crackers tweeted the following tweet: "Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured". The DJIA fell on the bogus tweet and I captured the chart.

iRobot (IRBT) Reports 1Q'13 Results

iRobot (IRBT) reported 1Q'13 results after the market closed today (02013.04.23). IRBT was up almost 13% in after hours trading. From the company's press release.

Based on our view of the rest of the year, we are increasing our full-year financial expectations for both revenue and profit.

I also liked reading the following from the press release.

We began shipping the RP-VITA to InTouch Health during the quarter. Roughly one dozen of the robots are currently in use in hospitals.

iRobot.com::iRobot Reports First-Quarter Financial Results Exceeds Expectations; Increases Full-Year Outlook

IRBT closed at $24.66 on 02013.04.23. 52-week range: $16.25 - $27.16.

[update::02013.04.24] IRBT closed at $28.04 after hitting a new 52-week high of $28.85. Volume was 2.3 million vs. t3m-avg. of 0.4 million.

[update::02013.04.25] IRBT was upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy.

Illumina (ILMN) Reports 1Q'13 Results

Illumina (ILMN) reported 1Q'13 results after the market closed yesterday and today (02013.04.23) ILMN is up almost 8% in pre-market trading. Some observations I made from the 1Q'13 press release: (a) "Cash flow from operations of $88 million and free cash flow of $66 million for the quarter." (b) "Research and development (R&D) expenses for the first quarter of 2013 were $61.5 million compared to $48.8 million in the first quarter of 2012." (c) "Repurchased $25 million of common stock under our previously announced share repurchase program."

ILMN closed yesterday (02013.04.22) at $55.12. 52-week range: $37.77 - $58.65. ILMN's SIR (Short Interest Ratio) was 27.1 on 02013.03.28.

[02013.04.23] After I posted this posting, I reviewed out ILMN investment and prior to the market opening placed an order to sell some ILMN at 19 $Pi ($59.69). The sell order got executed, but the sale price was $60.00. ILMN spiked to $62.77 at the open and that's six cents shy of 20 $Pi ($62.83).

[02013.04.23] Hmm... With respect to ILMN, Finance.Yahoo.com says: "% of Shares Held by Institutional & Mutual Fund Owners: 116%". Hmm...

Nanosphere (NSPH) Gets an 'Outperform' Rating

Nanosphere (NSPH) got an upgrade to 'Outperform' at Cowen & Co. NSPH closed today (02013.04.22) at $2.69 after hitting an intra-day high of $2.74. NSPH had an intra-day low of $1.72 on 0203.02.14 (i.e. just over two months ago). A couple of days after this low there was some insider buying at $1.965. 52-week range: $1.51 - $3.89.

McDonald's Most Recent All-Time Was On 12 Apr 02013

McDonald's (MCD) is not a GDT::Portfolio stock and these days I rarely go to McDonald's. None the less, last week I saw a headline about MCD hitting a new all-time high and that prompted the following if only moment...

If only... I don't remember the first time my parents took us to McDonald's, but it was probably the late-01960s. It would have cost my parents approximately $21 (excl. commission, which would have more than doubled the cost) to buy 100 MCD shares on 2 Jan 01970. On 12 Apr 02013, MCD hit an all-time high and that $21 investment would be worth $10,370.

Google (GOOG) Reports 1Q'13 Results

Google (GOOG) reported 1Q'13 results after the market closed. Here's the press release: Google Inc. Announces First Quarter 2013 Results . My take: Google ended 1Q'13 with $50.1 billion in "cash" and free cash flow during 1Q'13 was $2.43 billion. Google's capital expenditures during 1Q'13 were $1.2 billion. Google's effective tax rate was only 8%, which helped net profits. Google ended 1Q'13 with 53,891 workers (38,739 Googlers).

GOOG closed yesterday at $765.91, almost 10% below its 52-week/all-time high of $844.00. GOOG was up slightly in pre-market trading.

Quoting Google's CEO Larry Page: "We are working hard and investing in our products that aim to improve billions of people's lives all around the world."

Yahoo! (YHOO) Reports 1Q'13 Results

Yahoo! (YHOO) reported 1Q'13 results after the market closed yesterday (02013.04.16). I liked their numbers, but YHOO opened down when the market opened today. I was pleased to see YHOO was upgraded to 'Buy' from 'Neutral' by Bank of America Merrill Lynch earlier today.

