Stellar Biotechnologies – The real deal or just more tulip bulbs?DISCLAIMER: I am long shares of SBOTF and may add to the position at any time.
”Even blind squirrels find an acorn every now and then”
OK, I know .. there is already plenty of discussion re Stellar Biotechnologies (SBOTF) on the site. Since Travis posted the tease from Nick Hodge in early July, the stock is up a hair over 100% (my Special Situation account sends many thanks for that one!). The reason I’m opening this thread is because the majority of comments from those of us interested or already invested in SBOTF are being posted under another wonderful – yet mostly unrelated – thread by Doc Gumshoe that talks about Alzheimers and possible causes/treatments/cures. Great stuff, but not fully germane to the topic of SBOTF. So, tho seperate the two discussions, I thought I’d try this so we can focus on each of the topics independantly.
That said, here’s some commentary about SBOTF that I have gleaned from the original tease, tracking the price action since July, reading member comments on this site, and studying anything and everything I can find about the Company and it’s product, Giant Keyhole Limpet Hemogobulin, a/k/a KLH.
First, a little peeve I’ve developed; the actual name of this animal that is the central focus of the business. I’ve noticed a trend of sorts by readers to refer to the Limpet as a ”snail”, ”escargot”, or something along those lines. While some may be using this as a light-hearted way of referring to the animal, it is not any of those. Please, use the proper name – as silly as it might sound. New readers could easily dismiss the entire idea and be misled otherwise. No disrespect meant to any who have done this, but I think it’s important we stay on track.
Now, some factoids for you.
If you haven’t done your due dilligence yet, the place to start is right here on this page. In the upper right you’ll see a box that says ”Teaser Tracking.” Click on that. The page that comes up is a list of the teases which Travis has posted over the past many months. Second from the top is the one re SBOTF. Some good tidbits of info right there. But what you want to do is look all the way over to the right and click on the link to the original tease posting. Open that and you’ll get the full story that Travis wrote when he first uncovered this tease (produced by Nick Hodge) and is a solid foundation of info about the company. Read it – two or three times to get an understanding of what SBOTF is all about.
Next, if you can find it, try and get a post that has the original video that Hodge did to tease the company with. In it, he (Hodge) interviews a couple of the company’s top executives and takes the cameras outside the room totalk with another employee about the ”farming” process that SBOTF has spent years and millions developing and patenting. You’ll get a pretty good visual inspection of the plant itself, the ”grow tanks”, and the Limpet. Good stuff. By the end you’ll have a fair overview of the company and what it does. FYI, the video tease runs about 40 minutes. It’s the first 25 minutes or so that will interest you. The remainder is what all teases consist of, overblown and repetitive pleas to get you to subscribe to the newsletter service that the promoter has to offer. Save yourself time and money by skipping that stuff.
A few takeaways from the video and additional research:
SBOTF has been around since the late 1990’s, working on how to extract the blood from the Limpet without killing them (they have done that and gotten patents on the process) and how to raise them in captivity in order to ensure a continuious supply of the animals to work with. This ”farming” process has, for the most part, been perfected and SBOTF can now raise them from fertilization of sperm and egg to maturity. They have a lifespan of some 30 years, and coupled with the patent-protected process they developed for extracting the blood without killing the Limpet, the company can now say with assurance that they can provide the Big Pharma with all the KLH they need to conduct clinical trials and produce the drugs they develop once FDA approval is granted. And – this is a big ”and” – they are the ONLY company in existence that can do this at the present time. The many patents they hold may ensure that to be the case for years to come.
Did I mention that KLH cannot be synthesized? So far nobody has been able to do that, so the supply of KLH from SBOTF seems to remain the only game in town.
Stellar Bio has yet to turn a profit. Sales and not much to write home about. That is mainly due to the small supply available and that SBOTF has focused on R&D in the past moreso than actual KLH production. That’s my best guess – I can’t verify that but seems to be the case. It is changing, however. The R&D is still in full swing, but the ability to produce and sell KLH is starting to ramp up as witnessed by increasing sales volume. It’ll take time but those increasing sales are coming.
