Yehuda Fruchter

WisdomTree: Riding the ETF Wave

BTW, company just sold equity to institutional investors at $3 per share. Wonder how on earth anyone is buying this at $8. Defies any logic.

WisdomTree: Riding the ETF Wave

Quick facts: Michael Steinhardt invested in WSDT at $0.16 per share in late 2004, at a post-market valuation of about $14 million. He is now up 4,800% in less than two years, turning a $9 million investment into over $450 million. FYI, Jeremy Siegel is in at $1.30.

You can get the press release here: www.wisdomtreeinvestme...-$9-Million-Financing....

Without getting into the seemingly insane valuation, just looking at the above prices, I venture to guess that anyone who is buying now is a bit late to this game. But congrats to those who bought lower and to the insiders. This is an unbelievable example of how capitalism magically creates massive wealth out of thin air.

Stratos International: A Smallcap Optical Value Play (STLW)

Thanks for your comments. They have a good pipeline in the FTTP area, as mentioned. They got this via a deal with some overseas manufacturer. In general, I do not believe or agree that US third tier suppliers, like STLW, should be investing in R&D anymore. It´s a losing proposition. They are better positioned to serve as "distributors" for low-cost overseas manufacturers due to their relationships with Tier 1 suppliers. In other words, the business model is changing due to the "China" factor. US companies in the optical space either need to move to China (like OPLK did) or act more like distributors. But, to answer your question more directly, despite the above, this is more of a short-term risk arbitrage play than a long-term investment.

The Long Case for Celebrate Express (BDAY)

BDAY is still way too expensive at current prices as compared to valuations of similar e-commerce companies (e.g. REDE). Plus check out the value that Lillian Vernon fetched in its takeover several years ago. Why is that important? The current CEO of BDAY was one of the top executives there for many years. It's mind boggling to me how BDAY has not dropped further following their recent earnings guidance. It appears that Wall Street is still enamored by these types of e-commerce companies, despite the fact that these businesses are just niche catalog operations, with twist. AMZN would never buy this company, they would just have them become part of their Advantage Partner program. Also, these databases are not worth much. You can buy them from many list providers. I'd be a buyer here at half the price, but I'm not sure it will ever get there.