Amazon.com (AMZN) Market Value Greater Than ExxonMobil (XOM)

#MomentInTime... The market value of Amazon.com is greater than the market value of ExxonMobil.

I read this a.m. that Dow Chemical and Dupont might merge. Their combined market values are only 1/3rd of Amazon.com's market value.

Cray (CRAY); Trimble Navigation (TRMB); First Solar (FLSR)

I am finding it difficult to find the time to keep this blog from going stale especially when the GDT::Portfolio is not meeting (and exponentially exceeding) expectations.

None the less...

Friday, 02015.10.30, was a fun day. CRAY ended the day up 33.29%. Trimble Navigation (TRMB) ended the day up 21.40%. TempeAZ-based First Solar (FSLR) ended the day up 11.92%. FLSR closed on 02015.10.30 at $57.07. On 02008.05.14 FLSR hit an intra-day high of $317.00.

Last Friday was a hockey hat trick, horse racing trifecta, bowling turkey, and on many golf courses a birdie. With respect to the stock market, it was a good day. A day that we would like to see repeat over and over and over.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOG/GOOGL) is Having Fun Playing With the Alphabet

The GOOG/GOOGL shareholder in me believe $0.5 trillion should become Alphabet Inc.'s new baseline (bottom) market value.

Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB)

It bothers me that our Twitter ($TWTR) investment is underwater. "Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter." Is a phrase I hear over and over and over and over. Tweets can be so powerful. One bad tweet can cause major ruin. Facebook (FB) stock is nearing its all-time high, yet Twitter hovers above its all-time low.

Illumina (ILMN) Crashes

Illumina (ILMN) hit a new 52-week low of $130.00 this morning (02015.10.06) and trading has just started. In three months, ILMN has lost 46+% of its market value. Hmm... It almost seems as if the Genomics Age has come an end. Granted, ILMN was a pricey stock, but this crash might be a good buying opportunity for those who would like to add ILMN to their long-term portfolios.

"Demand for sequencing consumables and the HiSeq family of instruments remained strong during the quarter, while instrument sales in the desktop family underperformed our expectations," Illumina CEO Jay Flatley said in a statement.

Red Hat (RHT) Continues to Grow (and Make Money)

Red Hat (RHT) continues to grow. The company reported 2Q'16 results after the market closed yesterday (02015.09.21). I liked the following from the press release:

"We exceeded guidance across a number of financial metrics."

"Operating cash flow was $120 million for the second quarter, an increase of 12% on a year-over-year basis. Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of August 31, 2015 was $2.0 billion after repurchasing approximately $70 million, or approximately 895 thousand shares, of common stock in the second quarter. As of August 31, 2015, the remaining balance in the current repurchase authorization was approximately $430 million."

"The full year revenue guidance is increased..."

RHT closed yesterday (02015.09.21) at $72.72. 52-week range: $52.53 - $81.49. RHT opened down today (02015.09.22) at $71.45.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Spikes Up, But Can't Sustain the Huge Gain

Nanosphere (NSPH) issued a press release titled "Nanosphere Receives FDA Clearance for First-of-Its-Kind Flexible Respiratory Pathogens Test" prior to the market opening today (02015.09.08).

Previous close: $2.70; open $3.38; intra-day high: $3.64; close: $2.86 (up 5.93%). Volume was 9 million vs. trailing-3-month average of 85,739. There are 7.38 million NSPH shares with ~20% closely held.

NSPH 52-week range: $2.06 - $25.40.

Axion Power Intl. (AXPW) Has a Huge Up Day

Axion Power International (AXPW) is a GDT::Portfolio bottom-feeder; however, yesterday (02015.08.31) was an interesting day the stock.

Previous close: $1.06; intra-day high: $3.85; closing price: $2.55 (up ~141%). Volume was almost 10 million vs. 0.5 million. There are ~3.5 million shares.

Press release posted after the market close yesterday: "Notification of Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule or Standard." Axion Power Intl. has an approximate shareholders equity of $570,824.

Illumina (ILMN) and Google (GOOG/GOOGL) Get 'Buy' Ratings

Illumina (ILMN) headline: "Illumina (ILMN) Stock Initiated with a 'Buy' Rating at Cantor Fitzgerald" [TheStreet.com] ILMN closed today (02015.08.27) at $201.94, up 3.19%. 52-week range: $145.12 - $242.37. Volume was only slightly higher than average.

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) got upgraded by Goldman Sacks from 'Neutral' to 'Buy'. [Barrons.com] GOOG closed today (02015.08.27) at $637.61, up 1.43%. 52-week range: $486.23 - $678.64. Volume was only 3.4M vs. 2.3M. GOOGL closed today (02015.08.27) at $667.96, up 1.25%. 52-week range: $490.91 - $713.33. Volume was only 3.8M vs. 2.4M.

