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Stock-Age: Stocks, Options and Dividends oh my!

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Tarazet

Member
kathode said:
Damn, nice bet on PALM. I was going to look into that today. Looks like I'm one day late :) Still might be good but I'll wait to see if there's any pullback.
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That's why I placed a market order last night. I know how these things work, people are too scared to put their balls on the line, but then when they see the stock going up they pile on and it goes up higher. Even so, I don't think it's too late to buy.
 
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Ether_Snake

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I'm not making anything close to what you guys are making. A 200$ here, a 150$ there, and in the end I'm not selling anything, so I'm really making nothing except a bit of cash from dividends, sometimes:p
 
O

Ovid

Member
Tarazet said:
Bought 100 shares of PALM at market open for $5.56, and 100 shares of National Bank of Greece at $3.97. Holding both long in my IRA. They should be great long-term bets.
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Still have shares of PALM that I bought at $15. Yeah me!!!
 
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kathode

Member
PALM gave up a big portion of its gains from yesterday. Sounds like speculation is the buyout won't go through. I was thinking of betting on a rubber band effect but it just seems like I'm constantly one day behind on this company, so I'm just going to sit back and wait.

Keeping my eye on MON for a comeback as well. Feel like I should just put more money into C.
 
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Tarazet

Member
Yep, I lost what I gained in PALM today, but that's to be expected. When the future is uncertain you're going to see a lot of volatility. It's all a crap shoot. I knew the market open price yesterday would be lower than what it would trade for during the day, but beyond that, I'm just considering the value that they present to potential buyers. I'm not concerned with pinning down exactly the right price.
 
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kathode

Member
Ether_Snake said:
Why has Monsanto dropped so much?
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Looking at the news, I don't see any clear reason. Some downgrades recently but nothing obvious over the last month or two as a whole. It may be something to do with the agriculture sector at large. It is the most oversold stock on the S&P currently though.
 
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Ether_Snake

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Interesting. I was looking at buying something, didn't know what. That might be it.
 
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Ether_Snake

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Tarazet said:
I didn't realize you enjoyed investing in Satan.
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I don't enjoy it. I also don't enjoy doing the dishes. But you have to do what you have to do!
 
K

kathode

Member
Tarazet said:
I didn't realize you enjoyed investing in Satan.
Click to expand...

I almost made an addendum to my post saying something along these lines :) MON is a company I have no positive feelings on. But my tiny little actions on options contracts that already exist anyway isn't going to matter a whit to them, so I'm happy to try and profit. Still, they're down today while the market is solidly up. I'm keeping an eye on them but not sure if I'll move. Also, when I say it's "oversold" it just means from a technical basis. It can stay oversold for quite some time.

Pretty good day for me. C keeps on rampaging and NFLX is approaching 90. Waiting for it to all come crashing down. I dumped my SPY puts btw. Fairly inconsequential loss.
 
T

TheKingsCrown

Banned
Tarazet said:
Care to explain? It looks like the kind of company I'd see in a lolz penny stockz spam letter.
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The company has cleaned up its books completely and is in runoff mode. To common value shareholders its share price should be much closer to 0.5x or 1.0x its book value, or $6-$12 / share.
 
O

Opiate

Member
RSTEIN said:
yeah, kathode, omg ur so dumb for buying puts
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That's pretty obviously not what I said.

In fact, the specific firm I called out -- AIG -- has gone up ~10% in the last week, so unless we're talking long puts, I was apparently correct. If I'm not mistaken, SPY did in fact gain, so those puts would have actually netted a small loss. Sometimes puts are worthwhile, sometimes not. I tried to specificy which is which under current market conditions.

I really don't see what the problem is here.

Edit: Yes, the post above confirms the loss.
 
