SWUguru

The Obscenity of Bailouts on Full Display

So what did you expect?? The banks got in trouble, and the government is giving them cheap money to allow to them gradually write off their toxic assets. Its not the first time, and if we don't fix the executive compensation system, it won't be the last. The real points of the article are:

1. GS and other bank executives will be rewarded for getting us to bail them out.

2. They again have the means to manipulate their stated profits so that they can take the bonus money and run.

Stephen Leeb's 'Game Over': Good Advice for Tough Times

Just from the few quotes lifted from the book, Leeb sounds a bit short on facts and long on BS:

He wonders where we will get the steel to build 700,000 windmills--how about recycling the steel from the 15,000,000 cars Americans buy each year.

His remarks on Australian nuclear power being stymied by a lack of cooling water are also nonsense--all power plants need cooling, and Australia is surrounded by oceans of water.

Solar Companies Overseas: Where the Sun Don't Shine No More

I have done some research. I looked at solar panel prices this year, and they are higher than they were 10 years ago when I last bought panels. Lots of predictions of lower costs, but the reality is prices are going up.

Analysts: Cameco Well Positioned to Weather the Turmoil

This article was written to counter an Oct 29 alarmist blog "Short Term Debt Saddling Cameco Corp". That earlier blog was published by someone who could never have looked at a Cameco balance sheet, but was probably told to cry "Fire!" in support of a bear raid by one of our illustrious hedge funds. For shame.

That being said, if CCJ can't keep their mines from flooding, its going to be tough to justify much increase in the stock price.

Uranium: Unloved and Unwatched

You are right that Wall Street really doesn't understand uranium, and therein lies the opportunities:

1. Uranium demand is absolutely recession proof over the next 5 years. Essentially all demand comes from existing plants, which have very low operating costs compared to coal, oil, and gas. This demand is also not affected by liberal or conservative politics--those policies for new plant construction will only impact demand over 5 years out, and only potentially increase demand.

2. Uranium consumption has outstripped supply in the last 10 years, and inventories have nearly all been consumed. New and more expensive mines will absolutely be required in the next 5-10 years, requiring the average price of uranium to rise to the cost of development and production of these new mines.

3. The result of the recent entry of speculators into the uranium market was for them to buy up spot uranium supplies and push the price to $150--over the average required price. As a result of the financial meltdown and the falling price of other commodities, these speculators have been dumping their uranium into the spot market in the last few months, depressing the price below the average required price.

4. The amount of uranium held by speculators is only a small percentage of demand, and once the speculators have dumped their inventories, the spot price will rise--most likely withing the next 6 months.

Because Wall Street doesn't understand these basics, the price of some good uranium companies has been depressed well under their true value. Long term investors will do well to buy at current prices. Short term investors should wait until the spot price starts to recover, and then get in quickly.

PayPal Merchant Service Major Source of Growth for eBay

Dinah, how about some disclosure here--how many Ebay shares are you short??

Your smear posts sound like what we are going to get from the Republican national committee a week before the election.

SkypePrime, SkypeFind: Is eBay's Skype Getting Desperate?

I agree--I thought Ebay was better managed than this waste of resources outside of their expertise. The time and money would have been far better spent on Skype advertising. The other interesting news was the Vonage price drop on international calls, indicating that price compeition is heating up in the VOIP world.

Why You Shouldn't Own Cameco

Suit yourself, but after 25 years in the uranium market, I know that

1. Cameco is the largest producer of uranium in the world, and was profitable when the price of uranium was 10% of today's value.

2. Its mines are licensed, and it has the ability to increase production from other deposits while it is sorting out Cigar Lake.

3. FRG's deposits have an average grades 0.1% or less, while some of Cameco's average 20%. Its is unlikely that FRG will ever produce a pound of uranium.

Yes, its possible to make money by speculating on FRG, holding it on the way up and shorting it on the way down. However its also possible to lose money by speculating on FRG. If your investment philosophy leans toward buying and holding, Cameco is as near to a sure thing as any stock in the market.

Why You Shouldn't Own Cameco

Sam has just given me the best reason in the world to buy Cameco--compared to the other uranium stocks, its currently UNDERVALUED.