Larry Isen’s “Greatest Short Squeeze of All Time”

by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | March 9, 2011 12:43 pm

To be honest with you, I had never heard of Larry Isen before — apparently, he edits a newsletter called Emerging China[1] Stocks, and he has been focused on small cap names in China for at least a year or two, based on his claims of past performance.

The reason he came to my attention today, though, was that a bunch of my readers wrote in asking me who the heck Larry Isen is talking about when he teases the “Greatest Short Squeeze of All Time” and tells us that the Chinese stocks he’s singling out are unfair targets of smear campaigns, with the expectation that they will be the beneficiaries of dramatic “short squeezes” in the weeks ahead.

If you don’t know what a short squeeze is, that’s basically when a large portion of a company’s shares are “sold short” by investors, and the share price then goes up quickly enough that these short sellers are forced (either by brokers or by their own portfolio rules) to cover those short positions and cut their losses.

(More detail: If you don’t know what short selling is, it’s a bet that a company’s shares will go down — you borrow the stock from someone else and sell the shares at the market price today, in hopes that you can “cover” your short by buying them back at a lower price in the future, repaying the loan with those cheaper shares. Holding a short position carries obligations, including the fact that you have to pay any dividends[2] due on those shares, and whatever fees or margin payments are required to hold your short position — and if your broker sees the value of your short position falling, meaning that the stock is going up, there can effectively be a margin call that forces you to buy back the stock).

Short squeezes are real, and there are a fair number of investors who focus on trying to find them — and it is, of course, a fairly risky proposition. If you’re specifically speculating on a short squeeze, that means you’re buying a stock that a large number of investors are convinced is going to collapse. Isen seems to be indicating that the stocks he’s picking are not the targets of the big and institutional short sellers like David Einhorn[3] or Jim Chanos[4], instead he indicates that they’re the target of small-time amateur shorts who are running internet smear campaigns and trying to drive the shares down.

And though I’d never heard of Isen, he has certainly seen the dramatically improved performance that newsletter teaser-meisters have gotten from using video “presentations” instead of plain ol’ sales letters, so yes, your intrepid Gumshoe has been forced to sit through yet another audiocast for you. Woe, oh woe is me — never doubt, dear readers, that I love you.

So what follows are the notes that I took when listening to his video ad — the quotes might not be exact, but I tried to capture the point of his talk and the specific clues he threw out to entice us about his favorite pick:

Isen tells us that since late last year there’s been a dark cloud of a “cyber smear” campaign about accounting problems and fraud at small Chinese companies, even though, he says, most of those allegations have been proven false. These are campaigns by unsophisticated short sellers, he says — the great short sellers don’t need to manipulate investors to drive the price down, they actually hope to get the price higher so they can sell more shares short.

And when he gets into the clues about his specific pick, he tells us that there is …

“One stock that can break the back of the short sellers sometime between the middle and end of March.”

The other clues? This stock has an earnings release due out in March, and they use Deloitte Touche as their accountant.

And Insiders have been buying — he specifically notes a $1.5 million buy by the CFO at prices that were 10% higher than today’s price, late last year.

Remember how I noted yesterday that Forbes[5] seems to have so many “best” list for companies that it can seem difficult to find a company who’s not in the “best” rankings for something? Well, this stock is apparently atop one of those Forbes lists of best small and medium size companies in China.

The company apparently has a $40 million investment from one well known investor, he doesn’t elaborate on that much.

He tells us that “professionally trained analysts” have refuted the claims of the short sellers.

And that, as of February 15, nearly 50% of the float was sold short.

So … who is Isen telling us will be the “greatest short squeeze of all time?” Toss that into the mighty, mighty Thinkolator and we get our answer:

This mus be China MediaExpress Holdings (CCME)

I don’t think I’ve ever written about this one before, but it’s one of the Chinese advertising companies that focuses on owning networks of TVs in outdoor, public and transportation space and selling ad space on those networks — you may have heard of the giant in this business, Focus Media (FMCN)[6] or of others like Vision China (VISN) or AirMedia (AMCN), each of which claims a different niche. CCME’s niche is running TV ads in inter-city buses, the Chinese equivalent of Peter Pan or Greyhound lines, and they have indeed been the subject of many claims of fraud by investors, and of many negative reports from short-focused analysts.

And yes, they are a match for the clues — the CFO, Jacky Wai Kei Lam, bought 100,000 shares on December 9 at $15, so that adds up to $1.5 million … and the price is roughly 10% below $15 now at just over $13. Insiders control a huge portion of the stock, something like 80%, mostly in the hands of Chairman and CEO Cheng Zheng.

