Asif

http://www.sinletter.com
Total Rating:
0 / 0

84 Comments

    • Tue Sep 11th 16:32 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Five Sectors To Consider Shorting
      It looks like QID achieves its leveraged shorting of the Qs through swaps and options as you can see from its daily holdings here

      www.proshares.com/fund...

      You can find additional information from their prospectus here

      media.proshares.biz/do...

      The inverse correlation between QID and QQQQ is quite apparent when you look at the following one year chart comparing the two

      finance.yahoo.com/char...;range=1y;compare=qqqq...

      Similarly the inverse correlation between TWM and the Russell 2000 is quite apparent when you look at the following 6 month chart comparing the two

      finance.yahoo.com/char...=^rut;range=6m;compare...
      View article »
    • Thu Jul 26th 16:44 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Was Strangling Apple a Good Idea?
      Interesting website Neil. I am assuming you are back from all your adventures now.
      View article »
    • Wed Jul 25th 13:57 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Using Options To 'Strangle' Apple, Research in Motion
      Thanks for the feedback John and Ray. It is a strangle that is not using deep out of the money options and hence almost resembles a straddle.

      As for implied volatility, it does spike up around earnings and I may have set this up a little late. However the sudden drop in Apple yesterday combined with my bullish outlook makes me believe that this could be a profitable trade. The position is posting a small profit now but we will know for sure over the next few days.
      View article »
    • Mon Jul 16th 20:39 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Blockbuster Poised for a Turnaround
      Thanks for engaging in an healthy discussion Davis.

      I encourage you to be as pessimistic as possible and by no means is Blockbuster a screaming buy because of all the challenges it faces. I have stated this clearly in the article.

      However I feel that a lot of that pessimism is already priced into the stock. Assuming that the company will only lose more money as the number of subscribers grow would be ignoring a few facts. The fact that all users are not likely to be heavy users and could actually help the bottom line. The fact that an internet model is best suited for economies of scale and the fact that regular "fixed margin" customers who are being converted to their online service may actually bring in more revenue over a period of time.
      View article »
    • Mon Jul 16th 15:59 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Blockbuster Poised for a Turnaround
      Davis, there was a section in the newsletter that preceded this write-up of Blockbuster that discussed the effects of management change at a company in trouble. If you are interested, you can read the entire newsletter here,

      www.sinletter.com/arch...

      There are three factors that may result in a turnaround at Blockbuster. Activist investors, new management and an increasing number of subscibers from a product that may be more appealing than Netflix to some movie lovers (no throttling of active users as Netflix does). The catalyst at this point that did not exist six months ago is the former 7-Eleven Chief Executive James Keyes as the new CEO of Blockbuster.
      View article »
    • Mon Jul 16th 03:37 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Research in Motion Insiders Cashing Out On The Back of New Buyers
      To add a couple of points to Amit's outstanding write-up,

      1. RIMM is as much a software company as a device company. It charges businesses $4,000 for its enterprise software and the price goes up as the number of users go up.

      2. RIMM started to shift its focus towards consumers with the introduction of the Pearl. However soon after the announcement of the Apple iPhone, the price of the Pearl started dropping dramatically and if the iPhone continues to garner market share in its segment, RIMM's margins are going to deteriorate.

      3. There are other psychological elements in play here including investors/customers attachment to their CrackBerrys and the announcement of a stock split. I have discussed the effects of stock splits in the June 2006 edition of SINLetter.

      I have been tempted to either short RIMM or go long put options but am glad I held off. This may be a good time to go long out of money puts in view of insider sales.

      Voluntary Disclosure: I own no positions in RIMM right now but do own a Blackberry 8700.
      View article »
    • Sun Jul 15th 14:53 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Indian Internet Stocks Rediff and Sify: Priced Beyond Perfection - Barron's
      I could not agree more. After featuring SIFY in my newsletter and holding on to it in my personal portfolio, I decided to use the recent spike in price to get out with handsome gains.

