"and that's all I have to say about that"

1) OK, So I'll admit it; Cutler is better than Campbell...

Better at being a cry baby!

2) If Campbell had a better O Line, then maybe he'd have a few less sacks and a few more TD's.

Still no crying from Campbell...

3) Cutler has more throws to boost his numbers. Redskins have Portis to add more than one dimension to the offense.

4) Why would you want to give up draft picks to get a temperamental, OK.. "Totally Mental" QB with no more "football" or "athletic" ability than the one you currently have?

Still, no crying from Campbell...

and that's all I have to say about that...

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Marvel-ous Fun Strip Friday

In honor of Wolverine's 35th anniversary, Marvel is announcing that April will be "Wolverine Art Appreciation Month."

Check out the preview curtesy of the Washington Post...

Sneak Peek: Marvel's New "Wolverine" Images
Wolverine as a freakishly six-headed Warholian portrait? What would Joe Quesada think, let alone Hugh Jackman?


Actually, we learn that Quesada -- the big cheese at Marvel Comics -- has blessed such an illustration, as well as numerous other cartoons of Wolverine as "inspired" by some of the world's greatest (and in one case, not-so-great) artists.

In honor of Wolverine's 35th anniversary, Marvel is announcing that April will be "Wolverine Art Appreciation Month." As part of the celebration, Marvel says it's giving Comic Riffs exclusive "first look" at the character images, and so we pass along this sneak-peek to you.

Various Marvel titles will debut the new art, which includes images "invoking" Picasso, Dali and Van Gogh, among other all-timers. Says Quesada in a statement: Wolverine is "not just popular with fans but also with artists. ... This got us thinking: What if Wolverine had been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years? What great, classic artists would want a crack at drawing a Wolverine cover?"

And of course, the film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," starring Jackman, is due out soon, so the timing is especially tidy.

And for all you investors out there....
Marvel News:
20-Mar-09 Price hit new 52-week low ($22.82)
But the future looks interesting...
Gazillions Of Gamers

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April Watch Lists

Drum Roll Please....

Here are my choices for the April Watch List(s). Once again I had to narrow down a list of nearly 40 stocks to a manageable few. And once again I am going to see if my bench (cut list) does better than my starting line up.





For this post, I will be talking briefly about my active (starting line up) watch list.

MOS
OK so way back in February this stock saw a good run up due to merger and take over rumors. However, lets look at some of the basic fundamentals, trends of the company since then.

I will include some of the basic fundamentals that I look at for every company and as you can see below, MOS has (on paper) good rates of return, cash flow, employee interest and corporate earnings growth.

For the moment the stock seems to be trading within the $40 - $50 range and has held up well since the rumors stopped back in February. It is currently trading closer to the $40 mark, so this might be worth buying into.


Profit Margin (ttm): 27.26%
Operating Margin (ttm): 31.42%

Return on Assets (ttm): 22.98%
Return on Equity (ttm): 54.10%

% Held by Insiders1: 64.39%
% Held by Institutions1: 26.40%

Qtrly Revenue Growth (yoy): 36.90%

Market Cap (intraday)5: 19.50B
Enterprise Value (1-Apr-09)3: 17.26B Total Debt (mrq): 1.41B
Total Debt/Equity (mrq): N/A
Current Ratio (mrq): 3.451
Book Value Per Share (mrq): 17.672001

Trailing P/E (ttm, intraday): 5.57
Forward P/E (fye 31-May-10) 1: 7.02
PEG Ratio (5 yr expected): 0.69

Operating Cash Flow (ttm): 2.51B
Levered Free Cash Flow (ttm): 1.18B

FSLR
First Solar, Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of solar electric power modules using a proprietary thin film semiconductor technology.
This stock got absolutely knocked down in February and made a nice come back during March.
It is a strong company in a speculative field and has been bouncing all over the place between $100 and $150’s since October.
It’s currently trading around $135 so I think I will wait to see if it drops below $125 before considering it.