NeuroMetrix (NURO) Spikes Up, Then Dives

NeuroMetrix (NURO) had a volatile trading day yesterday (02015.08.18). Prior the market opening, NeuroMetrix issued a press release titled "NeuroMetrix Reports Positive Clinical Study Results for Quell™ Wearable Pain Relief Device. NURO opened at $1.20 (up 29%) after a previous day close of $0.93. NURO spiked up to intra-day high of $1.24 before ending day down two cents at $0.91. Volume was 6,064,100 vs. an average volume of 288,450. At the time of this posting (02015.08.19 at 7:50am MST) NURO was down another two cents.

Trimble Navigation (TRMB) To Buy Back More Shares

Trimble Navigation (TRMB) announced they are will "repurchase of up to $400 million of Trimble's common stock and that it intends to spend at least $150 million of this authorization within the next 6 months." The press release included the following: "The share repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date and replaces the prior authorization of $300 million, which had $177 million remaining as of the end of the second quarter of 2015."

TRMB closed yesterday (2015.08.13) at $19.51. 52-week range: $19.01 - $34.43.

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) Creates Alphabet

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) is morphing into Alphabet; however, its stock symbols are not going to change.

I find it interesting that a company whose market value is approaching $500,000,000,000 can change its name to Alphabet.

Alphabet has a fun domain name: abc.xyz

GOOG and GOOGL closed yesterday (02015.08.10) at $633.73 and $663.14, respectively.

NeuroMetrix (NURO) CEO Buys More NURO Shares

NeuroMetrix (NURO) has been a terrible investment for us, but a turn around is possible.

On 2015.08.06 it was reported that Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Shai N. Gozani, purchased NURO shares during July. He bought 33,000 NURO shares on 2015.07.27 at $0.757 and another 17,857 NURO shares on 2015.07.31 at $0.8366.

NURO closed yesterday (2015.08.09) at $0.84. 52-week range: $0.71 - $2.05.

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) Hits New 52-Week Low

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) is not a GDT::Portfolio stock, but Sears has been in the news this week and I wanted to comment about it.

7/31/02015: SHLD closed at $21.55
8/03/02015: SHLD opened at $22.51
8/03/02015: Sears released preliminary 2Q'15 results
8/03/02015: SHLD closed at $19.39 [intra-day low $19.09]
8/04/02015: SHLD closed at $20.81 [intra-day low $19.08]

AT $20.81, Sears Holdings Corp. had an approximate market value of $2.22 billion.

SHLD 52-week range: $19.08 - $48.25.

On 4/1/2007, SHLD had an intra-day high of $181.79.

Cray (CRAY) Hits New 52-Week Low

Cray reported 2Q'15 results and CRAY hit a new 52-week low. At least I captured a 2 Pi moment when CRAY was down 6.28%.

Twitter (TWTR) Crashes on 2Q'15 Results and Guidance

Twitter (TWTR) had a gap open this morning (02015.07.29). Sadly, it was a down gap of 11%. Yesterday's close: $36.54; today's open: $32.54. TWTR hit a new 52-week low of $31.30 shortly after today's open.

Yesterday I bought some TWTR at 11 $Pi; today I could have bought it at 10 $Pi.

Interestingly, yesterday the start of the 5:00pm local Fox News displayed a bunch of tweets about the first female to become a NFL coach. The newscasters read the tweets. I joked to my wife: All they're doing is reading tweets to us. Look at all the tweets on the TV screen. Why has Twitter stock been such a bad investment?

Bought Some More Twitter (TWTR) at 11 $Pi ($34.56)

Twitter (TWTR) reports 2Q'15 results today (02015.07.28) after the market closes. Today TWTR is close to make a new 52-week low. The last 52-week low was on 02015.06.16 at $33.51. 52-week range: $33.51 - $55.99.

Twitter has a market value of ~$23.25 billion when priced at $34.62 on 2015.07.28.

I added to our underwater TWTR holdings by buying more TWTR at 11 $Pi ($34.56).

Bought Some More AT&T (T) at 11 $Pi ($34.56)

I had to add some AT&T (T) to the GDT::Portfolio today (02015.07.24). I'm an AT&T alumni, so buying it at a multiple of Pi is good. I also captured a T related Pi moment today.

AT&T (T) Reports Solid 2Q'15 Results

AT&T (T) reported solid 2Q'15 results after the market closed yesterday (02015.07.23). I liked this from the press release: "Strong cash flows generated, including $9.2 billion in cash from operations and $4.5 billion in free cash flow." The free cash flow as after $4.7 billion in capital expenditures. I also liked this tidbit: "We added more than 2 million new wireless subscribers."