YHOO closed yesterday (02013.04.16) at $23.79. 52-week range: $14.59 - $24.99. I have not cancelled my good-till-cancel order to sell some YHOO at 8 $Pi ($25.13).

Bought Some NeuroMetrix (NURO)

NeuroMetrix (NURO) tanked on 02013.04.15 (Boston bombings) and that caused my good-till-cancel buy at $2.20 order to be executed. There was NURO insider buying on 02013.03.11 at $2.39. NURO 52-week range: $1.98 - $5.10.

Tax Day 02013 Was a Bad, Bad, Bad Day

Today (02013.04.15) was tax day and the stocks markets tanked. DJIA was down ~1.8% and the NASDAQ was down ~2.4%. In addition, two bombs went off that Boston Marathon. The GDT::Portfolio really tanked. The following were down at least 4%: MACE down 19.1%; NURO down 10.3%; NSPH down 6.4%; STEI down 5.1%; TRMB down 4.6%; HGR down 4.3%. Another seven stocks were down more than 3%. Only two of 30 stocks were up.

Red Hat (RHT) Announces a Stock Buyback

Red Hat (RHT) announced today (02013.04.15) that they are going to buyback up $300 million in RHT shares. From Red Hat's press release.

"Over the last 13 months we have repurchased $300 million or 5.9 million shares of Red Hat common stock under the current program, equivalent to 3% of our shares outstanding as of February 28, 2013," stated Charlie Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Red Hat. "Our management team and Board of Directors have a strong conviction in our long-term growth prospects and our ability to generate profits and cash flow. We believe that stock repurchases demonstrate our commitment to building shareholder value as well as confidence in achieving long-term growth."

RHT closed on 02013.04.15 at $49.26. 52-week range: $46.34 - $62.75.

Mace Security Intl. (MACE) Up 55.56%

Mace Security Intl. (MACE) experienced an end-of-day pop on 02013.04.12. Prior to the the market opening on same day I was lamenting to myself what a bummer it is MACE is a penny stock. I came up with a new investment strategy: When MACE hits $2, I sell all stocks. MACE spiked at the end of the day closing at $0.42. Hmm... 42... the "Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything".

55.56%... If only that was a growth factor for a GDT::Portfolio growth investment function!

.

Tried to Buy Some More NeuroMetrix (NURO), But It Didn't Happen

NeuroMetrix (NURO) hit an intra-day low of $2.04. Finance.Yahoo.com was showing NURO $2.12 and put in 'buy' order at $2.20. The buy never got executed an NURO ended the day (02013.04.12) at $2.36. 52-week range: $1.98 - $5.10. The 'buy' order is good-till-cancel.

StemCells (STEM) Gets More Cash

StemCells (STEM) is an important stock in the GDT::Portfolio. If stem cells were a technology, then it's possible they will be a disruptive technology. Headline from yesterday (02013.04.11): "StemCells, Inc. Enters Agreement to Receive $19.3 Million From California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to Help Fund IND for Alzheimer's Disease GlobeNewswire(Thu, Apr 11)". Two days earlier there was this headline: "StemCells, Inc. Closes $10 Million Debt Financing GlobeNewswire(Tue, Apr 9)".

STEM had an intra-day low of $1.60 on 02013.14.08. Yesterday, 02013.04.11, STEM had an intra-day high of $1.87. STEM closed yesterday at $1.77. 52-week range: $0.59 - $2.67.

Illumina (ILMN) Hits a New 52-Week High

Illumina (ILMN) hit a new 52-week high of $57.29 before closing at $57.27 yesterday (02013.04.10). I am of the belief that we're living in the Age of Genomics and Illumina is a genomics company. One month ago ILMN had a SIR (Short Interest Ratio) of 25.

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) Gets a Buy Recommendation

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) got a 'Buy' recommendation yesterday (02013.04.09) by Deutsche Bank. LVLT closed yesterday at $21.20, up 6% for the day. Volume was 4.08 million vs. 1.73 million. LVLT 52-week range: $16.36 - $25.99. I've placed a good-till-cancel order to sell some LVLT at 7 $Pi ($21.99).