In the wild (ocean floor), the Giant Keyhole Limpet has never been found ANYWHERE in the world other than in the small colony (estimated to be about 100,000 animals) which is just offshore from the Stellar Bio plant in Ventura County, CA. The enviromental community has been getting more and more concerned about the harvesting of the Limpets from this colony since there apparently aren’t any more around. Whisper talk about possible extinction have begun to surface, although no official governmental action regarding a ”protected specise” has yet been issued. This is why the farming of the animals has been crucial and why Stellar has such a leg up on any possible competition. If the Tree Huggers get hold of that idea, the ability to harvest the colony could – and probably would – be severely impacted.
Recent price and volume action has been fast and furious. As more and more people are becoming aware of the company by means of Hodges’ tease and thing such as this discussion, volume has had days that were near three times the average six months ago (175K shares average vs. some days now running around 500K). And most of this is upside volume indicating increasing demand for shares of a small float. This of course leads to highr prices as we are witnessing as I write.
For now, the gravy train is tearing down the track. The question is, when will demand for shares be curtailed as investor thirst for a bite of Limpet pie become satisfied? When will Nick Hodge back off this promotion, letting the press subside and therefore lessening investor awareness (the stock is not covered by any analyst, anywhere, that I can find, nor is it held by any mutual fund or investment management company). If and when this interest backs off, what effect will that have on the stock price? Trees don’t grow to the sky … or do they?
I can’t answer those questions. Just like you, I can only hold ’um and not fold ’um – yet. That day may come, and that is why I suggest anyone long the stock keep a DAILY eye on it. I’m making no prediction whatsoever about where the price will go over the next several weeks or months. In the interest of full disclosure, I have already taken some money off the table just to partially protect the quick profits I made since purchase. I sold about 30% of my initial position when that part became valued around 50% of my original investment. What remains is valued today right at the same $ amount I first put in. The amouunt I pulled out gives me full protection of some 50% of my original investment. Would I be better off today if I hadn’t done that? Yes. I would, because the price continues to rise. Will I be better of for having made thaat sale if the price stumbles and falls in the near future? Again, yes, I will – if the price falls. Some wise man once said ”you can’t go broke if you take profits” and I believe in that. Me, I don’t care for the idea of going broke, so I’m perfectly happy with this concept. No regrets about putting actual money in the bank, so to speak.
Comments? Concerns? Insights? Let the fun began!
Sincerely,
Your Resident Blind Squirrel
Jim Skelton
This is a discussion topic or guest posting submitted by a Stock Gumshoe reader. The content has not been edited or reviewed by Stock Gumshoe, and any opinions expressed are those of the author alone.
I’m not counting pennies on this stock, I’m counting dollars. 3rd or fourth quarter 2014 should have us sitting pretty. My spread sheet projection gives me just a hair under five bucks 300 days out and just under $2.00 by 11/19/13. It will be fun to see how my chart pans out.
Jana, I started a commentary on Plug Technologies and posted a link to an article that was published today – if you are still interested in that stock.
From The Blind Squirrel
Jim Skelton
First, this; I’ll not venture a guess as to how far this current downdraft will go or how long it may last. Some of you seem to have much clearer crystal balls than the one I own. Mr. Market is toying with us right now to see who is a believer and who just thought this was free money. I mentioned in a post a couple weeks back that I thought the days of the “easy money” were gone. I still hold to that idea. But that’s not to say the days of “more money” are also past. Far from it. So while I won’t guess about pricing and invoke my version of WhodoVoodoo charting analysis. I will agree that “this too shall pass” and much better days are coming.
And not for nothing, there is some really good news out today that has not been mentioned. I’m talking about the appointment of Dr. Tessie Che to the board of directors.
If you haven’t seen that news release, go to the company website and read it.
Dr, Che is an extremely well qualified and accomplished scientist and businessperson. Her presence on the board will serve us all well.
Dr. Che serves as chair of AMARAN BIOTECHNOLOGY, a Taiwanese Biotech company. Does the name AMARAN ring a bell? It should. Amaran was part of the financial backing (some $5 million of it) in the recent transaction by Mr. Samuel Yin, the Taiwanese Billionaire. This is where it gets interesting. Always follow the money.
