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MSFT Decline

A while back I wrote a clip regarding Microsoft. The only way this company can grow is if they break the entire company apart. There is no way this company can make their earnings grow enough to ever move this stock in any meaningful way. It is obvious why investors are loosing confidence in MSFT. The stock has not moved in years, and their prospects are even worse in terms of growth. The best move would be to break the company up so they can realize some growth to move the value of their holdings.

Stocks In Play

I've noticed three stocks today that are up over 4% today with an increase in volume over 250%. They include: PMTI, INSU, and VPRT. Look for a small declince than pick these guys up for a short term play.

GOOG Chart

Check out the five day chart on GOOG http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GOOG&t=5d. It looks like that spectacular earnings report is not making this stock hold its ground. At this point, this stock is too volatile for our taste. At $400, maybe it will be a different story.

Peix Again

Peix is trading down over 4% today after moving forward due to a large stake taken by Bill Gates. This is a great discount. We bought in at $33, and at $31.40 we love it. There is no doubt the stock will at least hit $35 in the short term. There is no doubt this stock has the capability of pushing $50 in the long term.

PEIX Trade

PEIX trade is in play. We placed a limit order at $32.75. This is a stock to hold for the long term with the change in economic climate relating to gas prices.

Stocks To Watch This Morning

After the decline yesterday in oil stocks and the overall market, I am still waiting on a corn ethanol play to jump in. PEIX is on the top of my list, but this sector is and is going to plagued by more and more volatility. I put a limit order in at $33 yesterday but it never hit that level. Watch for a drop today for a possible investment.

TheStreet.com

Explosion today in TSCM due to a meteoric rise in earnings. If you held onto the stock since we recommended it, you would be up close to 25% in 3 months. Continue to visit our site and we will continue to pick stocks that make you money.

VLO After the Bell

Valero has been down over $2 all day along with the rest of the oil market. Today, after the bell they are announcing their quarterly earnings report. Being the largest supplier of gasoline in the country, along with the recent run-up in oil prices, it could be a blow out quarter. The decline today could be the discount that we have been looking for to get into this stock. Wait for the earnings after the bell today, and if VLO is trading around the same range as it closed, pick up some shares.

Tradestation Stock Down

Tradestation is down after hitting their $.15 earnings per share forecast, and reported a record revenue of $29.4 million. So why is the stock down? It looks like investors sold on the news. Also if you look at the other brokerages, they also were down on their earning days. Tradestation is still a buy because it appears the chart is forming a handle and after a minor correction and is due for a big bounce. We're predicting a $20 target. Hang in there investors.

Amazon Stock

There could be some cause for concern regarding Amazon's stock price. I have an associate program through Amazon, though which I sell books, and they cut commissions across the board by 2%. The only reason why they would do this relates to the fact that they may be having trouble meeting their prospective inability to hit their anticipated bottom line. This may prove to be a good long term short play.

Oil Shortages

There have been reports of oil shortages this weekend on the east coast. Watch for a spike in the oil markets early Monday morning. Try to get into VLO pre-market if there is not too much of a spike, hold it until noon and than sell it.

Google After Earnings

In my original post, I gave a strategy to get into Google. If, for some reason, you were not able to get into the stock or the options, it is not too late. The stock came off of its highs today as anticipated, but the surge will continue. Anyway you can get into the stock is now acceptable. It will now continue well past $500 in the next few months.

Cramer's Street.Com

TSCM is down about .15. On the next tick up, it's time to sell. There has been some residence at $8 and it would be best to sell that that level. If you sell now, an 8% gain will be earned since our recommendation.

Google After the Bell

Google's earnings rise 60%. Who would have thought. After the disappointment last quarter, it was imperative that this company hit reasonable targets, and in this case, exceed them. Now, here's the play. The stock was up $32 a share in the after market. It will be up that much in the regular trading session, but it will pull back. When you see resistance beginning to show, short GOOG. The pull back will last about an hour, and when you see the resistance at the bottom, cover your short, and push the money from that sale into the option market. The best play will be semi-deep into the money calls. Look two-three months out. This stock is now a long term play.

Today's Markets

The stock markets are taking a breather today after being in rally mode yesterday pushing the Dow to a 200+ point gain. But, one sector is continuing to push forward amist a down market, Airlines. Because these companies are finally starting to get smart, their earnings will begin to grow. Most of the airlines have cut their routes, as well as, the amount of planes that they fly on a given day. This leaves the more profitable routes still in tact. There will be an increase in ticket prices over the next few months, but the demand will remain. It is a good time to jump into this sector after the next pull-back.

TheStreet.com

This stock is continuing to push forward on the up days and holding firm on the days that are sharply down. It will continue to move forward to the high seven's. I know I have previously said to wait until this stock moves above $8, but it will be a good time to take profits between $7.75 and 8.

Shifting Sectors

After the huge gains in the stock market today, it could be time to move some money around. Oil is up again, which brings the price per barrel to around $70. At these levels, oil companies may begin to stop seeing growth because these high prices will drive away consumers. It could be a good time to move into coal plays such as Peabody Energy. Its time to take some profits from the Dow (not including the airlines), but technology will remain strong until further word.

Markets Today

The decline in the markets today should not be a cause for concern. The NASDAQ has continually closed at five year highs over the past couple of weeks and the pull back today is only natural. Expect this decline to continue into tomorrow possibly turning flat to positive for the rest of the week.

Oil ETF

On CNBC, they were discussing the pros and cons of the new oil ETF that was released today. The comments were mainly to the negative because they said that the oil market is too risky and that an investor would be better off investing in a single oil company. In my opinion, for an inactive investor, there couldn't be a better way to get into the oil market. But, if you trade on a regular basis, it would be better to get into an oil stock with a higher BETA because there is no question that the oil market will continue to rise based on the world's current state. Higher BETA means (with all factors remaining the same) the stock will outperform the market. Foreign policy will, by itself, continue to feed this oil market.