[update::02013.04.11] I cancelled the LVLT sell order. Yesterday LVLT closed at $21.00 after hitting an intra-day high of $21.72. Today (02013.04.11), prior to the market opening, Level 3 Communications announced "Jeff K. Storey has been appointed by the Board of Directors to be the company's president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately."

Yahoo! (YHOO) Keeps Climbing

Yahoo! (YHOO) hit a new 52-week high yesterday (02013.04.09) and it hit yet another new 52-week high this morning. YHOO closed yesterday at $23.83 and today it open at $24. YHOO hasn't been this high since approximately July 02008. I liked this headline from this morning: "Apple, Yahoo in Talks to Broaden Mobile Partnership".

GDT::Portfolio Didn't Like the 1st Week of April 02013

The stock market week that just ended on Friday, 5 April 02013, was a bad week for the GDT::Portfolio.

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) lost 18.57% of its market value during the week. ALTI closed at $2.28 compared to $2.80 one week earlier.

Cray (CRAY) closed at $21.32 on 02013.04.05. CRAY is 10% below its most recent 52-week high hit on Monday, 02013.04.01.

Google (GOOG) is having a hard time staying above $800. GOOG closed on 02013.04.05 at $783.05.

Mace Security Intl. (MACE) fell ~17.14% on Friday, 02013.04.05, closing at $0.29. Volume was 123,240 vs. 14,474.

On the plus side...

Facebook (FB) ended the 1st week of April at $27.39, up ~7.1% for the week.

Bruker (BRKR) Enabling Sub-Nanometer Observations

Bruker (BRKR) is representative of the "investment in the future" strategy of the GDT::Portfolio. When it comes to the future, it's possible graphene is going to be a disruptive material; therefore, I liked the following Bruker press release from a couple of days ago (02013.04.02): UK National Graphene Institute Selects Bruker’s Dimension FastScan AFM.

"Bruker’s Dimension FastScan provides our team with the best available technology to support the complex demands for sub-nanometer observations of graphene." -- 02010 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Professor Kostya Novoselov.

BRKR closed yesterday (02013.04.03) at $18.57. 52-week range: $9.91 - $19.46.

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) Increases Its Dividend

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) announced that they are increasing their dividend from $0.16 to $0.18 (a 12.5% increase).

Thomas M. Kitchen, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "The Board's decision to increase the cash dividend reflects its continued confidence in our solid balance sheet, our ability to consistently generate strong cash flow, and the continued positive momentum in revenue growth. The Board last increased the dividend rate in March of 2012. This represents a 50% increase in our dividend rate in the last two years."

STEI closed yesterday (02013.04.02) at $9.24. 52-week range: $5.87 - $9.54.

Bought Some Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS)

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) ended 1Q'13 at #25 in the GDT::Portfolio. I hope I wasn't being a fool, but today (02013.04.01; April Fools' Day) I bought some KTOS at $5.01. 52-week range: $4.08 - $6.19.

KTOS had some insider buying last month (March 14th [Pi Day] and March 17th) in the $4.47 - $4.77 range. In addition, on April 1st KTOS had a SIR (short interest ratio) of 14.4 and a PSR (price sales ratio) of a 0.29.

1Q'13 GDT::Portfolio Quickie Review

It's Friday, yet the stock markets are closed today thus ending 1Q'13. GDT::Portfolio top five: Cray (CRAY; supercomputing) #1 followed closely by Google (GOOG; Informatics) #2; iRobot (IRBT; robotics) #3; Geeknet (GKNT; geeky retail) #4 and Yahoo! (YHOO; Informatics) #5.

The overall health of the GDT::Portfolio can be measured by the fact that Yahoo! (YHOO), Red Hat (RHT), US Airways (LCC), Hanger (HGR) and Amazon.com (AMZN) are #5, #6, #9, #10, and #12, respectively.

GDT::Portfolio was hurt by the recent crash of Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM; #20). In addition, at the start of the 1Q'13 I blogged about how Spire (SPIR) needed to spiral upward. That started to happen, but then it stalled and SPIR ended 1Q'13 at #16.

I've turned near term bullish on Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI; #21) and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS; #25).

