It was the best month for the markets since 1987. Yahoo!
In 2009 and 2010 I wrote a lot about the ‘Inconceivable Rally‘ and I was investing in web startups in a relentless fashion. The year 2011 was a great one for startup valuations and 2012 is now what I call the ‘The Relentless Rally’ – at least to the shortsellers. We are in one of those amazing periods where we are gripped by momentum. Slap any four letters together and buy them and you made money, just ask Kenny.
I got a few things wrong in January…Google was a ‘fakeout’ breakout and Facebook chose $FB as their ticker symbol, not $FBOOK. Other than that, here are the tickers that were all the rage in January:
1. $AAPL – Apple is its own asset class. There has never been a company that has defeated “the law of big numbers” for so long. It is the most followed stock on StockTwits.
2. $FB – $100 billion valuation might seem a lot, but the truth is that the social network is more popular than the stock market itself. It is not even publicly traded yet, but it is the talk of the town and if often was a top trending ticker on StockTwits in January.
3. $AMZN – Amazing sales growth, tepid net income and margins, but Amazon has never tried to conform to Wall Street’s games of short-term expectations. This company just owns the internet – from infrastructure to the cash register. Its earnings disappointed two quarters in a row, but maybe this was the best thing that could have happened to its real long-term investors. Expectations have been lowered and it would be much easier to be blown off in the future.
4. $BAC – Warren Buffett took a lot of ridicule when the common shares of his investment briefly dipped below $5, but look who is laughing now. You can’t fight creative accounting and good mood. $BAC has become one of the best performing large cap YTD. Note to myself – take baths more often. Genius ideas could come from that place.
5. $GOOG – continues to be a one-trick pony that relies on advertising income only and there are a lot of players reaching for its pie. The silver lining is that the pie is growing and there might be enough for everyone, but not everyone will survive of course. $GOOG tricked out many investors last December by breaking out to new 3 year high, only to report dissapointing earnings in January and plunge.
6. $NFLX – came back from the dead, rallying almost 100% in January, squeezing everyone who was unwise to average up their short positions. Guess what. Valuation does not move prices in short-term perspective. Supply and demand do and they are impacted by money flow and confidence.
7. $GMCR – one of the high-roller short targets in the second part of last year, came back with vengeance in January. $GMCR sells addiction and this is a good business to be in. Their products are everywhere, even in Starbucks. I don’t drink coffee, but half of the world does so, on a regular basis. Huge market, but how much of the demand has been already discounted in the price of the stock?
8.$RIMM – It used to be The Canadian Tech Proud, now it the Canadian Nokia. There is a reason behind the saying that “you could rarely find value tech stocks”. Changes in technology are so fast that the average life cycle of a product has decreased exponentially. Between rumors of being acquired, changing its CEO and possibly switching to another OS, $RIMM was a frequent trending ticker on StockTwits in January
9.$IBB – broke out to new all-time high, giving a boost to multiple known and unknown biotech companies. We are all getting old and need out medicine and I have the feeling that biotech will be the next big industry to pull the American economy in the next 10-20 years. Smart money knows that, but it is hard to choose from the hundreds of stocks in the field. Which will be the winners? $IBB is a good proxy, if you don’t want to guess and want some action in the overall trend.
10. $BVSN – rallied 300% in a month on no news, bringing back memories from the dot.com boom, when strippers and taxi drivers became day traders and smart, seasoned value investors lost their shirts.
Pretty cool stuff, Howard. I ran 9 of those symbols (all but $FB) through Riskalyze and even as someone who is fairly risk averse, ended up with 6 of them in my portfolio. https://riskalyze.com/#s/121245
EXPstocktrader was the only reason I was on stocktwits
Me as well. If this action was taken because of bragging then what about those who are “pumping” or crying :BUY”. This has hurt a lot of people. EXPstocktrader was without a
doubt one of the most knowledgeable people out there. What is more he is willing to
share this knowledge – finding stocks and entry points that we would never find on our
own. Quite a few of us have made great money with his unselfish help. Is there any
chance that this decision can be reversed. Please
good luck out there …adios
so it should be easy to give us up. no one person makes a community.
me to still on twitter though later ST – i would zap the other guys who tell
u to BUY! BUY! BUY! and when the price drops out they say they didn’t buy it at
all.i made good bank following his lead and still follow on twitter. to many other ppl on there just push the stock they bought without analysis. if they ask someone like that to leave what good is the community
Terry…its a free world. You guys have each other I guess
I agree with the people below me… EXPstocktrader was all about the healthcare stocks. Best member on here…
yeah its pretty silly and petty, i came across expstocktrader dec 2010 on the yahoo boards, the guy is more legit and helpful than anyone else. I have to say though some people were not being helpful and just pumping expstocktrader, which was quite annoying, but that is not expstocktraders fault, those guys know who they are who kept pumping him excessively, if anything those people should have been told to calm it down. I think expstocktrader cramped some peoples style if you ask me…….
listen we asked him piolitely 100 times to chill….its a private community…there are house rules.
Anyone can post a chart, but he who can pull the trigger and have the balls to tell others when they do it deserves some credit, right?
Hi JOE investor….anyone can do all of the above, but we also have house rules…
EXPStocktrader added tremendous value to Stocktwits. Since when was it about “personality”? Booted off for “bragging”…really? Thought we were here to share ideas, make money together, etc. Will follow him on Twitter.
no one gets booted off for bragging. please get your facts staright and keep the message board bullshit to yourself and him
Stocktwits should post “the rules” for all to see. How do you expect people to follow “the rules” if no one knows what they are?
EXPstocktrader was on the $IBB story too.
who wasnt….jeez
Not sure what happened with EXPstocktrader but sure would like to see him back. He is good for the community and should be invited back. I saw nothing that justified an ousting. Thoughts?
EXPstocktrader is not a bragger,he is the reall deal and the only reason i joined stocktwits also.
He is a genuine guy and one hell of stock picker. I actually think he is the best i have ever come across.Give it a break howard.
Brian
You are acting like I make this decision. The flag button makes the decision as dow the rules p our community. I hear you and sorry you are upset.
I hear you Howard ,maybe StockTwits need to adjust the rules a little, all part of being successful, i have to adjust my trading rules a little everyday.
Bottom line we need more people like EXPstocktrader.
.
http://bit.ly/ywDL1D the rules
Ok thanks Terry, so what was the problem with EXPstocktrder , one problem he didn’t have was posting his losing trades lol.
By the way i also follow FractalHis, the guy is brilliant , have a feeling he got hit with the rule book also a few months back most of his ideas come with 2 senario’s now .one for the bulls and one for the bears. who’s running the show here, the market makers?