My Sick Mind

OK, so you can have your Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, and Google (FANG) and we all have them, if you own an S&P 500 Index fund (which you should), they represent the top holdings and most of the gain you have had over the past 5 years.  That's great, and it's right in your face - or on your computer - whatever.  They're easy to spot.  The virtual low-hanging fruit.  Buy them, don't buy them - the market moves on them, and it's probably just best that we own an index fund and let it run on its own momentum - of which there is plenty. The fun, and to me, the interesting part comes in finding the high-hanging fruit.  The companies that require a little effort and sometimes patience.  One of them is yesterday's Limelight Networks, which is up again today off of yesterday's great quarter.  Another is Mexican casual "fast-food" chain DelTaco Restaurants (TACO) which reported earnings today.  I waited with clenched teeth and sweaty palms, because the c...

When the CEO of a company you are invested in says something like this (below) I couldn't think of a better reason to (a) have tremendous confidence in the company and (b) encourage me to buy more.  Regardless of whether it's a huge conglomerate like Ford or Boeing, or a tiny microcap like Limelight Networks (LLNW) I am thrilled to be in this, and looking forward to watching them grow in 2017 and beyond. As for the numbers: Limelight Networks, Inc. (LLNW) (Limelight), a global leader in digital content delivery, today reported revenue of $45.4 million for the second quarter of 2017, up four percent compared to $43.6 million in the second quarter of 2016, and up one percent compared to $44.7 million in the first quarter of 2017. Currency headwinds negatively impacted year-over-year comparison by $0.3 million, or one percent. Gross margin was 47.1% in the second quarter of 2017, an increase of 390 basis points from 43.2% in the second quarter of 2016.  On a GAAP basis, Limel...

You know the drill.  It's been three months since they last reported, and God forbid we go more than twelve weeks without having our opinions changed about companies that we liked at one point - or hated - whatever.  Twelve weeks isn't long enough to age wine, let alone figure out what's going on in the high-end world of finances, but it's here, so we deal with it. Alphabet (nee Google) reported after the close tonight.  The numbers looked pretty good to me.  They beat on the top and bottom line, increased hits and decreased the costs - but Mister Market saw fit to drop the hammer on them after hours.  That tells me that you might get a bargain if you're a buyer.  Wait for the legendary three-day period before jumping in.  It takes a long time to unload a $900 a share stock.  Let it settle-in. Otherwise, yes I eat my own cooking. Last week, I picked-up shares of Square (SQ) at $26.  I suspect it hasn't run its course yet, and there i...

If you believe that the market is fairly or over-valued, it presents a challenge to find companies whose stock prices are not inflated beyond the measurements that the stock market places on them:  Price-to-earnings (P/E) and all of those rational multiples that  stock prices are supposed to be based on. Ask a Tesla (TSLA) investor which rational measurements he is investing in, and he won't have an answer for you.  The stock is overvalued on every aspect.  You invest because you believe, and sometimes, you have to throw value out of the window. I sold Micron (MU) at $29.50 because I had some profits and didn't trust the semiconductor industry. (By the way, I lose faith in companies the same way I lose faith in old cars.  Once I lose confidence, they have to go, regardless.  And, as Jim Cramer says, "Nobody ever lost money taking a profit.") Oh, and for the record (if there is one) I sold Snap (SNAP) at my buy price.  Once it ran up into t...

"I'll see you soon. You be good." That's what I said to Thor every day when I left the flat to go to work.  I would, and he would.  We kept our promises.  That's how friendships work. I have written about him here before.  (you could look it up) Our relationship was forged from the first day we saw each other.  He in a cage at the PetsMart and me looking for a new companion.  Every other cat had a placard with an explanation of how they wound up there:  My owner was allergic.  I moved to a place that doesn't allow cats. He doesn't get along with my children. Etcetera. Thor.   Just the placard with his name and age, "Between 1 and 2 years."  "How did he get here?" I asked.  Nobody at the store knew.  Somehow, he appeared - as if to wait for me?  When I took him out of the cage, he placed a paw on my cheek. The shelter women were aghast.  "He never does that with anybody !" "OK then, I guess this is my c...

Unless you've been asleep in a cave, you heard that Amazon (AMZN) bought Whole Foods Markets (WFM) in a deal valued at $42 a share to Whole Foods shareholders, and $13.7 billion to Amazon.  It sent waves of concern through the stock market today, as investors of retailers everywhere started looking under their skirts for a sign that something might be creeping up on them. All of those names you see above had their stocks hammered or at the very least, bitten into over this deal.  So, what's going on?  Are we headed toward a one-retailer world, or is this just yet another over-reaction to a short-term stimulus?  Or both? One strange thing that happened is that Amazon's stock went up after the deal was announced, to a degree that equated to almost getting the Whole Foods property for free.  That's odd, especially since the deal was funded from debt.  Somehow, Amazon shareholders didn't care about that.  So, we'll wait for that other shoe ...

