"Like the alchemist of old, forever searching for the philosopher's stone, the analyst today never stops looking for stronger moves to prevent the defender from establishing equality." - Savielly Tartakower

If you equate the market to a game of chess, an investor or trader is always faced with the challenge of not only assessing the "board" as it looks in the present, but also anticipating the future moves of his or her opponent. Looking at the current state of the market, and, in turn, the global economy, we see a conflicting story that is currently polarizing market participants in an unparalleled way.

The market seems to be at a major tipping point, in which case there will be a clear-cut, long-term "winner" and "loser" in the battle of animal spirits. On the contrary, there also exists a strong possibility we remain range-bound for an even longer period of time,

The market does not like uncertainty. May has been an ugly month thus far, and fear is back as Europe swindled its way to the forefront of the market's worries. The average investor is having a difficult time deciphering which headlines are fluff, and which ones hold any weight. The majority of them have been negative, so either way you look at it, there is little good news coming across the pond.

Many had hoped the Facebook IPO would provide the uplifting spark we needed to get out of this slump. However, that was a flop by most accounts, and it only went to show how there is no such thing as a "sure thing" in today's market. It seems to me that the market has been efficient in places most people assumed inefficient, and vise-versa. In the case of Facebook, tens of thousands of traders and "home gamers" lined

Facebook (FB) is the world's largest social network. Amazon is the world's largest e-commerce distributor. These two technology giants do not seem like an obvious pair on the surface, but using some out-of-the-box critical thinking, some stealthy research, and a little strategic business model forecasting, I have come to the conclusion that Facebook is looking to disrupt the e-commerce space and that Amazon would be smart to partner with the company in its efforts.

What Each Brings to the Table

Facebook is closing in on one billion users worldwide. They currently use Facebook as an online destination, where they collectively spend nearly 10 billion minutes per day on the social networking site. Facebook knows that if it wants to build revenue, it is going to have to move beyond advertising. This will not happen overnight, and it will take a large amount of R&D spending to build

Facebook (FB) will be ringing the opening bell anytime now. The hype and hysteria that will ensue will surely be of epic proportions. The bulls and bears are licking their chops, ready to pound the other into the pavement and prove that their side of the debate is the right side. In this day and age, it's easy to get caught up in the "noise" that surrounds a certain group of polarizing stocks. Facebook has already joined that group, and is perhaps the highest profile, most polarizing company since Apple (APPL) came to town.

With the great debate going on as to whether Facebook is worth $200 billion, $20 billion, or somewhere in between, I thought it would be valuable to take a look at the last "Great Tech IPO." This would be none other than Google (GOOG), which went public in 2004 raising just under $2 billion with an

I want to offer insight on some of my previous comments that received backlash from certain individuals who felt my bearish sentiment on a particular security were out of line. I will keep it brief, but let me provide some concrete information to back up my belief that the closed-end fund called Firsthand Technology Value Fund (SVVC) is not the way to play the Facebook (FB) IPO, if those are your intentions. I am not saying readers should short the stock or that it will not increase in value from its current price of $26. All I am looking to do is inform readers as to how the numbers work out, and how much exposure they actually have to Facebook when they buy shares of Firsthand.

First, let's assess how many shares Firsthand actually owns of Facebook: 600,000. Facebook has since closed the secondary auctions of its shares as it

This is the second part of a mini-series I am doing for Seeking Alpha in hopes of opening up a discussion about Facebook's business model… not as we know it today, but as we will begin to see in the (not-so-distant) future. In the first article, which I recommend the readers familiarize themselves with before moving on to part two, I addressed the possibility of Facebook opening up their platform to the job market. The jobs market is not exactly a one that is busting at the seams right now, but in my mind, opening up a side of the platform that is more "business friendly" would allow them to open up many more doors within the enterprise area. In turn, these doors may open up a slew of potential revenue streams for Facebook (FB)… enterprise apps/software/solutions, B2C (Business-to-Consumer) E-commerce, business data management, etc.

However, in this follow up

By now the headlines ending in "Instagram" are starting to finally dwindle down. Facebook (FB) had finally given the bloggers and media something to get excited about when they scooped up the mobile photo-sharing app, Instagram, only weeks before they head out on an IPO roadshow in what looks to be the most anticipated IPO … well, ever. No company has ever had a more extensive reach at the time of their public offering than Facebook. The crown jewel of Web2.0 is marching down Wall Street with nearly a billion users in its shadow. It's implied market cap when it goes public? (Insert Doctor Evil Voice) One Hundred Billion Dollars.

The pundits say it's a sure sign of a market top. The market cap is unjustified by both their revenue and earnings. The multiples are simply too rich. Their growth is unsustainable. No one is

This is my first company profile in a long time. It took a company like Naspers to get me excited enough to take some time to provide an in-depth, somewhat offbeat, analysis of a company's future potential. So what was it about this South African multimedia conglomerate that got me so riled up?

First and foremost, I like sleepers. Who doesn't? It's always fun to root for the underdogs. Naspers is traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the symbol NPN; It has been listed on the exchange since 1994 and has been an incorporated media company since 1915. They are traded as American Depository Receipts in America as NPSNY.PK.

Because it is not listed on a major US stock exchange, Naspers has gone under the radar for quite some time now. The volume on the Pink and OTC markets is minute. If you are going to buy this, it