Amaran Biotechnology is the new botox R&D company that is being funded by Mr. Yin. He is the major stockholder there. Investing alongside Yin in the Amaran venture is Mr. Thomas Wu, another Taiwanese billionaire and chair of Taishin Financial, Taiwans largest financial holding company. So here we have two of Taiwans most successful and richest men that are now involved and interested in the future of Stellar Biotechnology. But it gets better.
Men like that don’t just throw money at an idea and simply hope for the best. Even though $12 million or so is just walkaround money to them, they still care. Remember the Michael Douglas movie “Wall Street’ of about 10 years ago? Remember that investment he made in the airline “Blue Streak” or something like that? He did so because he found out something no one else knew and he put his “guy”, the aspiring young stockbroker onto the board to be his eyes and ears to the company. Well, in our case .. enter Dr. Che.
Dr. Che is the wife of Michael Chang, a biotech scientist who is on the board of Amaran. Dr. Che, as mentioned, is chair of Amaran. Mr. Yin owns over 50% of Amaran shares and so controls it through his Hui Hong Venture Capital company. So guess who Dr. Che ultimately works for and reports to? That’s right .. she is the eyes and ears of Samuel Yin.
This can only be a good thing in my opinion. Yin will be following the developments at Stellar with an even closer eye than before. If something is needed, he’ll be aware and certainly has the capability to provide it. It’ll be a sweetheart deal like the first one, of course. Don’t sweat it. Ride on his coattails. He got rich and can help us get a little slice of that pie, too. And who knows? He just might someday decide that Stellar Biotech would make a nice fit within his holdings at Ruentex Financial Group, his primary holding company. Buyout time! But careful what you wish for. He, like the Michael Douglas character, looks out for number 1 at all times. That’s how the rich get richer.
So crunch all the numbers you want, do all the convoluted charting and math that is at hand. No disrespect to anyone that follows that course, but I simply have little faith in the process. I prefer fundamental analyis .. and a good story! Bottom line is simple: stay invested with the people that know a helluva lot more than we do about what is going on and ride it with them. Whenever you think you “know” a bottom has arrived, buy what you can afford – in terms of money and risk, of course. Then relax.
And never, ever forget this: the monetary valuations you see on your statement are not actual values that you own – yet. It’s only nominally yours. As long as it’s invested in a company, that money still belongs to Mr. Market and he can take it away at the drop of a hat. Or give you more. But it ain’t yours until you sell bank it.
Dat’s it for now. This Blind Squirrel is off to read Myrons new article on Rare Earth possibilities. I think I need some of that stuff. Sounds exciting!
Best of investing to all the Gunshoe Nation!
Jim Skelton
The Blind Squirrel
“Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then”
Jim, I did notice the appointment of Dr. Che but thanks for the background info. Roger I went to your link – a lot of good info there. There is another biotech that has my attention right now. If anyone would like to discuss CTIX on a different board please let me know – it also is giving me “chills”. Cheers JB
Jim,
Please could you throw some light on these questions?
Any specific reason for today’s drop from 1.63 to 1.37?
Can KLH be produced synthetically and is there anyone else out there trying to produce it?
Any chance that the top management team can be padding the results?
I know you don’t have a Crystal Ball but still would like your opinion. Do you think it will drop some more or is it a good time to move in?
Thank you for your time and guidance.
Ouch! Momma said there would be days like today. I’m going to search around the internet for answers to the downtrends the last 7 or so trading days and today’s dramatic drop. Microcaps tend to make more dramatic moves than other stocks but today was rather ridiculous, unless there is some negative news out there somewhere.
I haven’t found any news online nor any credible theories on message boards so I will posit my theory–a big investor or two has become nervous and is taking profits. This could be a second round negative bounce related to the Private Placement. I was frankly shocked that the stock rocketed up so quickly after the low ball PP. That was likely on the confidence of Stellar raising the funds so quickly and two billionaire smart investors taking up half of the shares in the PP. If one of those investors has sold off some or all shares then the stock would plunge. A second possibility could be somehow related to Amran Biotech–either less confidence that there might be a stock buyout or some type of negative news regarding this company from Taiwan.