E

Evlar

Banned
Ether_Snake said:
Why has Monsanto dropped so much?
Click to expand...
A couple weeks ago a federal court delivered an opinion that most (or all) gene patents are invalid: that is, you cannot patent genes. Monsanto's agribusiness profits these days largely stem from their patent of a particular gene which makes soybeans immune to a particular herbicide: RoundUp, which is also a Monsanto product. They have used this gene patent to aggressively corner the vast majority of soybean seed crop sales across the country. Because they own the patent they actually force farmers to sign agreements that they cannot resell the seed without being sued for patent infringement. If that sounds crazy, they will even sue farmers who have never bought Monsanto seed, just for having traces of soy plants with the patented gene present on their land (never mind that the patented gene could travel through, you know, good old fashioned cross-polinization).

Thus, by leveraging patent law, Monsanto has more or less cornered the market on seed for one of the nation's most widely grown cash crops. The challenge to gene patents undermines that legal house of cards and, therefore, Monsanto's profits.
 
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Ether_Snake

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Bought 15 shares of MON at 66.12 (but accidentally didn't buy them with a tax-free account:().

Evlar said:
A couple weeks ago a federal court delivered an opinion that most (or all) gene patents are invalid: that is, you cannot patent genes. Monsanto's agribusiness profits these days largely stem from their patent of a particular gene which makes soybeans immune to a particular herbicide: RoundUp, which is also a Monsanto product. They have used this gene patent to aggressively corner the vast majority of soybean seed crop sales across the country. Because they own the patent they actually force farmers to sign agreements that they cannot resell the seed without being sued for patent infringement. If that sounds crazy, they will even sue farmers who have never bought Monsanto seed, just for having traces of soy plants with the patented gene present on their land (never mind that the patented gene could travel through, you know, good old fashioned cross-polinization).

Thus, by leveraging patent law, Monsanto has more or less cornered the market on seed for one of the nation's most widely grown cash crops. The challenge to gene patents undermines that legal house of cards and, therefore, Monsanto's profits.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I was aware of this but not of the federal court's recent opinion. Nice to know. One way or another I think I should be able to get some moderate profits either way. Can't imagine that a company like Monsanto would only be able to survive by acting like criminals.
 
K

kathode

Member
Opiate said:
That's pretty obviously not what I said.

In fact, the specific firm I called out -- AIG -- has gone up ~10% in the last week, so unless we're talking long puts, I was apparently correct. If I'm not mistaken, SPY did in fact gain, so those puts would have actually netted a small loss. Sometimes puts are worthwhile, sometimes not. I tried to specificy which is which under current market conditions.

I really don't see what the problem is here.

Edit: Yes, the post above confirms the loss.
Click to expand...

He was just joking around :D He bought SPY puts too. I could've sold out for a hair under 15% a day or two after I bought them, but I try and hold for 20% gains usually. This time it bit me.

Very close to buying ATVI calls but concerned we might have some pullback overall tomorrow. This must've been what trading in 1999 was like.
Edit: Put in an order with 5 mins left but it didn't hit my limit price. Thinking I missed an opportunity here but we'll see.
 
R

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Opiate said:
That's pretty obviously not what I said.

In fact, the specific firm I called out -- AIG -- has gone up ~10% in the last week, so unless we're talking long puts, I was apparently correct. If I'm not mistaken, SPY did in fact gain, so those puts would have actually netted a small loss. Sometimes puts are worthwhile, sometimes not. I tried to specificy which is which under current market conditions.

I really don't see what the problem is here.

Edit: Yes, the post above confirms the loss.
Click to expand...

yes, as fallout boy said, I was just joking around :p
 
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Ether_Snake

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I expect MON to be able to go back up to 80-something before the end of the year. That's more or less my target.

ATVI is falling because of all that Infinity Ward thing. I wouldn't be surprised to see some problems with Blizzard in the future too. But like I said before I expect Kotick to be replaced (promoted) in the near future, so hopefully that will cool things down a bit.

edit: Wow V is almost at 100$. Nearly double it's value from what it was at when it went on the market.
 
