SAN FRANCISCO – Unless your hot-button trigger is best in the west, or the toast of the most, you will want to sidestep all of the wild-money mining stocks.
Wild-money stocks are where most of us should be not. Their equities crash and burn by the moment as fast funds flow in and out.
To be fair, the wild-thing stocks, such as Ivanhoe Energy (NASDAQ: IVAN and TSX: T.IE), can make you a bundle in one day or one week. NovaGold Resources as well (TSX: T.NG).
Case in point: I was happy to see instant-trading guru David Banister at Active Trading Partners make a spot-on call for purchasing NovaGold this week at US$3.65 or so. A day-and-a-half later, NG is $4.20 in U.S. trading.
Glory days.
Still, when hot-money issues hit the skids, it is almost always a disaster for late-comers. That is because the hedge funds and wild-thing money artists are exiting as quickly as they arrived. These folks in their hermetically-sealed trading hives are fiscally bound to take the profits and skedaddle. This is what they do for a living.
Ivanhoe Energy, a U.S. and Canada flagship hot-money stock, crashed and burned this summer after tripling in value. Good company, probably. Relevant energy technology for heavy oil? Surely. But petroleum prices and natural gas prices are sinking like ships. Anyone who had even a 10% gain in The Energy, as its cult followers call that particular Ivanhoe company, let alone a 200% gain, can count their lucky stars.
The best pointer for those who still want to go where the wild things are probably comes from William O’Neil, the 76-year-sold southern California author, stocks strategist and newspaper publisher (Investors Business Daily). Mr. O’Neil says 70% of all North America stock trading comes from the hands of banks, mutual funds, hedge funds and other ‘institutions.”
An institution is like a ship, a big mother of a ship. When she cruises, life is sweet and the sun feels like heaven. When waters get rough, she bails. Find the hot-money stocks that have had the money bilged out of them, the hot money, that is.
Any stock in any market in the world that shows the mother ships owning more than 25% is one most likely to sink like a ship when waters get rough. Sometimes, it does not even take ‘bad’ events to sink a hot-money stock. Sometimes, as Mr. Banister up there will tell you, it is lack of news that sinks the ship. Or just the wild-thing artists taking their money, booking a profit in the performance book that they show clients (or the boss), and heading to the next wild thing.
Not my cup of tea, I’m afraid. Do I have every expectation in the galaxy that Ivanhoe Energy once again will cross the ocean and arrive at Wild Thing Island? Yes. But I have no idea when.
Do I believe that Mr. Banister out there in New Hampshire or Rhode Island or wherever he is based (forgive me for forgetting, David), do I believe he and his methods can find the wild things before they become wild things? Well, his track record speaks for itself, and during “up” stock markets, when the sun is shining and when the ship, she is a-cruising, David’s track record is quite excellent.
My style, once again: I hold the influenza anti-viral candidate for years … and the silver candidate … and the molybdenum candidate … probably because I am a story guy and I enjoy wanting to know the “end” of the story.
For more on where the wild things are, please see beta-site Active Trading Partners LLC. By the way, I receive nothing from David Banister and ATP, not even a free subscription for the emerging service, in return for this lukewarm endorsement.
New Orleans: When October rolls around,part of me always wants to be in New Orleans at one of North America’s most diversified investment conferences. The New Orleans Investment Conference has in the past given me great satisfaction in terms of time spent meeting colleagues, subscribers and real miners, scientists and alternative economists. I’ll be presenting a down-and-dirty workshop at this year’s gathering; I hope some of you can join me. Brien Lundin of The Gold Newsletter produces the conference, whichruns Oct. 8-11. Many of my trusted colleagues and investment sources attend the show. This year will bring an excellent crop of counter-clockwise and contrary thinkers in the areas of mining, emerging markets, commodities and life sciences. Doug Casey, who has a hot hand right now, will be there. Folks who make few appearances tend to show for this show – blueblood Adam Fleming from London and chartist Ian McAvity from Canada, for instance.
Just as good are the select companies that decide to stake out the show with their executives. At this go-round, NovaGold is in the New Orleans bin, as are Great Panther Silver (TSX: T.GPR) and CEO Robert Archer (I own shares of Mr. Archer’s Mexican Panther); and Wits Gold (OTO: WIWTY)and its founder, Mr. Fleming.
Several dozen companies in all, nearly all natural resources and about half worth reviewing. If you are interested, please visit this link for registration. (And please email me with your plans to attend so that we can meet up.) The last New Orleans show I went to, and spoke at, was a corker … and gave me at least two leads that changed my portfolio life.
- Stockhouse and Ticker Trax soon will be offering an Instant Value service at a quarterly charge. The service is intended to identify fast-moving events and other factors that will add instant value to selected investments. It is intended for those who want fast action in their investments. It is not the way I invest, but I know where the buttons are.
Current subscribers will receive the first two months free. Right now, I am tracking but not naming as an IV candidate the $1.43 Canadian shares of a brand new company listed in Canada. When shares dip below $1.38, the hot money will be largely vacated and the shares will be worth pursuing for fast traders. Please see www.tickertrax.com for more.
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THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Traxhelps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom co-founded CBS MarketWatch andMarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged $300-ounce gold as a long-term hold.
HOLDINGS: Thom’s holdings are listed for all Stockhouse members on www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He and his family own recently minted gold and silver coins. He owns Great Panther Silver, one of 8 Planetary Prospects for the Ticker Trax subscription service.
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