I still believe that Stellar stock will be a huge winner, sooner rather than later. In fact, I think it will be a huge winner in 2014 and for many years to come.
Thanks David. If your theory is correct, then either he/she was in to make a quick buck or found something objectionable in the company. The rise is always due to unbridled enthusiasm but the steep drop smells of burning rubber. I hope the company provides some news with regards to its research and vaccine trials.
There were approximately 75,000 shares that caused this drop. With the low float, the volatility was inevitable. Weak hands will be smoked out and many of us are here to pick up those shares.
My order for some more shares went through yesterday. I probably will buy some more shares today. My advice to myself and everyone else is: Try not to ‘over-analyse’ (perhaps this not an English word, but can’t find a better one right now) every move Stellar makes, stick to what you believe and take advantage of bad days in the market. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US. No guarantees here nor anywhere else in this world.
TO: AH – AND THE REST OF THE “STELLAR INVESTORS” COMMUNITY:
FROM: JIM SKELTON, THE BLIND SQUIRREL
AH:
Thanks for the direct request for my take on this downdraft of Monday. I had decided that given the volume of comments, guesses, hopeful musings, and other such things I would spare everyone one more of the same from me. But you asked, so I’ll answer in the finest tradition of Blind Squirrels everywhere; I’ll give you my best guess, supported and documented with the finest guesswork and conjecture to be found anywhere :0)!
“These are the times that try men’s souls.” Not to mention their financial well-being. I know mine is being tested for the umpteenth time over my lifetime. And, as always, the real question I have to ask myself is this: do I still BELIEVE in the company, it’s management, it’s product/services, and it’s continued ability to move forward and eventually become a viable, profitable entity? Yes or no? It’s that simple .. and that hard.
For me, where Stellar Biotech is concerned, the answer is yes. And I’ll live with that. I still believe in the future of the company with at least equal conviction I had on day one. Everything that has happened so far has for the most part been what I expected to happen. All news is basically good news. The problem we face is that there is little hard news to work with. And what is to be had comes well after the fact anyway. It’s not as if we can listen in on board meetings and get some kind of advantage.
Why this selloff? There are a couple good guesses in comments preceding mine for you to ponder. They have as much credibility as anything I can say because we’re all GUESSING. A big investor doing some profit taking? Maybe. Some bad news of which we are not yet aware is coming? Possibly. The stars are out of alignment and since this is a California-based operation, what the stars say determines the immediate reaction of all stocks centered in La-La Land? That might be the best guess. The point is, we can conjecture all we want and post all the feel-good forward-looking statements we like, but none of it can yet be confirmed or verified. So I go back to the original question: do you still BELIEVE?
We will not see a headline in any newspaper Tuesday that says “GREEN LIGHT is ON for buying Stellar Biotech! Get ‘um while they are HOT!” I’ve observed how often people look for something like that – and it never comes. Likewise, a reverse headline saying “GET OUT!!!” hasn’t appeared either. So perusing all these chat rooms and other such critters is, to me, an interesting but barely helpful way to while away some time. They, too, are guessing. Samuel Yin and his associates aren’t sneaking in insider info on those sites, either. So there ya go. Back to that basic question: Do You BELIEVE?
To show you how smart I am, Monday I placed an order to buy another 1000 shares at $1.50 limit, day. Really didn’t think it would be filled, but felt that if it happened I just might be catching that falling knife just as it hit the floor. Well, I got filled at $1.49. And cut myself in the process – that knife had further to fall as you know. You’d think that by now, 40+ years after making my first investment (The Dreyfus Fund circa 1972) I ‘d have learned that you DO NOT try to catch a knife on it’s way down. Let it hit the floor and bounce back up. Let that bounce up last a little while just to be sure it’s real (hopefully). Then buy. Give up some of what could have been yours if you were PERFECT in picking bottoms – which neither you nor I nor anyone on this blog is – and don’t sit around fretting about “missing” that bottom price. Just ask yourself: Do you still BELIEVE?
So, see, I can’t tell you what a good entry point might be. Nobody can. It’s up to you to decide. I know that’s not the answer you hoped to hear from me but it’s the only honest one I can offer.