CSR
China Security & Surveillance Technology, Inc. (CSST) is engaged, through its indirect Chinese subsidiaries, in the manufacturing, distributing, installing, and servicing of surveillance and safety products and systems and developing surveillance, and safety related software in China. The Company’s customers include governmental entities, such as customs agencies, courts, public security bureaus, and prisons; non-profit organizations, including schools, museums, sports arenas, and libraries, and commercial entities, such as airports, hotels, real estate, banks, mines, railways, supermarkets, and entertainment venues. CSST operates primarily in five segments: Installation Segment, Manufacturing Segment, Distribution Segment, Software Segment, and Service Segment.

OK this one has my interest because I see a couple REALLY interesting patterns.

First one: Potential Cup and Handle












In the traditional pattern, after the cup part forms there is generally another much smaller up and down pattern which forms the handle part before breaking out in an upward pattern.


Second one: Potential Triple Top







The trading pattern over the past 5 days has resembled this pattern more than one I might expect as part of the "cup and handle". The triple top pattern generally signals a reversal in pattern direction when the price tries unsuccessfully to break through a top level resistance point three times before falling.

Given the fact that I generally have a love to hate and hate to love relationship with china stocks and the potential for this price point to fall before it goes up, I think I will avoid it for now.

I just found these patterns really cool.

NTES
NetEase.com, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an online community in China. It operates in three segments: Online Game Services (MMORPG’s), Advertising Services, and Wireless Value-added Services.

This stock has seen a huge run up in March and I am waiting for it to pull back down for a while before jumping in to invest. Of course, it could just keep running up and I could be wrong.

NVEC
Is a specialized semiconductor company that looks like it could be settling into a trading range between $28 and $34 dollars. Currently trading closer to $28 - $30 range which is worth a watch and possible entry for trading.

SCMP
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of drugs based on prostones. It develops prostones for the treatment of gastrointestinal, respiratory, vascular, and central nervous system diseases and disorders.

For a small pharma company, it is doing quite well. It has had 3 straight years of reported profitability.

Like NTES it has had a good recent rise and (like I anticipate for NTES) has recently pulled back and may be ready for another rebound.

TWLL
Techwell, Inc., a semiconductor company, engages in the design, marketing, and sale of mixed signal integrated circuits for multiple video applications in the security surveillance, automotive, consumer, and personal computer (PC) markets worldwide.

It has had decent financial reports for todays economy and has been on one or two of my previous watch lists so I decided to keep it on this one to see how it continues.

UEPS
Another company from a previous watch list which has done well lately. They have a unique financial business model which is not affected by the fall out of today's financial community.

It seems to be setting up an upward trading trend between $12 and $16. I may jump back in on the next downward cycle.

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March Review - Stock List Update

OK, so here we are at the end of yet another month and time for my stock review.

.

As I foresaw, just like my 2008 fantasy football team, my bench (cut list) out performed my active list. 16% vs 4%. That's right, my active watch list tallied an anemic 4% return vs a great 16% return on my cut list.






However looking at the month in review there is a lot to point out and talk about such as entry and exit points.






For instance, I made two trades for the month of March off of my active watch list.
Mindray (MR) and GameStop (GME).
I bought MR on 3/3 and sold on 3/16 for nearly a 12% return.
I bought GME on 3/17 and sold on 3/31 for a 15% return.

So even though my over all list only managed 4% and each of my actively traded stocks only recorded approximately 5% and 6% respectively for the entire month of March; I was able to book double digit returns because I tracked moving patterns and looked for good entry points into each, I was able to take advantage of bigger swings.

The chart below shows MR (in Red) and GME (in Blue). MR was in a decent ascending pattern during the first part of the month, while GME got hammered by news that Amazon was entering the used game trade in market. I actually was tempted to jump to GME earlier but at the time of their fall, MR was still in a good rising pattern. Once MR appeared to peak, I waited for another pull back in GME as an entry point which happened mid month.












Over all I seem to still be doing pretty well with my luck in investments still continuing strong and my over all watch lists are still beating the industrial averages.











I'll run my screens again as soon as I can to come up with an April watch list.

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Dogs are dying...

and this time it’s not Vick’s fault...













Ok, I understand the whole idea behind the Iditarod, and that animal rights activists don't stand a chance of closing it down; but to sacrifice your dogs for the sake of a race just does not seem right.

Click on the above link for the whole article.

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