The DJIA made a new all-time high on 5 March 02013. The S&P 500 made a new all-time high on 28 March 02013. The NASDAQ remains well below it's all-time high.

Forecast: I refuse to believe that the NASDAQ's all-time high is going to be a 20th century event. In other words, I believe the NASDAQ will hit a new all-time high sometime in the 21st century. When will this happen? I haven't a clue. The last NASDAQ all-time high occurred with nine months left in the 20th century. It's possible that here in the 21st century the decade is the new century; however, we have been slow to make this transition. If we assume a score is the new century, then the NASDAQ's new all-time high could occur prior to the end of the current decade (i.e. 02020). Note: The NASDAQ closed 02013.03.28 at 3276.52. An increase from this level to its all-time high of 5132.52 will be a ~57% increase.

S&P 500 Makes All-Time High

Following the lead of the DJIA, the S&P 500 made a new all-time high today (02013.03.28). The NASDAQ still has a way to go before it makes a new all-time high. [Yeah!] I have a hard time believing the NASDAQ all-time high will be an event of the 20th century.

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) Reports 4Q'12 Results

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) reported 4Q'12 results and the market opens in 30 minutes. The 4Q'12 press release wasn't a pleasant read, so I'm clueless as to how ALTI will do today. Back on March 15th ALTI closed at $2.08; yesterday (March 27th) it closed at $2.84 (intra-day high $2.88). ALTI has gained ~36% in two weeks, so today (02013.03.28) might be a tough day given the 4Q'12 results. If only I had a crystal ball...

I have paused typing this posting to await the market opening... 15 minutes and counting.

The market's been open for 10 minutes and ALTI's day range has been $2.72 - $2.80. Trading volume is already at the trailing-3-month average. I'll probably update this posting when the markets close.

[Update::02013.03.28] ALTI closed at $2.80, down ~1.4% for the day. Intra-day range: $2.60 - $2.84 (previous close). Trading volume was ~40,000 vs. trailing-3-month average of ~10,000. ALTI has a SIR (Short Interest Ratio) of 18+.

[Update::02013.03.28] I read the transcript from Altairnano's conference call. I liked what I read. It would be a huge boost to the GDT::Portfolio if ALTI would become a top 10 stock.

Red Hat (RHT) Reports 4Q'13 Results

Red Hat (RHT) reported 4Q'13 results after the market closed today (02013.03.27) and in after hours trading RHT is down 7.4% at 2:23pm MST. From the company's 4Q'13 press release.

Operating cash flow totaled $137 million for the fourth quarter and $465 million for the full year. At the end of the fiscal year, the company's total deferred revenue balance was $1.09 billion, an increase of 15% on a year-over-year basis and 10% sequentially. Cash and investments at February 28, 2013 totaled $1.32 billion after repurchasing approximately 687 thousand shares of common stock in the fourth quarter for approximately $36 million. For fiscal year 2013, Red Hat repurchased approximately 2.3 million shares, or approximately $121 million of common stock.

RHT closed at $49.25 on 02013.03.27. 52-week range: $46.34 - $62.75. It won't surprise me if RHT makes a new 52-week low tomorrow.

[Update::02013.03.28] RHT opened at $47.75, down ~4.4%. It fell to $47.50, but at 8:49am MST it was at $50.24, up ~0.6% for the day. Trading volume is 3x trailing-3-month average.

[Update::02013.03.28] RHT closed at $15.56, up ~1.2%. Intra-day low: $47.50. Volume: 10.3M vs. t3m-avg. of 2.2M.

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM): How Low Can It Go?

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) announced a restructuring prior to the market opening this morning and when the market did open ASTM crashed. ASTM closed yesterday (02013.03.26) and today--just in a couple minutes of trading--ASTM hit $0.74. Borrowing from Homer Simpson... D'oh!

ASTM: How low can it go? $0.

Red Hat (RHT) Gets a Downgrade

Red Hat (RHT) got downgraded by Raymond James to "Market Perform" from "Outperform" yesterday. Tomorrow Red Hat reports 4Q'13 results. RHT closed yesterday (02013.03.25) at $48.99, down ~3.6% for the day. Intra-day low was $47.91. 52-week range: $46.34 - $62.75.