T closed yesterday (02015.07.23) at $33.93. 52-week range: $32.07 - $37.48.

Amazon.com (AMZN) Nears $500 Prior to 2Q'15 Reporting

I decided to post this prior to Amazon.com reporting 2Q'15 results. If Wall Street likes them and future guidance, the AMZN could spike to $500 tomorrow (02015.07.24). AMZN closed today (02015.07.23) at $482.18. 52-week range: $284.00 - $493.20.

Illumina (ILMN) Reports 2Q'15 Results

Illumina (ILMN) lost almost 8.5% of it market value yesterday (02015.07.22) after the genomics company announced 2Q'15 results. There was a lot of speculation priced into ILMN, so it's no surprise the shares tanked.

ILMN closed yesterday (02015.07.22) at $217.49. 52-week range: $145.12 - $242.37.

First Solar (FSLR) Added to the GDT::Portfolio

Bought some First Solar (FSLR) today (02015.07.21) at $43.44. FSLR is a new stock in the GDT::Portfolio.

FSLR closed yesterday (02015.07.20) at $43.28. 52-week range: $39.18 - $73.78.

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) Hits New All-Time High

I'm not sure how to calculate Google's (GOOG/GOOGL) market value, so I'll just summarize with this: Last Friday (02015.07.17) Google's market value increased $60+ billion.

GOOG closed on 02015.07.17 at $672.93 after hitting an all-time high of $674.47.

GOOGL closed on 02015.07.17 at $699.62 after hitting an all-time high of $703.00.

Approaching the Era of Trillion Dollar Market Values

Approaching the era of trillion dollar market values? I noticed a couple of days ago that Facebook's market value hit a quarter trillion dollars. Today, I noticed Google's market value is approaching a half trillion dollars, while Apple's market value is close to hitting three-quarter trillion dollars. I can't predict the next femto-second, so I'm not going to predict when the first trillion dollar company happens.

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) Reports 2Q'15 Results

Google Inc. (GOOG/GOOGL) just reported 2Q'02015 results. [02015.07.16] During the months of April/May/June Google had free cash flow of $4.47 billion and that's after capital expenditures of $2.52 billion. Google ended 2Q'02015 with $69,780,000,000 in "cash" and a workforce of 57,148 Googlers.

GOOG closed at $579.85 today (02015.07.15).

GOOGL closed at $601.78 today (02015.07.15).

Facebook (FB) Market Value at $250 Billion (quarter trillion dollars)

Facebook's (FB) market value hit $250 billion. In other words, Facebook is a quarter trillion dollar company. FB made yet another new all-time high of $90.80 earlier today (02015.07.14).

Kudos to Facebook for having NASA pick Instagram to give sneak peeks of New Horizons' #PlutoFlyBy pictures.

Facebook (FB) Market Value Greater Than Wal-Mart

I have been having a busy personal life and that has disrupted postings to this blog.

I anticipate being busy mid-July (of 02015), so I don't expect my posting rate until mid-July (02015).

I noticed yesterday (02015.06.23) the market value of Facebook (FB) was greater than Mal-Mart's (WMT) market value. FB is #4 in the GDT::Portfolio on 02015.06.24. WMT is not in the GDT::Portfolio.

FB closed yesterday (02015.06.23) at $88.92 after hitting a new 52-week (and all-time) high of $89.25.

Bought Some More NeuroMetrix (NURO) at $1.02

NeuroMetrix (NURO) appears to be doing well, so I added some more NURO shares to the GDT::Portfolio on 02015.05.28 at $1.02.

Note: We placed an order for NeuroMetrix's Quell device and we really hope it works.

Bought Some More NeuroMetrix (NURO) at $1.04

NeuroMetrix (NURO) press release headline yesterday: "NeuroMetrix Prices Public Offering of $14.7 Million of Convertible Preferred Stock and Warrants Business Wire (Wed, May 27)"

Bought some NURO at $1.04 yesterday (02015.05.27).

Sold Some Illumina (ILMN) at 65 $Pi ($204.21)

Sold some Illumina at 65 $Pi ($204.21). ILMN remained the #1 stock in the GDT::Portfolio after this sale.

I don't have any plans to sell any more ILMN any time soon.

Sold All of Our Geeknet (GKNT) at $17.30

02015.05.26 headline: Hot Topic to Acquire Geeknet, Inc., Parent Company of Online Retailer ThinkGeek PR Newswire (Tue, May 26)

GKNT closed at $7.90 on 02015.05.25.