I will tell you what I THINK might be a bottom price area though. It’s $1.05 or so. Why? That’s what Samuel Yin paid for his shares in the financing deal. He’s not likely to want to see a paper loss on those shares and COULD – I say COULD, not WILL – come in to provide some support for share price if it gets down toward those levels on its own. So, will it? Will it fall to $1.05 before a real bottom might form? I’m not gonna guess. I, like all of us, will just have to wait and watch and see what happens. And if it does, what do you think I’ll be asking myself? That’s right; I’ll be asking myself “DO I STILL BELIEVE?”
And there is also the issue of the $1.35 warrant exercise price for the shares Mr. Yin could purchase over the next 3 years (as I understand the deal) for himself. Could that provide some sort of a “bottom support” for the share? It might, although time isn’t of the essence on those shares yet. Long way to go.
What we have here is the entry once again of my long-time nemesis, the creature I just call “Mr. Market.”
Have you ever met Mr. Market? Well, if not, let me introduce him to you. Because on Monday he entered your life in a big way, and he’s here to stay.
Mr. Market is that entity which is composed of all the things that make equity prices move up and down. He is a summary of all the hopes and dreams, fears and greed, analysis and economics, politics and research, guesstimations and estimations, “WhoDoVooDo” charting and technical analysis, information and disinformation, human weaknesses and psychology, and anything/everything else you might think of as being a part of this stuff we call “investing.”
Mr. Market stands just behind each and every investor, watching what we do with a smile on his face. He smiles because he KNOWS what we don’t want to recognize. He knows that no matter what our puny efforts are, he is in control of the overall game. Sometimes he lets us have our way. Sometimes, when in a foul mood, he crushes those efforts with no explanation or forewarning at all. We can only hope that what we do doesn’t come under his baleful glare and see his hand at work.
And here is another thing about Mr. Market that most folks never accept: the valuation of our investment accounts, the gains and losses we see, they aren’t ours – they are HIS! We are technically correct in thinking the money belongs to us, but it really doesn’t. It belongs to him as long as you have it invested in equities and debt instruments. It’s a “feel good” thing to think that it is our money. But consider the following.
Can you, on your own, cause a stock price to move up or down? No? Mr. Market can. Can you, on your own, change the sentiment of other investors toward your beloved holdings? No? Mr. Market can. Can you, on your own, move your net worth up or down at will? No? Mr. Market can. And he does, on a daily basis.
Until you actually close out a position and take the profit (or loss) off the table and out of the game, it is not yet yours. It belongs to Mr. Market and he will play with it as he decides. But when you close it out, take the funds and put them “in the bank” so to speak, by which I mean somewhere away from the markets, it’s not yours yet. So looking at those P&L’s or statements and being just so happy with what you see is fleeting and not entirely real.
If you have read my posts over the past several weeks you may recall that I made some sales and the re-purchases of SBOTF along the way. It might have appeared to be a foolish move at times. More often than not I sold at a price lower than I had to pay to get back in. But that profit I made on those sales didn’t go back into the shares. It went to my “bank”, a safe haven to preserve it until I need/want to use it for my own pleasure or necessity. That money is MINE – Mr. Market can’t touch it.
To wrap up:
No, KLH can’t be synthesized as far as we know. Statement have been made – though I haven’t seen any scientific reports to prove it – that it can’t be done. So let go of that concern for now.
Is it possible management is manipulating the stock or lying to us about the company? I highly doubt that. Again I refer to the investment by Samuel Yin. Would he get involved in a company with that going on? And wouldn’t he, with his vast array of resources for information, know it if it were true? I’m betting on Yin to cover us from those possibilities, and betting he wouldn’t risk capital and personal reputation by being so involved. It’s just not all that much money to him to do that as far as we can tell.
And is this a good time to add to positions or establish one? I ask you for the final time:
“DO YOU BELIEVE?”
Me, I believe. I may add to my position – already an outsized one relative to my assets – if I can get shares around $1.25. I hope I can. I hope I can’t. And I just heard Mr. Market laugh out loud at my plans. He already knows the outcome. I just hope he’s in a good mood today.
Best of investing success to all!
