Friday File: Blockchain Week ends, Two Buys, One Sell and some portfolio thoughts

by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | December 8, 2017 4:49 pm

Adding two small positions in cobalt and tech, a stop loss in Axis, and thoughts on CoreSite, Berkshire and more for the Friday File

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Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/2017/12/friday-file-blockchain-week-ends-two-buys-one-sell-and-some-portfolio-thoughts/


35 responses to “Friday File: Blockchain Week ends, Two Buys, One Sell and some portfolio thoughts”

  1. wal.schwager says:

    In Canada the bitcoin/blockchain fever is accompanied by the cannabis fever, leading to bad puns such as WEED (the largest cannabis company) has reached a new high! All that is not just smoke and mirrors, some serious developments. Anyway, this article may be useful: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/bitcoin-bull-shows-how-to-get-bitcoin-exposure-without-baggage

  2. stewl says:

    Off-topic comment:

    Why do so many people these days use various forms of this popular, but worthless figure of speech: “I’ve gone ahead and …”? (found above)

    The “gone ahead and” is unnecessary. It adds nothing. If you take those words away from the sentence readers would not notice that they were gone (and they might appreciate that they weren’t used).

    This is particularly popular, for some unknown reason, with on-line presenters, who are frequently saying things like: I’m going to go ahead and click on this…

    Drives me close to crazy.

    Just sayin…

  3. Steve says:

    BTLLF has been getting blockchain play. Company that has reportedly drawn the interest of the U.S. Navy.

  4. andrewsa says:

    Travis, I enjoy your commentary and I find it informative. Regarding bitcoin, Teeka Tiwari in The Palm Beach Letter makes the case that it is a “safe haven” for your money. When Cyprus and Greece limited withdrawals, and did some other not nice things to depositors, bitcoin jumped in value. In addition, with the US$ having lost 95% of its value in the last 100 years or so, it could also be thought of as protection for your purchasing power. I am a recent bitcoin enthusiast with a very small portion of my capital in bitcoin and friends but I can understand why people may believe in its future–regardless its current valuation.

  5. cw99 says:

    EXCELLENT Friday File Travis. Thank you.

  6. one2many says:

    I have learned through experience that gains that come quickly can evaporate in an instant. At the time of the tech boom you could have cashed in gains and bought good quality 10 year bonds yielding 5 or 6 percent.
    At the time of the current crypto boom you can buy large cap equities with an average portfolio yield of 4 percent.

    An attorney I know once did some work for a small quoted company and was paid in equity, as the company had little cash. A reverse takeover and ASE listing saw his small amount of work turn into over a million dollars.(1980s dollars) Despite a lot of argument from the new board that the company was headed for substantial growth he was eventually persuaded to sell most of his stock. The company later nosedived and foundered as a result of fraud.

    So the question people with large crypto gains have to face is how they will rationalise their actions five or ten years from now. Will they be able to say “I made $ large from the crypto boom and cashed in – leaving some potential further gains for the buyers” or will they be telling their tale of lost $ large/ millions in bars to anyone who will listen.

  7. jwardbe says:

    An fairly unknown play on Blockchain is Overstock. They own a company, Medici Ventures, that is focused on blockchain technology development.

  8. hendrixnuzzles says:

    $CTEQF Clean Teq

    Hi Travis et al:

    Travis, I respect your analysis and I am grateful for the forum you provide; so it makes me feel pretty good that you have decided to take a position in Clean Teq.

    If there were an obvious unnoticed flaw in the company, I am sure you would have spotted it.

    A few comments about points in your essay. The financial reports will look awful since they have virtually no income. However if one considers the backers, I think there is no danger of a financial failure.

    The lack of confidence absent a bankable feasibility study is also an understandable concern. However the actions of the company make it clear that they are going ahead with construction: they have purchased millions of dollars in equipment, paying cash, as well as a Port-a-Camp for 300 people who will be involved in the project; and they have announced a timetable for production of Q1 2019.
    So they are not waiting for a Bankable Feasibility Study, and I assert that the financing is not going to be a problem…conceding, as you point out, that nothing in this world is 100% certain.

    As a conservative analyst, you have done what many others do, which is to focus on the “here and now” aspects of the company. These are nickel and cobalt. And I also concede that short-term, the stock is likely to rise or fall based on these metals.

    However there are three other sectors of business which Clean Teq has more than speculative potential: These are the scandium potential, the water purification business, and the “virtual mine” potential of proprietary mineral extraction operations on waste and ore dumps. One caqn discount these potential revenue streams in a current valuation; but given the likelihood that all three sectors are
    eventually going to be realities, it is my opinion that conservatism of discounting them entirely results in a drastic undervaluation of the company.

    I am long Clean Teq, it is by far my largest position.

  9. manfromjax says:

    All this bitcoin stuff is just to fast for me. It reminds of the DOTCOM trading in the 90’s. You could just throw a stock ticker out there and people would buy it. I know I did.

    That being said, I did buy two Litecoin back in Oct at $58. I would have bought (wish I did now) bitecoin but I wanted to have a “whole “coin rather than a faction of a coin. I was sitting here on Thursday after watching bitcoin go up $2000 or so, as I took a leak in the toilet, thinking of buying some more litecoin. It was selling for about $95. So, I decided to sleep on it. Now, it is at $161 as I type. Snooze you lose!

    Is this going to end up like the DotCom phase? Or as some compare it to: the Tulip Bulb Bubble. I don’t know, but I feel like I have to be in it, just in case it is real.

  10. Roger says:

    I wrote an letter setting forth a system of switching to $Wampum, but apparently Lynn must have thought I was being frivolous and it was blocked. Roger (Very Irregular)

  11. Robert Baxter says:

    What do you think about Blockchain—BLKCF

  12. Alan says:

    Overstock is an indirect cryptocurrency play worth looking into.

  13. RampageKy says:

    As you hinted at, the boring established players will likely be the winners in blockchain tech. My pick is Visa (V). I own it. A lot of obscure names get throw out there, but the thing is Bitcoin/blockchain is not sneaking up on anyone. All the smart money (especially in financial services) has seen it coming for at least a few years now. If you think Visa currently has wide margins, wait until they build the blockchain network that we’ll actually use for real commerce. (The hard part might be managing credit card perks as fees come down dramatically.) But cashless is the trend and I don’t think one can go wrong with any of the major card networks.

  14. one2many says:

    Just a thought about crypto currencies. If a rogue nation allocates a power station and hardware, they can generate foreign exchange for no measurable cost. The currencies mined could be released by regime supporters – exchanging for gold might muddy the trail – then used to fund illegal activities. So the guidance which governments and central bank governors will be getting from their security services will I think be somewhat negative to say the least.

  15. marystjohn says:

    Does anyone know anything about cryptocurrencies offered by Altucher? His program costs $4000.00,with a $1000.00 off for first 2000 applicants. He claims to be able to weed out the 90% that have no chance of succeeding. He offers only the ones he and his team have vetted. Promises 1000% upside to your portfolio of cryptocurrencies.

  16. edward says:

    Travis, I was wondering if you could do a article on the best companies to invest in the USA regarding the pot explosion. Cal. is to go to recreational use in Jan 2018. Michael Robinson had a article on Dec 9, 2017 titled “the California pot explosion – the three best ways to profit from this historic moment.” I would also like ant input from other readers. thanks, ed

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