Alcoa Earnings

The Dow is modestly up today ahead of the first quarter earnings season starting with Alcoa after the bell. Investors are expecting this company to come out with stronger than expected numbers. But, will these strong numbers continue to push this stock forward? I would say no. Alcoa has risen close to 12% since the beginning of the year and these strong numbers are already built into this stock. This could be a perfect example of buying on the rumor and selling on the news.

Job Market Data

Due to the stronger than expected job numbers today, there was a sharp sell-off in the bond and stock markets. The numbers may have been too strong to keep investor sentiment to the positive. Before this number, many investors thought rate hikes will begin to slow, but now it becomes more and more unlikely. It is a reasonable assumption that the bond markets will continue to sell-off thus pushing the rates to a higher level.

Futures Pop

Futures pop after the March jobs report came in ahead of estimates. The number was 211,00 and there was a downward revision of 15,000 from last month. The most important part of this number was hourly earnings which came in ahead of estimates. This strong number may mean more future rate hikes.

Before the Bell

The March jobs report will prove to be a catalyst in today's market. There have been whispers of a blowout number. If this is true, expect a further push forward and another 5 year high close of the NASDAQ.

Stocks to Watch

The stocks to watch for early morning trading include: RIMM, STZ, CKR, and AN. All four of these companies released earnings today, and you may be able to get into some early market volatility for some quick trades. In addition the cell phone companies may be on the move after an announcement by the FDA that they are looking into the safety of cell phone use.

RIMM Earnings

RIMM came out with their earnings after the bell today sending the stock down sharply in after-hours trading. Their EPS came in at .65 a share, while the street was expecting .67 on revenue of 567m vs. 561m. They also guided lower on revenue for the first quarter 585-645m (expected) down to 580-610m. The strange thing about these earnings is that they pre-announced their earnings and they still missed. Their settlement charges must have been more than anticipated.

AAPL Surge Day 2

APPL is up another 6.5 % today adding on to yesterday's gains due to the announcement of the implementation of Microsoft's Window XP into the iMac. Apparently, this deal is even bigger than expected, hence the 10+% rally in the last two trading sessions. Investors are seeing this as an admition by APPL that they are having a hard time gaining market-share on Microsoft's operating system. It seems that Apple is becoming more and more focused on selling their hardware (iPod, iMac, etc.) and leaving the software portion to someone else. This is a strategic decision that will help Apple sell more computers. The computers look better, they're more stylish, and now you don't have to learn a brand new operating system when you purchase one.
It will be hard to sustain the grow that AAPL has been experiencing by just selling their iPod. Eventually, this branch of the company will begin to plateau and they will need to look to another branch to pick up the slack. This is where this deal comes into play.

Market Uncertainty

Although the stock markets have recently been on an upward trend, there is a disturbing statistic that creates some cause for concern: Gold futures have now surpassed $600 an ounce, the highest level they have been since 1981. I am a bull, as of now, but the level that Gold is trading at has forced be to further hedge my portfolio due to sheer uncertainty.

Apple Stock Today

Apple today announced that the iMac currently using intel processors now will be able to run on the Microsoft XP operating system. Now, they will be in even more direct competition will Dell. And, with the currently popularity of Apple, they may easily be able to surpass Dell in computer sales in the near future. Today's 7% surge in APPL's stock price is well deserved. They have been able to sustain this price by merely selling iPod's. If the iMac gains even half the popularity of the iPod, their stock price could jump 50%.

Cramer's Lightning Round

Does anyone know why Cramer was bearish on the QQQQ's last night? It seems like the techs are leading the way in the economy.

Citigroup and Cramer

Today, the Federal Reserve lifted restrictions concerning Citigroups consolation of other financial companies. This is a major plus for this company because in order to stay ahead in this sector, rampid acquisitions of smaller banks are mandatory. In addition, Cramer has talked up this stock even before this news has come out. Even though the stock is modestly up today, it could be a good time to buy a bundle of Citigroup for the long-term.

Google Play Today

For those of you who own GOOG, there is an option trading opportunity to write Apr 390 calls. They are currently trading at $17.40 and would yield a 4.5% return. The only risk is the stocks upside potential. But, if you take into consideration its recent run-up, I don’t think this stock will close above $390 by the date of expiration (about three weeks). If you have questions about some of the terminology, visit: http://www.optionpricing101.com.

Stern Lashes Out

Howard Stern recently lashed out against his fans calling them cheap because more of them didn't follow him to Sirius. He said that they currently have 4 million subscribers when they should have 20 million. Even though this may seem like an unauthorized lash out, this interview may be able to bump the stock up on Monday.

Jim Cramer Blog

Friday, April 28, 2006

MSFT Decline

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Stocks In Play

GOOG Chart

Peix Again

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

PEIX Trade

Stocks To Watch This Morning

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

TheStreet.com

VLO After the Bell

Tradestation Stock Down

Monday, April 24, 2006

Amazon Stock

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Oil Shortages

Friday, April 21, 2006

Google After Earnings

Cramer's Street.Com

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Google After the Bell

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Today's Markets

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

TheStreet.com

Shifting Sectors

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Markets Today

Monday, April 10, 2006

Oil ETF

Alcoa Earnings

Friday, April 07, 2006

Job Market Data

Futures Pop

Before the Bell

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Stocks to Watch

RIMM Earnings

AAPL Surge Day 2

Market Uncertainty

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Apple Stock Today

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Cramer's Lightning Round

Citigroup and Cramer

Monday, April 03, 2006

Google Play Today

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Stern Lashes Out

Saturday, April 01, 2006