Jim Skelton
“The Blind Squirrel”
ADDENDUM TO MY MESSAGE ON CREE; THIS MORNING IN RESPONSE TO AN ANALYST UPGRADE TO BUY WITH A TARGET PRICE OF 80, CREE IS UP 4.5 POINTS TO 64.50
:). Thank you Jim for reiterating the fundamentals. Greed usually obscures these principles. Had the sudden feeling that you had taken me personally under your wing! I have been following this stock from $0.9 till $2.2 and back but have not invested in it. The domain expertise is missing and information is too hazy. All said and done, I plan to jump in big and get drowned 🙂
Regards
Nice comeback today–huge relief and a confirmation that despite the carnage of yesterday and the past week, this company holds a huge upside potential. There are always a lot of “market timers” who play with promising microcap stocks to attempt to make a quick buck and this makes for considerable volatility. Those with a weak stomach should not invest in any microcap, even one as promising as Stellar–it’s not worth having a stroke over! Those of us in it for the long haul need to do our best to ignore the swings–especially the big dips, which will be inevitable. If you have the capital and the stomach–you can take these as buying opportunities.
Putting this into perspective–as I write this the current price is $1.50 which is 50% above the low it hit after the Private Placement. Although I was late to the game and added share at 1.49 just before the PP, my holdings are still up 15%–beating any other stock I own for the short period I have owned Stellar. I have a good feeling that before the end of the year it will be above $2–we will see.
Epilogue to this early mornings (Tuesday) comments
by Jim Skelton, the Blind Squirrel
What a difference a day – or at least half of one – makes! My purchase yesterday of another lot of 1000 shares at $1.49 isn’t looking so silly anymore. (I hope Mr. Market didn’t hear that!)
Price just crossed $1.50. Reminds me of that old song from the ’80’s, “Afternoon Delight.” Remember those lyrics? “Sky rockets in flight, afternoon delight ..” This is looking like a sky rocket today, although of a very different kind to which that song was referring. At my age, I’ll take this kind :0).
If we make $1.55 today I may very well go in for another 1000 shares. Remember what I said about the falling knife. Better to wait for the fall to stop and catch it on a small bounce in the other direction than get all bloody trying to catch it on the decline.
Which leads me to another obvious but often overlooked fact of the market I’d comment on here. Dollar-cost averaging.
The theory, according to all the Wall Street gurus I’ve ever run across, is that when you have a stock that you believe is being either unfairly punished by Mr. Market in general, or is suffering due to what will eventually prove to be a minor concern, you ought set parameters at which you buy more as the price falls, thereby creating a lower average cost for the share you own. When (?) the price recovers, you’ll be at a profit long before you would have been if you just bought once and held on for the ride.
My question about that is always the same. It is “Really?”
The flaw there is that an assumption is made – with confidence and authority, of course (my charts say it’s so, therefore it IS so!) – that the price will rebound to a level above the average you establish as your baseline. But what if it doesn’t? Anybody ever give thought to that? What will be the consequence then?
You know the answer. You will have committed more money than you will wish you had to a losing proposition. You see – and here is the nugget that is NEVER mentioned – you can dollar-cost average yourself into oblivion if you do so WHILE THE STOCK IS FALLING. Now, if you do this WHILE THE STOCK IS RISING, that’s another thing entirely. You will be establishing a new cost basis that is higher, yes. But it will be at a level that is LOWER than the current price. Which means profit. Not as much as could be made if you dollar-cost on the way down, but that approach can send you straight to the bankruptcy court if you are wrong. You never go bankrupt increasing positions as they rise. So choose which way you want to go – average UP or average DOWN?
Me, in honesty, I have done both over my lifetime. I’ve almost always wound up making money on positions that I bought into as they rose. A few times greed (and that pesky Mr. Market) got in the way and I overstayed my welcome. But applying that process as prices fell has been dicey at best. If it keeps falling, at some point we lose hope and sell. Or, as I have seen hundreds of times in past clients accounts, the investor lets the thing just crumble and fall, then holds the position because it isn’t worth anything anyway and they can trick themselves into believing that someday, somehow, it will revive itself and make them look like market savants. Rarely ever happens. Anybody familiar with Sirius Radio? Many still hold onto the once-upon-a-time darling and hope it may someday recover from the back-corner of the basement where it has sat for several years now. Think it’ll recover and make you rick because Howard Stern is part of that network? Are you “Sirius?”