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Ether_Snake

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I don't think ATVI can go up much in the short term. They announced that Q1 results were ahead of expectations yet the stock kept falling. There is no room for positive surprises in the short-term, and expectations are extremely high already. So I see more chances of small bad news having big negative impacts on the shares than good news having a positive impact.

Replacing Kotick as soon as possible would help.

I'm not planning to sell my shares, but without a change in management I'm losing faith in their ability to expand without killing their brands. There is no excuse for the past failures with GH and TH, and no excuse for green-lighting games that are going to fail or that suddenly disappear from the radar without being released. With Kotick in charge, it makes Blizzard's future uncertain because he can turn any good brand upside down and ruin them. They really need to put some big-wig from Blizzard in charge instead. That would be the best move really. Blizzard was a success before the merger, Kotick has done nothing but push the company into the ground. No ATVI success is thanks to him, it was all IW and Blizzard, and he basically killed IW.
 
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kathode

Member
Don't need it to go up that much. A 3% move over the next few days would be just fine :D I'm trading purely on technicals. Low RSI, trading at the bottom of a Bollinger band, and down for three consecutive days while the market was up. None of that compels the price to rise, but I think it's likely we'll see a bump even if it's just short term. It was up slightly after-hours, fwiw.

Longer term, I don't know. Despite all the bad gamer press, I think they're still generating a ton of revenue. My main debate is whether to hold through earnings.
 
N

Ninja_Hawk

Member
I haven't done any research on the matter and i've taken a long break from investing, but someone told me AIG was at $39 today (I owned a bunch when it was at $1), I took a look and they were right, anybody have a quick answer as to why and whether this has been going on for awhile now?
 
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Ether_Snake

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How much are you hoping to make?

I've had my shares since around 8 months before the merger, and acquired some more some time ago. It's one of my only stocks that has practically never gone in the negatives. I have 240 shares I think. I was up 1000$ on it once. Not anymore:|

I'm wondering if I should keep BHI. I'm back at breaking point pretty much, but I know nothing about the sector. I also have some XOM that are a bit in the negative (bought at $70 some time ago).

My worst stock is STP, but that's because I bought those before the crisis and didn't buy any more since. I am tempted to add to it, but this thing will be in the drawer for a long time I think, I'm hoping one day it will go back to its previous highs...
 
G

Gallbaro

Banned
Ninja_Hawk said:
I haven't done any research on the matter and i've taken a long break from investing, but someone told me AIG was at $39 today (I owned a bunch when it was at $1), I took a look and they were right, anybody have a quick answer as to why and whether this has been going on for awhile now?
Click to expand...

If I recall, AIG did a reverse stock split to remain listed.
 
T

Tarazet

Member
Going to buy 100 Fannies at market close. I'm doing now what I should have done in late 2008, buying stocks that are depressed because of market uncertainty so I can wait for things to recover. Not going to make the same mistake twice! I'll take some losses early on for sure, but even if one or two of my odd bets goes kaput, the others will make me very happy.
 
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Ether_Snake

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BHI up 6%. XOM almost back at my breakeven point, I hope it keeps on rising from here. CAE almost finally back at 10$.
 
K

kathode

Member
Wish I had gotten in on C at a buck. I was in on leaps around 3.50 and they've been making me very happy. I'd love to see it drive up above 6 over the next month.

ATVI is making a comeback as well. I bought my calls too high overall but I think there's a good chance to make a profit. I'd rather not hold through earnings though.
 
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Ether_Snake

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ATVI earnings, no matter how good, always lead to a drop in share value pretty much.
 
P

Poody

What program do you use to photoshop a picture?
even at $5, C's is still a good buy. They're expected to be at 7-10 end of this year right?
 
S

Shanks

Member
I've been really wanting to get into stocks lately in order to get a better idea about how they work and such and hopefully make a little bit of money. Is e-trade the best site for online stock trading? I was reading through and it seems like you need to have a subscription to the site? How does paying them work? Do I pay a flat price with each buy or trade or do they take commission? How does that work?
 
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