GKNT opened at $17.30, up 118.99%, on 02015.05.26. Intra-day high: $17.35; intra-day low: $16.70; closed at $17.00, up 115.19%. Volume: 2,410,000 (vs. ~47,000).

Now a bunch of "Shareholder Alerts" are taking place because they think Hot Topic is effectively stealing ThinkGeek away from GKNT shareholders at $17.50 per share.

In a nutshell: I think GKNT was worth $25 - $32, but I was fine taking $17.30 and just being done with Geeknet and ThinkGeek.

[update::02015.05.27] Geeknet announced another company has come along and offered $20 per share. GKNT is at $18.50 at 11:34am MST on 02015.05.27. Quoting Homer Simpson: D'oh!

Cray (CRAY) Reports 1Q'15 Results

Cray (CRAY) reported 1Q'15 results after the market closed on 02015.05.05 (two days ago). Yesterday (02015.05.06), CRAY closed at $31.02, up 11+% for the day. 52-week range: $24.23 - $35.81.

Associated Press reported the following: "SEATTLE (AP) _ Cray Inc. (CRAY) on Tuesday reported a loss of $9.4 million in its first quarter."

When it comes predicting the future, Cray always states the following: "Actual results for any future period are subject to large fluctuations and a wide range of results remains possible given the nature of Cray's business."

StemCells (STEM) Reports 1Q'15 Results

StemCells (STEM) reported 1Q'15 results today (02015.05.05) after the market closed. From the press release: "StemCells, Inc. continues to make great progress," said Martin McGlynn, CEO of StemCells, Inc.

I'm not sure Wall Street agrees. STEM closed today (02015.05.05) at $0.60. 52-week range: $0.54 - $2.43.

Also from the 1Q'15 press release: "For the first quarter of 2015, the Company reported a net loss of $9,351,000 or $(0.14) per share. In comparison, for the first quarter of 2014, the Company reported a net loss of $7,620,000 or $(0.14) per share."

Twitter (TWTR) Reports 1Q'15 Results and Dives

Twitter (TWTR) had an intra-day high of $52.54 on 02015.04.27. After the market closed Twitter reported 1Q'15 results. The next day TWTR closed at $42.27 and yesterday (02015.04.29) it closed at $38.49. TWTR 52-week range: $29.51 - $55.99.

Our TWTR shares are now underwater, but I'm not selling.

Amazon.com (AMZN) Reports 1Q'15 Results

Five days ago I had a Stocks::Stuffer posting titled Amazon.com (AMZN) Approaching $400. Yesterday, 02014.04.24, AMZN blew past $400 hitting an intra-day high of $452.65 before closing at $445.10. Amazon.com reported 1Q'15 results on Thursday (02014.04.23) and Wall Street awarded the company on Friday lifting the shares 14.13%. Volume was 17.2 million vs. 3.7 million.

It appears as though Amazon.com's "cloud" is working well.

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) Reports 1Q'15 Results

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) reported 1Q'15 results after the market closed on Thursday (02015.04.23). Yesterday, 02015.04.24, GOOG closed at $565.06, up 3.3%, and GOOGL closed at $573.66, up 2.9%. Neither stocks hit made new 52-week highs.

31 days + 28 days + 31 days equals 90 days.

Free cash flow: $3.69 billion.

Capital expenditures: $2.927 billion.

Number of Googlers: 55,419 (53,600 end of 2014; 46,170 year ago).

Effective tax rate: 22%.

"Cash" on 31 March 2015: $65.436 billion.

Facebook (FB) Reports 1Q'15 Results

Facebook (FB) reported 1Q'15 results after the market closed today (02015.04.22). From the company's press release.

Capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2015 were $502 million.

Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $12.41 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2015.

Free cash flow – Free cash flow for the first quarter of 2015 was $1.20 billion.

I don't why Facebook's tax rates are so high.

GAAP income tax expense for the first quarter of 2015 was $420 million, representing a 45% effective tax rate. Non-GAAP effective tax rate would have been approximately 35%.

FB closed today (02014.04.22) at $84.63. 52-week range: $54.66 - $86.07. FB was down ~1.3% in after hours trading.

Yahoo! (YHOO) Reports 1Q'15 Results

Yahoo! (YHOO) reported 1Q'15 results after the market closed today (02015.04.21). Yahoo!'s CEO Marissa Mayer: "Yahoo is amidst a multi-year transformation to return an iconic company to greatness. Wall Street's early response: Yawn. In after hours trading YHOO was down ~2%.

YHOO closed today (02015.04.21) at $44.49. 52-week range: $32.93 - $52.62.