My point here is this, and it is relevant to Stellar Biotech stock: be very, very careful in using a “dollar-down” system. Wiser perhaps is a “dollar-up” approach.
But what do I know. Just a Blind Squirrel here seeking an acorn without a worm hole in it.
Is Stellar that good, firm, ripe acorn? Do I BELIEVE?
Yes .. I do.
Best of investing fortune to all the Gumshoe Nation!
Jim Skelton
The Blind Squirrel
Hi Jim,
really do love your perspective in life as well as in trading. Your comments always give me a chuckle and i appreciate the well meant advice you give me and others. Can’t think of anyone who would feel otherwise 😉 Imagine your little blog got close to 160 responses about now, and we hardly at the end of this story. I am holding on to Stellar because I believe they have what it takes to make it big time. ‘Up the limpets’!!!
Do not have as much time available to check out all the stocks offered by Travis, Myron and others. Yes i am kind of new to this kind of trading etc.. Learning as I am going along from you and others and I am grateful to Gummi, Myron, The Blind Squirrel, and many others who post their comments on this site. Keep up the great postings Jim and know not everyone can answer your musings, but lots of us love to hear from the Blind Squirrel again and again
This is kinda like a SBOTF support group. you know sometimes when you own a microcap and the stock price is wiggling around like a mad snake, and you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, and you feel like you’re the only sucker who don’t know what’s up! And you’re gonna be the guy left holding the bag. It feels good to come here and read these posts. Everyone for a big hug!
I took the dip as a buying opportunity placed two limit orders .10 apart both low end, and stayed away form the computer. My low liimit did not hit but I am happy to add shares at the higher. I am glad that the profit takers and skiddish sellers made it possible to add shares below 1.40 . I believe in this company and do not feel the need to question why the stock dips and rebounds ( Stellar is after all a Penny stock). I would like see a dip down to 1.20 to meet my last limit. I still have my .63 shares and plan on holding and buying, buying, buying. I will not hold positions that cause me to loose sleep, and require me to stock sit.
This works well for me , but then we all have our own ways of investing. Best of luck all ,
off to Vegas for a week.
To AH;
I hope that neither you or anyone reading these musing I post think I am talking down to them when I get into what I think of as investing fundamentals 101. Believe it or not, a lot of people that might seem to be otherwise have never learned those basic doctrines. And I suspect that there are quite a few less seasoned eyes on these pages that never post anything or reveal their presence. So I throw them out just as a reminder to everyone and as a lesson for those who haven’t really learned it yet. But do I think for even a moment I am somehow “superior” to others? Hardly.
This kind of thing comes naturally to me for better or worse. I began my adult working life as a economics instructor for 12th graders at my old high school. Later on, after getting into the investment advisory business, that “teaching” role was greatly expanded. I spent a lot of time every day explaining how things work to prospects and clients. And when I became involved in the management program at PaineWebber, I was assigned duty as a mentor/instructor for newly minted brokers with 5 years or less time on the job (LOS). This involved a ton of instruction, lecture, and teaching, formal and informal, on all sorts of subjects related to becoming a successful broker. I was also assigned as the office Mutual Fund coordinator and the Insurance/Estate Planning coordinator. This role put me in charge of meetings and such with product wholesalers and all office brokers of all levels and assisting them as best I could in finding products to solve client problems or create new opportunities. So the process stuck. And I can’t seem to shed it, nor the approaches I used back then. If it seems I am lecturing to the uninformed, forgive me. It’s just what I do.
As to taking you under my wing as you said, well, I’m not sure what you’d find under there. Living alone and let to my own man-devices, I don’t shower each and every day if I get caught up in al this stuff we do here. So beware the undersides of parts of me! :0)
Seriously, if you ever want my opinion on anything, just ask. As you have no doubt noticed, I am not at all shy about giving out advice. What that advice may be worth is another question. But I promise I always try to be totally honest in what I say and present only the best of what I have learned over the years. If it’s useful to anyone, great. if not, well, I tried.