And they have announced that they will be paying a dividend going forward — though I don’t think they’ve announced the amount or have paid one yet (reports I’ve seen are that the dividend will be 5-10% of income). In this case, you’d have to imagine that the dividend is either intended to get the insiders some cash, which is not uncommon for tightly controlled companies where the founder doesn’t want to give up control but does want to pull out some money, or to pressure the short sellers who would have to cover any dividend.

And yes, if the shares do go up considerably one would expect a substantial “short squeeze” — the shares sold short are now more than 50% of the “float” (the roughly 20% of the shares that are not held by insiders), according to Yahoo[7] Finance and ShortSqueeze.com about 7.5 million shares are sold short, which Yahoo Finance reports as 56% of the float (though if insiders hold 80% of the 35 million shares outstanding, then 7.5 million shares is more than the float — this is a very fluid situation so I wouldn’t count on any of those numbers, which are from different time periods being precise). Given that, it’s no surprise that CCME is also on the “fail to deliver” list of naked shorted stocks (stocks that were sold short, but for which the investor wasn’t yet able to borrow the stock to sell it yet). Trading is very heavy in CCME as the allegations and reports go back and forth, so it’s also worth noting that the actual short ratio is quite low — there have been many days when the entire float changed hands, so at the recent trading volume it would theoretically only take a day or two for shorts to cover their positions. Note that it probably wouldn’t be as easy as that implies, though, because the short position is so huge and the trading volume lately is probably artificially increased by speculators following the news … if there is some sort of denouement for these shares when things get publicly resolved in a short period of time we shouldn’t assume that there will be “normal” trading for shorts to cover or for longs to sell.

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They are audited by the Chinese affiliate or division of Deloitte and Touche, though what that means in regards to an auditor’s ability to sniff out the kind of fraud that’s being alleged (revenue booked for sales that were never made and bus contracts that don’t exist, things like that) is apparently up for some debate. One would assume that given the scrutiny this stock has gotten from small short-focused research shops, the auditors will be looking extra closely at the numbers, but you know what they say about “assume.” Deloitte is certainly a brand name with a strong reputation, but there have been plenty of brand name accounting firms that have missed scandals before.

And they are on one of those Forbes lists — a China-licensed version of Forbes at least, which put them at the top of an “up and comers” list [8]of small companies. I imagine the person who compiled that list did far less research on the companies than the bulls or bears who are actually buying or shorting the stock, but they are on a list.

Are the short sellers right? I have absolutely no idea. You can read the reports of some of the more prominent short researchers yourself and see how you feel about the stock — the two that I see crop up most often are Muddy Waters[9] Research, whose principal was interviewed by Barron’s over the weekend [10]and which has alleged a bunch of fraudulent or suspicious things about CCME and pegged their fair value at $3.54[11] (that’s substantially less than the almost $5 cash per share that CCME reports); and Citron Research[12], which issued a negative report about CCME back in January claiming that the company can’t exist on the scale that they claim and that there are numerous signs of fraud.

The company responded to those two fairly widely-disseminated negative reports with a letter from the CEO that answered those and similar allegations[13] about a month ago, and Herb Greenberg at CNBC speculated about whether Muddy Waters might have been “hoodwinked” [14](though Greenberg has also been critical of many Chinese reverse-merger companies and said Muddy Waters might still be right).

And some other investors disagree, of course. I don’t know what Larry Isen means by the big well-known investor who has invested more than $40 million in the stock, but the only real substantial institutional investor fits that bill, C. V. Starr, the insurance company, owns roughly that much of the shares. C. V. Starr is run by Hank Greenberg, who built AIG and is certainly famous, though I don’t have any idea whether he plays a role in their investments — or, indeed, whether they still hold the shares (that holding is as of the December 31 report). If you’d like to check out the many folks on SeekingAlpha who are also trying to refute the short sellers, there are a couple reports here[15] and here[16] from just this week, both seem to put a lot of stock in the Deloitte imprimatur. There was also a very bullish report from Global Hunter Securities last month that moved the stock up based on their “boots on the ground” checks, though the report itself was removed from SeekingAlpha (you can see excerpts and comments here[17], or the report itself is on scribd here[18]).

As for whether “professionally trained analysts” have approved the numbers … well, I don’t know what that means — there are two analysts that I’m aware of following the stock, from Global Hunter and Northland Securities, both tiny, and they think CCME will earn something like $3 a share this year. And I’m sure lots of the folks writing at SeekingAlpha are professionally trained analysts, too, since that term doesn’t really mean anything as far as I know — heck, I’m professionally trained myself, as is pretty much everyone who’s not living in mom and dad’s basement.