Illumina (ILMN) Reports 1Q'15 Results

Illumina (ILMN) reported 1Q'15 results after the market closed today (02015.04.21). This the first headline I saw: "Illumina Reports Strong Start to Fiscal Year 2015" via Business Wire. In early after hours trading ILMN was at $204.98, up 2.75%. Today, ILMN closed at $199.50, up ~3.3%.

From the press release: "In the first quarter we delivered significant earnings growth as a result of strong demand for products across our sequencing portfolio," stated Jay Flatley, CEO. "While the genomics market remains nascent, our best-in-class product offerings are accelerating adoption, setting the stage for a robust 2015."

ILMN closed today at $199.50. 52-week range: $128.38 - $213.33.

iRobot (IRBT) Reports 1Q'15 Results

iRobot (IRBT) reported 1Q'15 results after the market closed today (02015.04.21). This the first headline I saw: "iRobot First-Quarter Financial Results Exceed Expectations" via PR Newswire. After hours trading, however, says a different story: "After Hours : 30.92 Down 2.28 (6.86%) 4:04PM EDT".

It appears Wall Street did not like the following statement from iRobot's CEO Colin Angle: "Based on our Q1 results and our outlook for the rest of 2015, we continue to expect revenue of $625 to $635 million, driven by Home Robot growth. We are reducing the high end of our EPS and Adjusted EBITDA ranges..."

IRBT closed today (02015.04.21) at $33.20, down 3.4%. 52-week range: $28.05 - $42.00.

Amazon.com (AMZN) Approaching $400

Amazon.com (AMZN) hit a new 52-week high today (02015.04.20) of $391.94 before closing at $389.51. Each new week high is also a new all-time high for AMZN. The question has become when will AMZN hit $400?

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Spikes To New 52-Week High

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) spiked yesterday (02015.04.13) to a new 52-week high of $4.50 before closing at $4.35, up almost 8% for the day. Volume was 32.1 million vs. 7.2 million. For the GDT::Portfolio, ALU has been a long-time bottom-feeder, so any pop of the stock is welcomed. This morning I saw the following headline: "Nokia Confirms Advanced Takeover Talks With Alcatel-Lucent.

Twitter (TWTR) Up On Takeover Chatter

Twitter (TWTR) is nearing a new 52-week high thanks to "take-over" chatter. According to some analysts, Twitter's worth twice its current value. If true, then I don't understand why the TWTR closed yesterday (02015.04.08) at only $52.30. 52-week range: $29.51 - $55.99.

Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP) Has Crashed (Buying Opportunity?)

Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP) issued a press release this morning (02015.03.30) having the following headline: Adamis Pharmaceuticals Receives Complete Response Letter From FDA for Its Epinephrine Pre-Filled Syringe NDA.

From the press release.

A CRL is issued by the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research when it has completed its review of a file and questions remain that preclude the approval of the NDA in its current form.

ADMP closed yesterday (02015.03.29) $5.39. It opened today at $4.19 and closed at $3.83, down almost 29% (intra-day low was 3.56). Volume was 1.86 million vs. 0.19 million. 52-week range: $2.62 - $7.26.

Since the news was released some shareholder class action lawsuits are been initiated.

Red Hat (RHT) Reports Solid 4Q'15 Results

Red Hat (RHT) reported 4Q'15 results after the market closed yesterday (02015.03.25) and they were good. I liked the following two items: "Operating cash flow totaled $217 million for the fourth quarter and $623 million for the full year. Cash and investments at February 28, 2015 totaled $1.81 billion."

"Our strong fourth quarter marked the 52nd consecutive quarter of revenue growth and we exited the fiscal year with a record total backlog over $1.86 billion, up 19% year-over-year,” stated Charlie Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Red Hat.

I also liked the following: "Red Hat Announces $500 Million Stock Repurchase Program".

“Over the past four fiscal years, we have repurchased over $1 billion or approximately 19.5 million shares of Red Hat common stock,” stated Charlie Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Red Hat. “Given our strong conviction about our long-term growth prospects, a healthy balance sheet and the ability to generate operating cash flow, the Red Hat management team and Board of Directors believe that a new repurchase program will create further value for our shareholders.”

RHT closed yesterday (02015.03.25) at $68.45. 52-week range: $47.45 - $71.77.

StemCells (STEM) Has a New President/COO

StemCells (STEM) has a new President and Chief Operating Officer. Ian Massey has over 30 years of "pharmaceutical industry experience in all phases of product development." The question that I ask myself: Does this guy join a loser?

"I believe that the Company's technology has the potential to be a game changer that will dramatically improve the standard of care for patients with an array of CNS disorders for which there are currently no treatments. I am thrilled to be joining StemCells at this important and exciting time for the Company," said Dr. Massey.