Today (Tuesday) was a sleigh ride with SBOTF for sure. I did what I said I might, I averaged UP when the price rebounded to around $1.55. But I only took down 500 shares this time – the well of money I’m using to support this adventure is drying up and I want to be able to act on a situation if it arises without having to sell something I like to get more of this. But I got those at $1,565, so I’m happy. Now if Mr. Market will just get out of our way and let this happen as we all dream it will, we’ll make that $2.00 level again. And you can bet, at that point, I’ll take some of the profit away from Mr. Market and make it mine.
Then repeat. And repeat again – with a little luck and staying awake during market hours it could happen. I am at my best between midnight and 6:00 AM most days – or should I say nights. The mid-day drowsies catch up to me due to those all nighters I pull. This ain’t college anymore and my bod just can’t take the constant sleep depravation.
Best of investing fortune to all the Gumshoe Nation. Limpet ON!!
Jim Skelton
The Blind Squirrel
PS – Didn’t ANYTHING from the VIC resonate with anyone of us? Travis put in a lot of effort and sent out some great reports on what he heard and saw while there. But I haven’t seen a single word, not one micro-blog comment from anyone on any of it. What about China Wireless (CHWTF – see Travis’ VIC Day 1 notes), the cell phone mfgr that has financial ties to (yep) more Taiwanese biggies? Only pure play on cell phones in China. They have a few people over there that like cell phones and can afford them. Priced around $0.43 a share, with a real product and little competition, sold by all three of the major service providers, an inexpensive pricing structure to keep the phones affordable, well-liked by consumers, profitable, and well-backed financially, A large float of 2,108,685,000 shares, but trades thinly with a 90 day average volume of just 34,784. Something happened in Sept. of 2012 that caused a spike in buying to jump to near 1.5 million shares that month – and the stock price began an ascent that looks a lot like SBOTF in a way going from $0.14 to a high of $0.49 in late May of 2013, then dropping back to about $0.30, then a bounce back to the $0.49 yearly high, and now back to $0.39 bid – $0.43 ask. what’s not to like – other than the near 10% bid-ask spread? Anybody want to pick that up and run with it? Start a new Micro Blog like this one? If so, do it. I’m in!
Disclosure: I am long 4000 shares China Wireless Technologies LTD (CHWTF) at $0.43.
Be advised: you may encounter minimum purchase quantity restrictions. I had to place an order with minimum size of 4000 shares.
Jim, I appreciate your comments and I wouldn’t mind if you hammer at me these lessons every day! In the mad rush, we(i at the least) tend to overlook the fundamentals and i feel your outright honesty (please be that way) puts to rest my doubt of ulterior motive. I have opened a decent position at $1.5 and will add if it falls due to Mr. Market and not otherwise (negative results, etc). Once again thank you and please do shower. It is stuffy down here..
Welcome to our little club, Brad. In only 6 weeks I’ve learned that This is the place to be if you own SBOTF! (Or are thinking about it). I have really enjoyed reading the different perspectives, and learning from the insights of others on this blog. Really helped me with the need for affirmation when Wondering if I was “the only one who thinks ….” And wondering if I was getting excited too fast. Turned out I was very “late to the party” re: ownership; you and most others were involved long before I’d even heard of Stellar. We’re pretty much an “all for one and one for all” group, so I suppose most of us would give in to a group hug (at least after Jim has had a shower:). JB
I just sold all Stellar for now as the trend of the past two weeks seems terribly bearish. I will get back in when this trend begins to reverse. I sold with a small profit so the tax consequences should not be great. I’m not sure what has been going on to fuel this trend but I don’t see a near term end in sight and don’t want to risk losing my principal. I’m keeping the cash on the sidelines and I’ll buy Stellar with it again once this carnage seems to be ending. I may have just made a huge mistake as market timing isn’t my thing, but given that the stock is still up over 400% for the year, the pull back could be considerable–I hope not for all of you who are riding out this storm. Microcaps do tend to be more adversely affected by downtrends in the broader market and this current Washington nonsense is certainly not helping the stock.