The odds seem good, though, that CCME’s stock will probably move a lot when we receive some kind of closure about whether or not there’s really any fraud going on, as the short sellers claim — if the numbers are real, the stock is obviously dirt cheap at 4 or 5X earnings and with ridiculous growth, but if the numbers are made up or their revenue isn’t really there I don’t see how you can come up with any reasonable valuation. And though it’s tempting to put a lot of weight in whether an accountant signs off on a quarterly earnings release, or whatever other company news comes out, it’s certainly possible that this debate between shorts and longs could drag on for quite a while — or that, if there is something big going on, the stock could get a trading halt if the exchange is unhappy with their reporting (meaning, you wouldn’t be able to sell, or buy to cover a short in the stock — this has happened to me before with China Northeast Petroleum, and it’s a pain in the neck, particularly if it goes on for an extended period).

Whether or not you want to get involved with CCME on either the long or short side (though it may be tough to find a borrow to short the stock now) is obviously up to you — it’s your money, of course. I don’t have any interest in CCME in either direction and certainly won’t be trading the stock anytime soon, all I can tell you is that Larry Isen apparently thinks this will be the “greatest short squeeze of all time.”

There’s debate about CCME all over the internet, so you’re welcome to add to it here if you like — if you’ve a position on CCME and the worthiness of their stock, feel free to shout it out with a comment below.

Likewise, if you have any experience subscribing to Larry Isen’s newsletter, please click here to review Isen’s Emerging China Stocks for your fellow investors[19]. Thanks!

Endnotes:
  1. China: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/china/
  2. dividends: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/dividends/
  3. David Einhorn: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/david-einhorn/
  4. Jim Chanos: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/jim-chanos/
  5. Forbes: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/forbes/
  6. Focus Media (FMCN): https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/fmcn/
  7. Yahoo: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/yahoo/
  8. China-licensed version of Forbes at least, which put them at the top of an “up and comers” list : http://blogs.forbes.com/russellflannery/2011/01/11/china-mediaexpress-tops-new-forbes-china-up-and-comers-list/
  9. Muddy Waters: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/muddy-waters/
  10. principal was interviewed by Barron’s over the weekend : http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970204309104576172493298380726.html#articleTabs_panel_article%3D1
  11. alleged a bunch of fraudulent or suspicious things about CCME and pegged their fair value at $3.54: http://www.muddywatersresearch.com/research/ccme/irrefutable-evidence/
  12. Citron Research: http://www.citronresearch.com/index.php/2011/01/30/citron-research-reports-on-china-media-express-nasdaqccme/?s=ccme&submit=Search
  13. letter from the CEO that answered those and similar allegations: http://www.cnbc.com/id/41776841?__source=yahoo|headline|quote|text|&par=yahoo
  14. Herb Greenberg at CNBC speculated about whether Muddy Waters might have been “hoodwinked” : http://www.cnbc.com/id/41776841?__source=yahoo|headline|quote|text|&par=yahoo
  15. here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/257063-an-analysis-of-4-chinese-advertising-businesses?source=yahoo
  16. here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/256843-china-mediaexpress-holdings-all-eyes-on-deloitte?source=yahoo
  17. excerpts and comments here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/253682-china-mediaexpress-reiterating-my-buy-based-on-global-hunter-report
  18. report itself is on scribd here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/49047531/CCME
  19. click here to review Isen’s Emerging China Stocks for your fellow investors: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/emerging-china-stocks/#respond

Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/emerging-china-stocks/larry-isens-greatest-short-squeeze-of-all-time/


19 responses to “Larry Isen’s “Greatest Short Squeeze of All Time””

  1. AC7880 says:

    There is one tiny little China stock that will at least double after the first quarter financials are released at the end of March. We all see claims all the time about a double, but never see it happen – right? Check the financials on HSYT, selling for under .30 right now. I am buying weekly.

  2. Curious says:

    Who are the charlatans that keep invading this space with their pseudo "HOT" stock picks (see HSYT above). How many here got burned on the AMEL pronouncement a few days ago in this very space. And we find out the company itself is pumping the stock in forums just like this one…had started a $45K internet promotion blitz just a week earlier. Would you all just GO AWAY!

  3. lmcat says:

    A good place to do some research on CCME is http://ccme-info.xanga.com/http://ccme-info.xanga
    This guy has been doing "boots on the ground" research on CCME in China, been riding buses, analyzing documents, etc. See his proof against the fraud.
    Andrew Edward Left wrote the Citron report on his computer at his home in Beverly Hills.
    See who he is: http://www.skweezer.com/s.aspx/-/photos1~blogger~
    http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Andrew_Left_52

    Both Left and Carson Block shorted CCME prior to their hit pieces, a clear sign that they manipulated the PPS. Reports were released at Chinese New Year when the company was closed to inflict maximum damage and CCME was already on the RegSho list. Shorts needed the hit pieces to drop the pps so they could cover.
    With volume today under 1 million shares, those shorts will not be able to cover quickly.