STEM closed yesterday (02015.03.24) at $1.03. 52-week range: $0.84 - $2.43.

Vericel (VCEL) Spikes Up on 4Q'14 Results

Vericel (VCEL) [formerly Aastrom Biosciences {ASTM)] reported good 4Q'14 results after the market closed yesterday (02015.03.23).

VCEL opened today (02015.03.24) at $4.15, up 13.4%. It spiked to $4.34 before falling back to the $4 range. At 3:00pm EDT volume was 1.8 million vs. 84,500.

Zacks had a posting today titled "Solid Fourth Quarter Results Keep Us Bullish On Vericel Corp."

Facebook (FB) Hitting New All-Time Highs

Facebook (FB) continues to hit new all-time highs. Last Friday (02015.03.20) FB hit an all-time high of $84.60 before closing at $83.80. Earlier today (02015.03.23), JMP Securities increased their FB target price to $97 from $94.

Bruker (BRKR) Had Some Insider Buys

Bruker (BRKR) had some insider buying late last month and early this month. The buys took place in the $18.79 - $19.13 range. BRKR is #8 in the GDT::Portfolio.

BRKR closed yesterday (02015.03.11) at $18.82. 52-week range: $17.26 - $24.93.

Twitter (TWTR) Gets a Like From JP Morgan

Twitter (TWTR) got a positive review by JP Morgan. "Analyst Doug Anmuth reiterated his overweight rating on the social network company and stock price target of $67, which is 43% above Friday's closing price of $46.75."

TWTR ended last week at #9 in the GDT::Portfolio.

Batting for AT&T: AAPL

AP headline seen this morning: Apple will replace AT&T in the Dow Jones industrial average after close of trading March 18.

GDT::Portfolio has a small amount of T and zero AAPL.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Stock Manipulation

Nanosphere (NSPH) appears to being subjected to major manipulation these days. On 17 Feb 2015 NSPH had an intra-day low of $0.24. Since then the stock has had three days where more than 10 million shares traded. The day prior to yesterday (2 Mar 2015) NSPH hit an intra-day high of $0.45. Yesterday (3 Mar 2015) NSPH hit in intra-day high of $0.42 before closing at $0.36. After the markets closed yesterday the company issued a press release announcing the following.

[...] increase the authorized shares of its common stock from 150 million to 250 million shares, and to effect a reverse stock split of its issued and outstanding common stock with a ratio in a range of between 15-to-1 and 25-to-1 for the purpose of regaining compliance with the $1 minimum bid price requirement of the NASDAQ Capital Market.

Today (4 Mar 2015), in early pre-market trading, NSPH was down 22%. Right now, one hour prior to the market opening today, NSPH is down 16%.

NASDAQ Hit 5000 This Morning

Geeknet (GKNT) Needs New Leadership

Geeknet (GKNT) reported 4Q'14 results and they sucked. GKNT closed yesterday (02015.02.23) at $7.31, down 7+% for the day.

"We are extremely disappointed with our fourth quarter and 2014 performance. It was a very competitive and promotional environment. In addition, the delivery issues experienced at our third party fulfillment center and related customer service issues negatively impacted revenue and gross margin. Therefore, in 2015, we are committed to sharpening our focus on product leadership, executing on our strategic plan and improving the customer experience," said Katy McCarthy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

McCarthy needs to be fired.

Axion Power Intl. (AXPW) Spikes Up

Axion Power Intl. (AXPW) closed yesterday (02015.02.19) at $0.47, up 47%. I really wanted to add to our AXPW position at $0.35 two days ago, but never got around to placing the order. D'oh!

Yesterday's volume was 485,143 vs. 70,838. AXPW has become an extremely volatile stock and I'm sure trading in it is being subjected to significant manipulation.

AXPW closed yesterday at $0.47 (a 47% gain), but 1.5 months ago it closed at $1.00.

Nanosphere (NSPH) Spikes Up

Nanosphere (NSPH) closed yesterday (02015.02.19) at $0.36, up 37%. NSPH is an important GDT::Portfolio stock, so any gain is appreciated; however, NSPH could fall back to a quarter when the markets open today (02015.02.20). The motivation for this posting was yesterday's NSPH trading volume: 12.4 million vs. 1.8 million. There was/is some speculation that the "superbug" increased demand for NSPH shares.

Two patients died at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in a superbug CRE outbreak, caused by two medical scopes that still carried the bacteria even after they were disinfected.

Nanosphere's Verigene System "enables clinicians to identify and treat the bacteria and viruses for complex, costly, and deadly infectious diseases."

