Greg Weston

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    • Wed Dec 3rd 11:00 AM
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      Is Starbucks a Bargain? It Almost Goes Without Saying
      The Starbucks brand I think has been permanently tarnished in the USA by retails sales at places like 7-11 and Wal-Mart and by the sales of energy drinks in tall aluminum cans. Earnings can always be boosted short-term by cutting prices on a product that has a high margin and strong brand, but this cannot continue to work.

      Another risk: At my old employer, which had about 500 white collar workers on site and provided a lot of the business for one SBUX location, decided to install a few espresso machines in the employee lunch room.

      Boom! There went tons of sales.

      Finally it is folly to invest on the idea that P/E will soon return to "normal" levels. You have no way of knowing this, and if you need you could make a much larger fortune trading SPY LEAPS.

      I would be a buyer of SBUX around 5.5, and have an alert to tell me as soon as it does.
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    • Wed Dec 3rd 00:12 AM
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      Payday for Car Contrarians
      I prefer automaker debt to stock. For more have a look at my article on XGM.
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    • Mon Dec 1st 21:54 PM
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      Crystal River’s Q2 Write-Downs Could Bankrupt the Company
      CRZ announced today they will be delisted.

      I made my short call at 3.50, and the stock is now around 50 cents, down 85% in less than 5 months.
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    • Fri Nov 21st 21:51 PM
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      Salesforce Likely To Be Below $15 By Year's End
      Good call. I am glad I read your article. I did some additional research and then went in short at around 28.

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    • Fri Nov 21st 20:43 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      I am not worried about new solar power market players. They money for expansion is just not there except for the established companies. It will be there again.

      Obviously solar is not as attractive during a near depression and with energy prices dropping and credit tight for those with less than sterling credit. Most of the solar plays I follow have wisely scaled down, but have not stopped growing. They are still going forward with heavy R&D expenses, which is fat that can be trimmed in an exteme crisis.

      However, long term interest rates are still low for (1) the US Gov, all the other big Western nations, and nearly all U.S. states (2) monopoly utility companies in the US and Europe (3) large non-profit organizations like universities, museums, and foundations. And they have no trouble getting financing and are all significant solar buyers.

      For these buyes, record and near-record low interest rates mean financed investments in solar power will pay off. Lower prices are a good thing to stimulate demand.

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    • Fri Nov 21st 20:26 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      The various GM exchange notes are all pari passu, and generally trade that way. I believe XGM is one of the larger and more liquid issues, and keeping with one keeps commissions down and is less work at tax time. BGM is fine too.

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    • Fri Nov 21st 20:23 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      Bogey: I have no idea how GM debt will trade until Obama is sworn in. I'm slowly allocating profits from short position into long positions at current distressed prices.

      I don't try to be perfect with timing. I try to buy XGM on days it hits new lows.

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    • Wed Nov 19th 15:39 PM
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      As Solar Plummets, Stocks Drop Below Book Value
      klemenv,

      great comment. can you provide some additional details? like where you are located, whether your calculations include tax incentives, etc.

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    • Tue Nov 11th 17:04 PM
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      China Solar Companies Slowing Production
      Raw material costs are sharply lower, and production will be scaled back to prevent a glut of finished materials. Less expansion also removes worries about cash flow to cover these investments. Meanwhile most companies locked in sales for a great deal of future production. Equity market and VC weakness blocks off what was once a steady stream of new competitors.

      Does not seem like a bad situation to me. Click on my name for my more bullish take on solar.
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    • Tue Nov 11th 16:56 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      Both Pelosi and Obama are not only in favor of a bailout, they are trying to get Bush to agree to one before January.

      However I don't think there will be a bailout of GM until after Obama is sworn in. As bad as its cash crunch is now, it can easily last until then. So these notes may go lower in the intervening period.



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    • Mon Nov 10th 04:25 AM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      31Oct: Wouldn't a bankruptcy invalidate warranties (putting them on par with other unsecured debt), which in turn would prevent GM from ever recovering.

      AIG, a much less important company in the eyes of the average voter has now Hoovered up $120 billion. If you forced me to guess, I think we'll see a recapitalization of GM by via a roughly $60 billion investment from TARP in exchange for 79.9% of the resulting common stock.

      This would not actually cost taxpayers $60 billion, since many of GM's obligations would revert to the government anyway in the event of a bankruptcy, via the PBGC, medicare and medicaid, unemployment, food stamps, FDIC payments to Midwestern banks that GM would bring down with it, GM stockholders and bondholders deducting losses from their capital gains taxes, etc.
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    • Fri Nov 7th 19:36 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      31October:

      There are two issues with coal, CO2 which is not toxic but causes global warming, and second a large number of other toxic pollutants. There is slow but study progress on the toxic pollutants issue, but coal plants are still by far the biggest source of mercury pollution.

      And while natural gas is less dirty than coal for power generation, there is still the CO2 issue. Further, the major source for natural gas in Europe is Russia, which has repeatedly shown its willingness to leverage its CO2 supplies against countries that oppose its foreign policies. This is why Germany, which is in particular vulnerable to this type of economic blackmail, is such a big subsidizer of solar despite its relative lack of sunlight.
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    • Fri Nov 7th 19:30 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      Big Z: Given that Lehman unsecured creditors I think will get about 10 cents on the dollar (based on the CDS auction), and that lawsuits take a long time, I think the prospects of getting much back from Lehman are poor.

      That said, I don't mean to say that JASO is a bad play right now, just inferior to the other companies I mentioned.

      Non-I:

      I disagree that GM will be allowed to file for bankruptcy. While the job losses could be minimized with a quick bankruptcy and subsequent bailout, the huge credit losses to banks, retail investors, mutual funds, and GM's gigantic supplier base would still occur. Its creditors, quite rationally, have been willing to extend payment dates knowing that they will recover little in bankruptcy.

      The best case scenario here is really amazing. If GM gets enough money for AAA rating, XGM will go ABOVE par because of the 7.75% coupon, to something in the 28-31 range. And why not? If the feds are the major shareholder, it makes sense that this debt will become among the safest of all corporate debt.
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    • Fri Nov 7th 14:25 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      Tom: Also, Volker is respected now because he implemented a tight monetary policy when it was called for. Right now, we are facing rapid deflation. I hope he recognizes this.
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    • Fri Nov 7th 14:21 PM
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      Trading Obama: Solar Stocks, GM Debt, Ambac Calls, Lorillard and Goldman Puts
      Tom: To be more clear, I think ABK will fail, but under the limited circumstances in which it does not fail, the stock could really do well. It's a very cheap hedge if you are short financials.
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