Sold Some Stewart Enterprises (STEI) at 3 $Pi ($9.42)

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) hit 3 $Pi ($9.42) and that resulted an in the execution of a good-till-cancel order. The plan is to own some STEI until either I die or the company goes belly-up.

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) 3 $Pi; Yahoo! (YHOO) 8 $Pi

Stewart Enterprises (STEI) closed at its high for the day of $19.35 on 02013.03.23. $19.35 is a nickel shy of STEI's 52-week high of $19.40 and seven cents below a target price of 3 $Pi ($9.42).

Yahoo! (YHOO) closed at a new 52-week high of $23.26 yesterday (02013.03.22). YHOO is currently #5 in the GDT::Portfolio. I have placed a good-till-cancel order to sell some YHOO at 8 $Pi ($25.13).

Sold Some Cray (CRAY) at 7 $Pi ($21.99)

Cray (CRAY) spiked to $21.99 this morning [02013.03.20] and that prompted a 'good-till-cancel' order to be executed. I don't really want to sell any more CRAY shares, but Cray has morphed into a Pi story (buying and selling stocks at increment of Pi prices). Next target: 8 $Pi ($25.13).

It's possible we're approaching Infinite Computing and Cray is in the HPC business.

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM); StemCells (STEM)

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) reported 4Q'12 results after the markets closed yesterday. Today (02013.03.19), ASTM closed at $1.20, down 8.4%. Volume was 0.88 million vs. trailing-3-month average of 0.37 million. ASTM 52-week range: $1.11 - $2.72.

StemCells (STEM) reported 4Q'12 results prior to the markets opening today (02013.03.19). STEM closed at $1.70, down 2.2%. Trading volume was almost half of the trailing-3-month average. STEM 52-week range: $0.59 - $2.67.

ASTM and STEM are equally weighted in the GDT::Portfolio and both of these investments remain well underwater.

Geeknet (GKNT) Insider Activity

Geeknet (GKNT) saw some insider trading on 02013.03.11. One director sold some stock and another director bought some stock. The director who bought is the company's Chairman and former President/CEO Kenneth Langone. Langone bought 2200 shares at $15.07 per share.

GKNT closed today (02013.03.19) at $15.39. 52-week range: $12.07 - $21.62.

Bruker (BRKR) and Cray (CRAY) Keep Going Up

Bruker (BRKR) hit a new 52-high of $19.09 yesterday (02013.03.13) before closing at $19.05.

Cray (CRAY) hit a new 52-week high of $20.79 yesterday (02013.03.13) before closing at $20.71.

Cray makes high performance computers, while Bruker makes high performance scientific instruments.

Bought Some Mace Security Intl. (MACE)

Mace Security Intl. (MACE) dropped to $0.25 today (02013.03.12), so I bought some MACE at $0.30. A couple of days ago I had a posting about how important it was to the GDT::Portfolio if MACE hits a buck. I guess I think MACE will hit a buck someday.

Red Hat (RHT): Good Risk/Reward Ratio?

Red Hat (RHT) took a hit this morning. I didn't know why, but then I saw this at Minyanville.com: "Citing slowing growth and an overall absence of catalysts, Citigroup takes the tech name to Neutral from Buy. Its price objective, previously $64, is now $56."

RHT closed yesterday (02013.03.11) at $53.14. Right now (02013.03.12 at 8:35am MST), RHT is at $51.00, down 4% for the day. My RHT target price remains at $67.48.

iRobot (IRBT) Increases 1Q'13 Guidance

iRobot (IRBT) continues to strengthen its management team. In addition, the company is upped 1Q'13 guidance.

"Based on strong quarterly results to date in both our Home Robot and Defense & Security business units, iRobot is increasing our expectations for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. We now expect revenue of $102 to $104 million, earnings per share of $0.16 to $0.20 and Adjusted EBITDA of $10 to $12 million. Strong sell through both domestically and overseas is driving sales of our home robots and our strong Q1 backlog in Defense & Security gives us confidence in achieving these expectations."

IRBT closed yesterday (02013.03.11) at $22.75. 52-week range: $16.25 - $28.91. Two minutes into trading today (02013.03.12) IRBT is at $25.13, up ~10.5%.