Spire (SPIR) Shows Signs of Life

Spire (SPIR) had a press release today (02015.02.11) titled: Spire Receives New Contract for Advanced Solar Simulator from Major Chinese Thin Film Manufacturer. The press release didn't contain many details, but SPIR spiked from $0.28 (yesterday's close) to $0.39 on the news. The GDT::Portfolio would be in much better shape if SPIR wasn't a penny stock.

Twitter (TWTR) Reports 4Q'14 Results

Twitter (TWTR) reported 4th-quarter results after the markets closed yesterday (02015.02.05). Wall Street must have liked Twitter's progress because TWTR is up 10% in pre-market trading today (02015.02.06). Right now our TWTR investment is down approximately 5%, so a good gain today will turn the investment green.

TWTR closed yesterday (02015.02.05) at $41.26. 52-week range: $29.51 - $58.98.

iRobot (IRBT) Tanks After Reporting 4Q'14 Results

iRobot (IRBT) was down 11+% this morning (02015.02.05) after reporting 4Q'14 results after the markets closed yesterday. The company had a solid quarter, but short term "investors" didn't like the iRobot's guidance for 02015.

IRBT closed yesterday (02015.02.04) at $31.96. This morning IRBT hit a new 52-week low of $28.05. 52-week range: $28.05 - $48.36. I can't help but wonder at what price does iRobot become a takeover candidate.

[update::02015.02.05] IRBT ended the day at $29.15, down almost 9%, after hitting a new 52-week low of $28.05. Volume was almost 10-times the trailing-3-month average.

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) Reports Solid 4Q'14 Results

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) has been one of the few GDT::Portfolio stocks making new 52-week highs. Another 52-week high was hit today (02015.02.04) after the company reported solid 4Q'14 results. I liked the following from the press release.

"Free Cash Flow was $325 million for the full year 2014, compared to negative $47 million for the full year 2013. [...] Additionally, we expect to generate Free Cash Flow of $550-$600 million for the full year 2015."

LVLT closed yesterday (02015.02.03) at $51.39. Shortly after the market opened today it spiked to a new 52-week high of $53.65.

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) Reports 4Q'14 Results

Google (GOOG/GOOGL) reported 4Q'14 results after the market closed yesterday (02015.01.29). Some tidbits from the press release.

free cash flow: $2.81 billion

"cash" at the end of 02014: $64.40 billion

# of employees (Googlers): 53,600

capital expenditures: $3550 billion

effective tax rate: 16%

GOOG/GOOGL closed yesterday at $510.66 and $513.23, respectively. Right now (10:58am EST on 02015.01.30) GOOG/GOOGL are up 3.49% and 3.61%, respectively.

I've been logging Google's quarterly results since 4Q'08.

Facebook (FB) Reports 4Q'14 Results

Facebook (FB) reported 4Q'14 results and I thought they were good. A few tidbits from Facebook's 4Q'14 press release.

"We got a lot done in 2014. Our community continues to grow and we're making progress towards connecting the world," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO.

Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2014 were $517 million.

Free cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $1.07 billion.

37% effective tax rate.

Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $11.20 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014.

FB closed yesterday at $76.24. 52-week range: $54.66 - $82.17.

Yahoo! To Yahoo! (YHOO)

Yahoo! reported 4Q'14 results after the market closed and the company had a solid quarter. I liked the following two items from the press release.

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $10 billion as of December 31, 2014 compared to $5 billion as of December 31, 2013, an increase of $5 billion.

During the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2014, Yahoo repurchased approximately 22 million and approximately 62 million shares, respectively, for $980 million and $2.4 billion, respectively.

In addition to reporting 4Q'14 results, Yahoo! announced it was executing a "tax-free spin-off of the company’s remaining holdings in Alibaba Group (BABA) into a newly formed independent registered investment company (“SpinCo”). The stock of the new company will be distributed pro rata to Yahoo shareholders, resulting in SpinCo becoming a separate publicly traded company."

YHOO closed today (02015.01.27) at $47.99. 52-week range: $32.15 - $52.62.

[update::02015.01.29] YHOO had quite a day yesterday (02015.01.28). It had an up gap open of ~3.6, but it ended the day down ~3.2% at $46.46. Intra-day high: $50.32.

Illumina (ILMN) Closes Above $200

Illumina (ILMN) closed above $200 for the first time on 02015.01.26. ILMN closed at $201.68. 52-week range: $127.69 - $201.95. I'd like to see the company do a 2:1 or 3:1 or 4:1 stock split.

Chairman/CEO of Axion Power Intl. (AXPW) Dies

Axion Power International (AXPW) announced this morning that it's Chairman/CEO has died. Sad news. Rewind to 10 December 02014 to something Axion's CEO wrote to end a Letter To Shareholders.

