Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad
Finance
(1)

Zeus2012

Zeus2012
Send Message
View as an RSS Feed
View Zeus2012's Comments BY TICKER:
Latest  |  Highest rated
  • Even as H-P (HPQ +15.6%) shares enjoy another big rally in the wake of last night’s quarterly results, Topeka Capital's Brian White sees only a "sugar high... not a sustainable trend." While the upside excites bulls in the short-term, the fact remains that H-P’s profits and sales have dropped for seven quarters in a row, he says, maintaining his Sell rating and $12 price target. [View news story]
    Wasn't he the same knuckle head that put a $1000 price target on AAPL last September at the height of the bubble.

    No wonder sell side analysts get looked down upon.
    May 23 03:28 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • The broad selloff isn't touching H-P (HPQ +14.2%) following last night's earnings. Jefferies' Peter Misek weighs in with an upgrade from Sell to Hold. He praises H-P for having the discipline to sacrifice PC market share to retain profitability (unlike DELL; Whitman (transcript): "Maybe that's what you do when you're about to go private.") Misek also likes the cash flow guidance of $7.5B - "(it) materially changed our view of H-P margin, cash flow, and EPS prospects." [View news story]
    Especially if you bought the shares around $12 last November after Aunt Meg kitchen sinked the quarter.

    As I bought mine around $15, I was quite concerned about this last November. Guess it all worked out.
    May 23 03:25 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • VXX: Wall Street's One Click Bandit [View article]
    Dangerous. You can get carried out in a body bag if the term structure goes backwardation due to some unforeseen event (economic or geopolitical).
    May 19 10:41 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • VXX: Wall Street's One Click Bandit [View article]
    Better strategy is to sell short-dated out-of-the money puts on VXX and collect the time decay (and be the house).

    If you're more adventurous, buy puts or put spreads on VXX.
    May 19 10:40 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Slowing Growth Will Bring Lululemon Shares Back To Earth [View article]
    One strategy may be to be long near term through the June options and short intermediate term through the Sept options. This is what I've done.
    May 14 09:21 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Slowing Growth Will Bring Lululemon Shares Back To Earth [View article]
    Have you considered that the recent pop in the stock price is due to short covering? Most likely people who shorted the stock in the mid $60s when the whole "sheerness" issue surfaced.

    By the way, I have to give management credit for the brilliant move. By blaming on the "sheerness" issue, they diverted the attention from the fact that growth is slowing and competition is heating up. Investors mistaken this for a one time event and thus the stock rallies on.

    Can the stock rally from here? Sure, as rising tide lifts all boats. Over the intermediate / longer term, I agree with the author's conclusion. As to who will sell, find it interesting that you used AAPL as an example. It went from $700 to below $400 a share in a little over 6 months. This is how fast growth based institutional investors can turn when the company's growth began to slow.
    May 14 03:41 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Slowing Growth Will Bring Lululemon Shares Back To Earth [View article]
    LULU is a $11.8 billion market cap company versus a UA, a more diversified company with a market cap of around $6.4 billion. While nothing is impossible, it's unlikely that LULU gets taken over as it's pretty much a niche and its niche is being copied by its competitors (Athleta, owned by Gap, for example). Someone looking to acquire a brand can buy UA for half the price and get much bigger bang versus LULU as the current valuation.
    May 14 03:33 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Retail analysts think a lucrative market exists for plus-sized yoga apparel and activewear for the first company to invest and market in the category. The early read: Gap's (GPS +1.2%) Athleta brand might have the upper hand as it already offers yoga clothing up to size 20 compared to Lululemon's (LULU +1.8%) biggest size of 12. [View news story]
    lol.....you're going to get a LOT of hate mails.
    May 14 01:47 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Even With Extreme EPS Growth, LinkedIn Is Still A Loser's Bet [View article]
    Watch this stock run up to $200 by the August earnings announcement.

    Is it grossly overvalued? Sure, but so are quite a few other stocks in the S&P 500 Index. Everything is getting levitated by the central bank liquidity these day. It's not just the U.S. fed, but also Japan, Europe, Australia, South Korea, etc. So just enjoy it while it lasts.

    By the way, how's your short position on HLF working out for you?
    May 13 02:45 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Linn Energy: Don't Believe The (Negative) Hype [View article]
    There nothing wrong with hedging - in fact, most energy companies hedge. The issue is not the use of derivatives to hedge their book. The issue is buying deep in-the-money puts and capitalize such purchase price instead of m-t-m. The research you should be doing is whether any other MLPs or upstream E&P companies capitalize their derivatives and amortize such purchase price instead of m-t-m such positions.

    Again, I'm not saying this company is another Enron or do I claim to be an expert in accounting practices for energy companies. However, my background is derivatives as I use to structure otc derivatives with corporates for a living. What's I read about this company gives me enough pause to just stay away.
    May 11 08:18 PM | 2 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Linn Energy: Don't Believe The (Negative) Hype [View article]
    I have no position in either LNCO or LINE but have been following this company ever since I read Bronte's blog (as I'm a fan of his work).

    What I find more interesting here are the responses than the article itself. Sometimes, people want to believe so badly that they overlook what turns out to be something fairly obvious when looking back.

    By the way, saw similar reactions in blogs related to AAPL and GLD. For me, why take a chance on an upstream E&P employing aggressive accounting tactics when there are so many E&Ps out there that are trading at a fairly cheap price. Guess the answer has to do with the "juicy" dividend yield. This is the same reason why people buys SDRL and bought royalty trusts and mortgage REITs.
    May 11 12:49 PM | 4 Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • ECA Marcellus Trust - Distribution Falls 35% Sequentially [View article]
    @Marketquant - I use to be long this name as well and was skeptical of MBAvalueinvestor's first piece when it came out. Did a little more digging and decided that he what right that these trusts are quite overvalued.

    Sold my shares at around $13.50 a few weeks ago. If you want to play the optionality, sell this at the current price and re-establish your position below $10 as I think this is where these units are headed in the not too distant future.
    May 10 11:12 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • ECA Marcellus Trust - Distribution Falls 35% Sequentially [View article]
    The question is whether or not you are overpaying for that optionality. Not too dissimilar to potentially overpaying for a long-dated way out-of-the-money call.
    May 10 09:58 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Apparently behind the mid-afternoon drop in the S&P 500 (SPY) (a not insignificant 10 points), the soaring dollar (UUP), and sinking commodities (GLD, USO) was the rumor of a Jon Hilsenrath article set to hit the WSJ claiming "tapering" of asset purchases is coming sooner rather than later. Thus far, nothing is up. [View news story]
    That depends on the stock. Many of the momo names that got levitated because of the perceived "put" provided by the fed will see significant haircut to their valuations.
    May 9 08:06 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Lululemon Is Too Streched [View article]
    In the near term, I hope so!
    May 9 04:24 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
COMMENTS STATS
460 Comments
411 Likes