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Chris Lau
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Chris is an independent investor who focuses on fundamentals and long term trends. He focuses first on minimizing risk (rule #1: "don't lose money"), then concentrates on finding alpha to generate returns better than the major indices. Facebook page:... More
My company:
Toronto Financial Markets Examiner
My blog:
My Notes on the Stock Market
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  • Comments On A 907.3% Return

    Investors should define a thesis and an approach in financial markets. A plan should be created. That plan should be tested. SimiTrade, which is just a few months old, is becoming a favorite place to track stock picks that were written and analyzed on seeking alpha. Users are highly encouraged to interact with other members in the system to share and to agree (or argue) ideas. Here are the results:

    (click to enlarge)

    The realized 907.3% practice return on 83% correct picks excludes the unrealized -394% (loss).

    Self-Praise

    One of the best picks for the month was a short on Nokia (NOK) prior to its warning, for a 27% gain. The 'sell' call on Zynga (ZNGA) generated 25% returns. The long call on Bank of America (BAC) proved timely.

    Lessons Learned:

    Clearwire (CLWR) failed to hold its value as a long call. After warnings from SanDisk (SNDK) and a sell-off on OCZ Technology (OCZ), Micron (MU) also generated substantial losses.

    Tags: NOK, ZNGA, BAC
    May 01 9:11 PM | Link | Comment!
  • Stock Picker's Guide: Too Good To Be True (Annualized: 532.7% 83% Correct)

    A few months ago, SimiTrade's CEO sent me a message to try out his site, so I signed up. SimiTrade is a chatter site for stocks. It is similar to Seeking Alpha's STOCKTALK.

    The site will eventually cater to providing content and research for members. At last check, there were 1000 users.

    Below is a summary on the current performance:

    (click to enlarge)

    The top closed picks were:

    • Taking a long position on Bank of America (BAC)
    • Taking a short position on Natural Gas (UNG)
    • Taking short positions on BroadVision (BVSN)

    Some of the worst open picks are:

    • Long on Micron (MU)
    • Long on Transocean (RIG)
    • Long on OCZ Technology (OCZ)

    To sign up for free on SimiTrade or to view this account visit here: http://www.simitrade.com/users/chrispycrunch

    Tags: MU, BAC, RIG
    Apr 18 9:35 PM | Link | Comment!
  • A Letter On Q1 2012 Performance
    The practice portfolio, as covered on this article, is now up 35.6%, from 29.38% on December 13. The Nasdaq is up roughtly 20% in that time period, compared to the 6% increase in this portfolio.

    Breitburn (BBEP) was sold out completely. This position was a copy from Seth Klarman's buy. Klarman sold out by December 31 2011.

    Pimco's Total Return ETF was a new position (TRXT). The weighting on HP was increased. Again, HP is a Baupost long thesis.

    Holdings:

    Company

    Last

    Shares

    Change

    Value

    BP PLC

    $46.83

    136

    $343.98

    $6,368.88

    (BP)

    5.70%

    CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES INC

    $72.03

    130

    $345.00

    $9,363.90

    (CLF)

    3.80%

    ELECTRONIC ARTS INC

    $17.46

    530

    ($3.35)

    $9,253.80

    (EA)

    0.00%

    GILEAD SCIENCES INC

    $46.73

    201

    $68.21

    $9,392.73

    (GILD)

    0.70%

    HALLIBURTON CO

    $34.54

    100

    $22.05

    $3,454.00

    (HAL)

    0.60%

    HEWLETT PACKARD CO

    $24.49

    350

    $60.10

    $8,571.50

    (HPQ)

    0.70%

    TOTAL RETURN (TRXT)

    $100.81

    300

    $137.02

    $30,242.97

    (TRXT)

    0.50%

    SEADRILL LTD

    $38.78

    5

    $19.85

    $193.90

    (SDRL)

    11.40%

    THERAVANCE INC

    $18.75

    250

    $325.05

    $4,687.50

    (THRX)

    7.50%

    References:

    Kapitall.com on Seeking Alpha

    Real-time commentary on Twitter.

    Now on Facebook.

    Disclosure: I am long EA.

    Tags: HPQ, TXRT, HAL, EA, HPQ, SDRL, THRX, CLF, BP, BBEP
    Mar 17 1:42 PM | Link | 1 Comment
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  • I complained ZNGA's Mkt Cap was 2x EA. Since FB IPO, ZNGA lost half and is worth the value of EA. TTWO THQI http://yhoo.it/JVw0ji;range=1m;compare=znga+ttwo+thqi;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;
    about 4 hours ago
  • What happened to First Solar FSLR (via technologyreview) http://bit.ly/LjbMPg TSL LDK
    1 day ago
  • Contrarian indicator suggests FB is a sell/avoid http://bit.ly/LaHHhm --suggest target price 28-32 this week. Options avail may29
    5 days ago
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