We believe that the current stock price and market valuation of Axion Power is significantly lower than it would be if the market were taking into account the inherent worth of our technology. We believe that our stock is undervalued based on the technology's potential to save money for our customers in the transportation space by increasing gas mileage and reducing emissions. In the energy storage space, using PbC batteries to decrease payback time for solar photovoltaic farms and other renewable energy projects. We hope that you, our shareholders, will continue to support us and hold steady while we continue to work to fulfill our value proposition over the ensuing months. As we approach the Holiday season, I would like to wish all of you a Wonderful Holiday and Happy New Year. Sincerely, David T. DiGiacinto

AXPW closed Friday (02015.01.23) at $0.41.

[update::02015.01.26] Axion Power lost another 12% of its market value today (02015.01.26). AXPW closed down at $0.36 after hitting a new 52-week low of $0.35.

Illumina (ILMN) Spikes Up

Illumina (ILMN) closed yesterday (02015.01.20) at $196.73, up 7%. 52-week range: $127.69 - $199.48. Volume was almost 2-times that trailing-3-month average. President Obama gave the 02015 State of the Union address last night and ILMN might have been up due to the President's Precision Medicine Initiative announcement.

NeuroMetrix (NURO) Keeps Reporting Good News, Yet NURO Still Under $2

NeuroMetrix (NURO) continues to be under $2 per share. This morning (02014.01.14), for at least the second time, the company issued a press release about how popular the company was CES 02014. Today's press release had the following headline: "NeuroMetrix, Inc. (NURO) reported strong interest in Quell coming out of last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES)."

NURO closed yesterday (02014.01.13) at $1.76. 52-week range: $1.52 - $3.15.

Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP) Tanks

Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP) closed yesterday at $6.99. Less than two months ago on 02014.11.19 ADMP closed at $3.90. Yesterday, after the markets closed, Adamis Pharmaceuticals announced they were going to float more stock (2 million shares) at $5.00 share. Right now (9:02am MST) ADMP is down 22+%.

Cray (CRAY) is Optimistic About Its Future

Cray (CRAY) reported "preliminary" 02014 results prior to the market opening today (02015.01.09). From the company's press release.

"We had a solid year and expect record revenue again in 2014 as we continue to deliver year over year growth," said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. "While we did not complete all of the system acceptances necessary to achieve our 2014 guidance, we now expect a strong 2015 to be even stronger, as that revenue will carry over and add to 2015. With an incredible year of new contracts signed in 2014, we are building momentum in the market today across all of our product lines and we anticipate significant growth in revenue and profitability in 2015. As we look further out, we are in excellent shape to continue to capitalize on the ongoing convergence of supercomputing and big data."

CRAY closed yesterday (02015.01.08) at $34.96 and is ~17% below its 52-week high.52-week range: $24.23 - $42.09. I might be CRAzY, but I like CRAY.

[update::02015.01.09] I guess Wall Street doesn't share my opinion. CRAY is down 4+% right now (8:57am MST).

Illumina (ILMN) Hits an All-Time High

Illumina (ILMN) hit an all-time high of $199.47 this morning (02014.01.08). Headline seen three days ago: "Illumina inks 15-year lease for massive BioMed project in Foster City". I think the company should execute a stock split when it moves above $200. ILMN 52-week range: $113.15 - $199.47.

02014 in a Nutshell: It Sucks Being Down In Up Times

02014: DJIA up 7.5%; S&P 500 up 11.4%; NASDAQ up 13.4%; GDT::Portfolio down 1.8%.

Investing in the future is a great way to lose money. Nanoworld, alternative enery (the Blue Movement [solar and batteries]), and stem cells made it a downer year for the GDT::Portfolio.

02015 starts with a top 10 that looks as follows: Illumina (ILMN) genomics #1; Cray (CRAY) supercomputing #2; Google (GOOG)(GOOGL) Informatics #3; iRobot (IRBT) robotics #4; Facebook (FB) Informatics #5; Red Hat (RHT) open source software #6; American Airlines (AAL) air travel #7; Bruker (BRKR) scientific equipment #8; Yahoo! (YHOO) Informatics #9; Geeknet (GKNT) geekish e-commerce #10.

The GDT::Portfolio of 32 stocks will have a strong 02015 if the following shares end the year higher: Geeknet (GKNT) #10; Mace Security (MACE) #15; NeuroMetrix (NURO) #16; Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) #19; StemCells (STEM) #21; Nanosphere (NSPH) #23; Spire (SPIR) #24; and, Vericell (ASTM) #25.