      Sify does have a lead in cyber cafes in India and has numerous other promising initiatives such as the one with Indian Railways to handle online ticketing. I also believe it would be a great acquisition candidate for Yahoo (while Sify Finance is not exactly MarketWatch.com, it certainly has a lot of traction when compared to something like Yahoo Finance India) but the current valuation is a little too rich for my liking.
      View article »
    • Sun Jun 24th 23:29 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      WisdomTree Investments' AUM Reaches $4 Billion
      Lee,

      AUM have doubled since late January and obviously the stocks, markets or sectors they index have not doubled over the same time period. I believe their AUM increase is based on a combination of the bull market, increases in their existing ETFs and the introduction of new ETFs.

      I compared WisdomTree to PowerShares in my original write-up about WisdomTree that you can find here

      www.sinletter.com/arch...

      For valuation, another comparison to look at would be U.S. Global Investors (GROW), which has about the same amount of AUM as WisdomTree. GROW is not growing as rapidly as WisdomTree and happens to offer mutual funds instead of ETFs.
      View article »
    • Sat Jun 16th 13:33 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Infosys: The Relationship Between Net Income, Market Cap and Employees
      Thomas it does help when you look at the revenue per employee number, which is an important metric for consulting companies. Except for a surge in 2004-2005, revenue per employee has been dropping at Infosys since 2001-2002. This could be attributed to salaries rising at an annual rate of almost 15% as I mentioned in my interview with TCS executives.

      If you are interested in a tables comparing the key statistics of Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, TCS and Cognizant, check out these posts,

      Tata Consultancy Services Listing on the NYSE? (comparison as of April 23, 2007)

      Infosys Technologies (comparison from roughly one year ago)
      View article »
    • Fri Jun 1st 14:22 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The TJX Companies: High Quality Retailer In the Bargain Bin
      I could not agree more Jonathan. Their stores appear to be much better organized than competitor Ross Stores (ROST). The $2.58 billion of inventory on the balance sheet is a little unnerving until you consider that inventory has been dropping over the last two quarters and it is the nature of their business to stock up on inventory.
      View article »
    • Mon May 21st 12:11 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Salesforce.com Doing Well: So Why Am I Buying Put Options?
      I agree, very unfortunate timing. It did drop 5% the day after earnings but the put options did not move much.
      View article »
    • Wed Feb 21st 14:56 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Salesforce's On Fire: So Why Am I Short Its Stock?
      Interesting analysis Robert. It appears that the drop in net margins was primarily because they had to expense options. Based on insider sales, it looks like a large number of options were exercised once again in Q4 and we are likely to see the same effect on net margins when they report results.

      Asif
      SINLetter.com
      View article »
    • Mon Feb 12th 15:04 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      CEF Long-Short Pair Trade: Premiums vs. Discounts
      Ankit, I have never given much thought to technical trading patterns but in this scenario I can see how it can be useful. You are right about APF and ETF trading at discounts over a period of many years but their discounts are consistently less than 10%. Moreover in the case of CUBA, the fund was trading at a small discount over the last few years and then all of a sudden shot up to a premium of about 100%.

      Thanks for taking the time to write down some of Stephane Reverre's explanations. I will add "The complete Arbitrage Textbook" to my long list of books to read.

      I have enjoyed this exchange and if you would like to stay in touch, you can reach me through the Contact Us form on SINLetter.com

      www.sinletter.com/cont...
      View article »
    • Fri Feb 9th 12:38 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      CEF Long-Short Pair Trade: Premiums vs. Discounts
      Don, I did mention this difficulty in borrowing these CEFs with real high premiums in the article and hence did not add these trades to the SINLetter model portfolio.

      Thats an interesting thought Ankit. Any idea why some of them always trade at a premium? The premium for CUBA has been narrowing over the last few weeks, especially after its manager Thomas Herzfeld sold 18,800 shares in late December. The strategy is pretty old school but I figured it would be a good idea to share it with my subscriber base, which is mostly retail investors.
      View article »
    • Thu Feb 8th 18:31 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Equity Investors in India Poised for Disappointment
      Obviously past performance is not a guarantee of future results but a very insightful article nonetheless Vivek. I have been slowly packing my bags for a while as well. Beyond the P/E expansion, from a psychological perspective I see a lot of speculation and trading amongst retail "investors" and that to me is another warning signal.
      View article »
Loading...
Symbols:
Authors:
Quick Links:
Contribute an Article Become a Seeking Alpha Contributor

Transcripts

More Transcripts»