    And Starr has a rep on the BOD who has access to all company records to protect their investment.
    Now Deloitte did the 2009 10K and has been at CCME doing the auditing for over 2 months. If they had found anything, they would have walked out by now.

    And if there was fraud, the CFO would need to be involved so why would he buy 100,000 shares in Dec. 2010?

  4. LaVerne says:

    When CCME announces the dividend details and a share buyback program the shorts will be hit by a cannon.

    CCME has hired http://fleishmanhillard.com/ to replace the previous IR company

  5. tokelau says:

    Travis, I love your style of writing, keep up the good work!

  6. AC7880 says:

    Curious,

    I am a irregular, not a charlatan. I simply recommended folks read the finanicals on a now nameless stock. I did not pump it. I don’t plan to dump it. I am buying this stock, not selling it. I thought we were sharing information here, and did not know you were the “gatekeeper”.

    If you would have simply read the fnancials you would have seen the opportunity. But no – just act out of some strange sense of outrage. Uncalled for “sir”.

    And now the information is not shared – so others can not do their own research and DD to have an opportunity.

    All of gumshoe is about information, then research, then a decision.

  7. BillW says:

    Well said AC7880

  8. Ventureshadow says:

    From what I've read, CCME has the contracts and conducts bonafide business. However, I can not bring myself to invest in it because the nature of its operation is so minimal. It places TV screens on buses and displays ads on those TV screens. When I was in Taiwan in 2006 I rode some pubic buses and saw this. There would be 1 or 2 screens on a bus. The ridership showed enormous indifference to these screens. In a crowded bus it's hard to see. Plenty of people are already occupied with reading matter and these days with cellphones and iPod/iPad equivalents. How can they make a living with this? I guess they do, but I'm not investing.

  9. Travis, one paragraph below the great thinkolator there is a mistype:
    there is a "t" missing in the – "This mus be"…. good article otherwise, as usual !

    my 2 cents is the "professionally trained analysts" are Larry Isen & co….

    I'd never put a cent on a stock suspected in fraud before things get clarified. it is just as bad as playing against a twisted roulette. life for stock market investors are hard enough without having to guess which data was falsified. that is the real horror of china nowadays…

  10. Brian says:

    With a whole panpoly of things to short and go long on, why we would waste our timer on a piece of crap like this??

  11. The Brell says:

    I for one would not necessarily take comfort from the fact that Deloitte are the chosen auditors for CCME. Auditing firms typically send their freshly qualified junior staff to rummage around for informationto validate the financial statements (we used to call them the “tick and turn” guys) charging rates way beyond their level of competence. It is highly unlikely that these baby sniffer dogs would understand the nuances of the business model to be able to uncover fraud or deception & may not even fully understand the accounting software mediun used to prepare the management accounts. I perosnally can testify to numerous post-audit “discussions” with audit managers that left me in a haze of bewilderment wondering whether in fact they were familiar with the IFRS directive. Of course we need look no further than the cataclasmic demise of the illustrious Arthur Anderson in the wake of the Enron debacle.

    But then again, I am content in being a malcontened cycnic….

  12. Karen says:

    Good advice, but don't forget that some high-quality Chinese stocks are being treated as "guilty by association" with RINO and other problem Chinese stocks. A few Chinese stocks are audited by Big Four auditors, such as YONG (Yongye International), whose auditor is KPMG. The Motley Fool's Tim Hanson has been to visit Yongye 3 times and gave it a big thumbs-up. It's also got a lot of short interest, but as it's projected to go cash-flow positive in 2010 with a PEG of .19, it's a short-squeeze candidate in my book. Disclaimer: I am long YONG.

  13. faraway says:

    oh boy , you say i could MAYBE double my money with this stock…LOL i've made 600% on some of my gold and silver stocks and your bragging about a double……your all missing the boat

  14. bill says:

    Never heard of CCME?? Volumes have been written about this stock in the last 3 months.
    http://www.streetsweeper.org http://www.citronresearch.com http://www.muddywaters.com http://www.seekingalpha.com
    fraudfiles.org

    This stock has been recently halted, and is one of the most famous chinese stock fraud cases ever blogged about!!

  15. brenda says:

    Yep, officially halted late last week, and our friend Jacky the CFO who bought shares resigned despite his insider buy that was trumpeted as a good indicator, as did the auditor (who also urged an inquiry). Looks like the shorts won't get squeezed just yet, though you never know what will happen after the halt or inquiry (or how long they'll take).

  16. bob says:

    and now it's been trading again on the pink sheets (ccme.pk) for a week or so and has lost nearly 90% of its value since Isen made his bold call. Not what I would call a short squeeze… 🙂

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