Over the past several months, I have diverted from the usual opinions of life in these United States and my own struggles with it into the areas of personal finance and our crazy stock market.  I'm hoping that you have been reading, and in some cases, I hope you have taken my advice to heart - or pocketbook - however you see fit.  So - let's see how some of my opinions have fared: On December 31, 2016 I wrote that "precious metals are ripe through 2017," and backed the opinion up with some horrible ideas about President Trump and his goals.  The particular investment I am in is an ETF that is 65% gold, with the remainder in silver, palladium, and platinum.  Since January 1, the fund is up from $58.53 to $63.56; a gain of a little more than 8%.  I'll accept that as a win, considering the risk involved. If you want your investments to gain more than 9% in six months, maybe you should try betting on football. On April 12, I reiterated my stance on gold, a...

I don't remember where I read it, but I read it somewhere:  Dogs don't show pain.  They can be in awful agony, and their expression shows no pain.  Things that would put you or I on short-term disability are invisible to dogs. I guess they don't want us to see them in pain, being our best friends and all. I've never owned a dog.  I'm a cat person.  Cats fit into my lifestyle.  I can care for them, feed them, and leave them for most of the day without worry, as long as their litter pan is clean and they have something to drink.  With dogs, you have to be around to walk them, or fear that they'll pee on the floor.  Not that I'd blame them.  I couldn't sit in a place for 12 hours without the urge to pee somewhere.  I love dogs, but one has to realize ones limitations. I have shared my life with two cats over the past 26 years.   The first one stayed with me through my divorce and was at my side as we both struggled with desert...

Bill Maher is in trouble.   Again, or now, I don't know.  I think he has been in trouble before over things he has said.  But, here's the thing:  We come to know and appreciate people for their outlandish viewpoints and even celebrate them for it.  Except:  When that viewpoint opposes what we think or want to hear.  Then, it's offensive all of a sudden, and they are punished by the very people that accepted them for being outlandish.  In fact, you can only be outlandish to the point that it offends some people.  After that, you're on your own.  It's a strange place.  Ask Kathy Griffin. "This is America. We have the freedom of speech in America.  And, you'd better say what you're supposed to say." - Tom Smothers, 1967 This week is the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.  While I appreciate the occasion, it is yet another even-numbered anniversary that someh...

We knew more about him than we knew about any presidential candidate in history.  That's not an exaggeration.  He was present in our everyday lives, and on television every week for many years.  Buildings and golf courses were named after him.  We knew. We knew, and still, the masses (albeit not the majority) voted for him, knowing what a pompous jackass he was.  They justified it by saying, "He says what he thinks," which is another way of saying that he says what nobody should say.  That's the problem. We elected him to the highest office in the land, and maybe the world. President T***p.  I can't type his name, because it might come up in a Google search and I don't want to be investigated by the FBI after I say that I hate his guts and I wish he'd fall out of an airplane. Oh - wait --- the FBI?  They're powerless, right?  Nevermind.  I hope Trump falls out of an airplane.  There, I said it.  Hey, you never kno...

It's probably me - yeah, it's definitely me - but the separation of classes in society affects me in ways that maybe nobody else experiences.  Unless you're like me, in which case, I'm sorry. Life separates us into classes.  There is more than the typical "lower, middle, and upper."  There are sub-sets of those classes, and even though you might consider yourself one or the other, your middle class identity is dependent on your idea of what "Middle Class" is. I'd guess it's not what you think, and I can prove it. For purposes of this discussion, l et's exclude the upper class and the lower class.  If you are lower class, you aren't reading this. If you are upper class, you don't care.  That leaves the... Middle class - the idea suggests anyone who isn't living on food stamps or earning a six-figure salary at some corporate job, but my research suggests otherwise. There are variations of middle class.  There...

It first occurred to me in 1996, when my (future ex) wife left me.  She encouraged me to go to therapy because ... well, I thought she thought I needed it. I agreed because I thought it was the best way to save our marriage.  Little did I know ... She gave me the address of a therapist that she had found, and I went - on a weeknight at some stage of our deteriorating relationship - in the hope that it would salvage what was left of it. After hearing both of us out, the therapist told us that "we shouldn't be married." That interested me, and I later found out that she had been to the therapist earlier, and only sent me as a knowledgeable participant in her game. When the therapist asked her where she had gone to deal with it, and whom she had spoken to.  The answer came, "I went back to my parents' house." When the therapist asked me, I gazed into the ceiling and thought for a second... "No one.  I didn't go to anyone.  I stayed home,...

It's another earnings season.   For market geeks like me, it's four-times Christmas.   Applied Micro Devices (AMD) reported yesterday, and the stock has been down ever since.  I suppose it's because chips have topped-out?  It would have taken a massive quarter for them to continue their upside run, so I guess a bottom was in the forecast. Buy if you must. Pfizer (PFE) [a core holding here] reported revenues that beat the street but earnings that disappointed.  The word from the street is that they need to pursue acquisitions in order to increase their market share and profits.  The stock might be a raging buy at these depressed levels, but do your own DD.   C'mon folks, get sick already. Apple (AAPL) got clobbered because of expectations over the release of iPhone7, which most of us didn't pay attention to anyway.  It's possible that you can swoop-in and pick this up in the 135 range.  Otherwise, let it run through the summer. ...

I'm sitting here, realizing how long it has been since I have touched a woman.  Touched, as in felt, handled, held hands, kissed, or otherwise been familiar with. Most of you have no idea what I'm talking about.  Either you're a woman who has to beat men off with a stick, or you're a man who has some "game" that leads women to you.  Either way, you probably cannot identify with me when I tell you that I have not touched a woman in an amorous way in over five years. Yeah. I say it's been five years, but it may be longer than that.  I said five because it's a nice round number.  It might be six, or eight.  I don't remember - which is the point, exactly. I will be 60 years old soon.   Sixty.  I have never been in jail.  I have been employed since I was 18, and I have owned my own home for over 25 years.  There must be something wrong with me, right? I see men who have no idea what cleanliness means, what deodorant is...

There is no bigger example of how sports rules American life than the NFL draft going on this week in Philadelphia. For several weeks, traffic has been diverted around the site near the iconic Art Museum, and it will be diverted for several more weeks while they set-up and clean-up the massive structures that are being erected to commemorate the religion that is professional football. So, what's going on?  Well - a professional football league (the National Football League) is drawing names in a progressive order, to declare which college players will be eligible to play for them in the upcoming season.  Sounds important, right?  Oh - no?  Well, it's pretty important, if you stop to look at what's going on in the city. Streets around the Art Museum have been blocked off for a couple of weeks, and more are being blocked every day.  We didn't do this much when the Pope came here.  These are young adults playing football, fer-Christ-sakes. Supposed...

There is a big week ahead in your portfolio-thingy.  Over in France, they are having an election on Sunday.  Yes, Sunday.  The French are goofy.  I suppose they expect everyone to vote, or something? One wonders what would have happened if we had a full turnout last November, instead of electing someone with 49% of the vote with barely 60% turnout.  But, I digress. Our stock market will react - however it will - to the results on Sunday night.  Sadly, there is nothing you or I can do about it, so we are forced to grimace and bear it.  But, these are the facts: Like the Brexit vote several months ago, the markets may tank, and you will have an opportunity to jump in and buy quality stocks at a discount. Or ... Like last November, the market will react positively, and you will have an opportunity to hold onto whatever you own and watch it increase in value over ... nothing, really.  That's the beauty of the stock market. Meanwhile, many...

OK, so I'm no Warren Buffett.  I'm not even Jimmy Buffett, but I do like Chinese buffets - so, I have that going for me - which is nice.  However, I do keep up with things, and I have opinions, which is why I do this.  But I digress. It's earnings season - again. Seems like it comes around every three months - because it does.  It's junk food for market geeks like me, and I enjoy hearing the reports, especially when they don't involve stocks that I own or markets that I follow.  So, what's going on? Today, Goldman Sachs (a.k.a. Golden Slacks or ticker symbol GS) reported a less than stellar quarter, and predictably the stock got hammered, to the tune of a 4.7% loss. Since the Dow Jones is a weighted average, their loss was the market's loss, and the DJ Index took a 113-point hit.  The pessimist could look at it as a clobbering.  The optimist can look at it as a buying opportunity.  I say, wait three days and allow the big institutions ...

I don't have enough time or space to opine on why we are who we are or why we are born where we are.  Let's just accept that as a quirk of fate and move on.  After all, who among us knows why we were born of our parents and why we were not born somewhere or someplace else?  How did I wind up here and not in Botswana or Japan?  Why am I a caucasian American and not a slave in 1820s America? If you have a clue, let me know.  There is a comments section at the bottom. For now though, let's say that none of us knows why we are here or what we are supposed to be doing. That's fair enough, eh?  If this is too deep for you, then just move on to the next Dilbert cartoon in your feed and allow me to work on this by myself. Many of us work long and hard trying to figure out where we are going in "the next life," without trying to figure out why we are in this life.  I guess we accept it as a matter of fact and move on.  Well, I for one cannot do t...

He is strong.  Stronger than you or I.  Certainly stronger than I. He has battled gingivitis, which prompted all of his teeth (save one lower) to be removed, and restrict him to a life of canned food. He battled high cholesterol, which caused him to have pancreatitis, which put him in the hospital for three days.  After which, he struggled to eat for two weeks, forcing me to find something that he could stomach until he returned to his version of normal. The ultrasounds that were done during his illness told us that he had smaller than normal kidneys,  and the prognosis was negative.  Cats like him didn't survive much past the age of seven.  So, we knew - for whatever good that did us.  Good for him, I guess. The deterioration was slow.  The numbers decreased as he started eating special kidney diet food and I gave him IV fluids.  Inevitably, the disease would catch up with him, and by his mortality he would succumb.  It w...