Sonic Money is a sounding board for my personal investments strategies and stock research. It will be updated in real time. As I make moves in these financial waters you will be able to either join in or watch from the sidelines. Either way my goal is to make money every day through picking long term stock winners, shorting stocks that shouldn't be posting gains, betting on sectors that are experiencing tremendous growth, and posting profits that make people take notice.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Buying into the Digital Photo Frame Craze

One of my portfolio's has been doing incredible. I moved everything out of Apple +134% in one year. I diverted some of my funds to Netsuite (ticker symbol: N) - a company that the ex-head of Oracle started to compete with Salesforce.com and half into DPDW ( a penny stock with the ticker symbol DPDW or DPDW.OB ). I bought into DPDW at .74 and its 1.01 now!

I heard a rumor abour at 39 million dollar deal Netsuite may be getting - this could send the stock through the roof. Don't ask me how I heard it. I am highly recommend this stock with an exit point at $60 a share.

The Deep Water Dance Article by Motley Fool - MUST READ

http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2007/10/08/the-deepwater-dance-marathon.aspx

Monday, December 24, 2007

Malls Are Empty

Did some last minute shopping on this shortened trading day. The malls were empty. The high end stores sales people looked desperate. I wanted to give my money to them instead of the man ringing bell with the salvation army cup.

With that being said I think shorting retailers is a no-brainer when the man rings the bell on Wednesday ( I think trading resumes then). I also think that buying anybody associated with Digital Picture Frames or buying Garmin stock is win.

I will see what I can find over this holiday weekend. Oh yea PBR is gaining large and spending the money wisely. Just read some of the news on PBR and let me know if you think this company will break $200 in 2009.

Merry Christmas

Thursday, December 20, 2007

ARTW - Shorting a stock that has +300% gains

I have been replenishing my portfolio with a short position in ARTW. I have seen this stock give back over 100% gains in the last week. I have made a substantial profit from betting against this company. I see it falling to the low 20's.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Investing In Doom and Gloom - The Upcoming Recession

The talk of Recession has been mentioned many times on the financial talk shows and whispered lots round wall street. Some analyst even have even went out on a limb and said that there would be a 50% chance of a recession.

Well let me tell you, with some of the recent news I am CONFIDENT that the bears will run the table and that there is more than a 90% chance of recession in the upcoming year. I think that lots of people in Washington and the old timers on Wall Street know this and are probably investing for it.

Lets think about the recent factors

1) Wheat shoots over $10 a bushel based on recent news from the UN that global warming + drought + population explosions + natural disasters + corn being used as gas = ONGOING STRAIN ON AN ALREADY LOW FOOD SUPPLY

2) RETAIL FIGURES WORST IN 6 YEARS. Sales in stores are scaring retailers. Women's clothing is not in the top five gifts for the first time ever.

3) HOUSING MARKET NOT FIXED YET. Their are plenty of sub prime mortgages that will be coming to term next year. This will affect financials and housing.

Its time to invest for with a recession. I will be analyzing my portfolio to make sure and take advantage of this. What immediately comes to mind is durable goods, discount retailers, and commodities.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Loosing My Religion

Okay heres the long and short of what has happened over last week.

I jumped out of GOOG and PBR with profits of 5.5% and 9.5% respectively. I jumped into ARTW a big mistake, thinking that this stock was going to go higher than the 400% it had traveled. I lost big time (16.25%). Enough to send me into a state of deep anti-blog depression.

I wanted to take time and analyze the state of paralysis that overtook me as I started to watch double digits percentage losses. I wanted to take a moment and think about the big mistake that most investors make when they start seeing a decision they make go south - hoping they will make back their profits. This only works on companies that have a sound foundation and Art Way Manufacturing does not. They make farm machinery. Farmers are strapped for cash! This stock was more than likely overinflated and I thought I could ride this wave but when the floor fell out from under me, all I could do is sit there and watch my hard earned dollars evaporate into the same diesel smoke Art Way Manufacturing machinery emits! I have learned my lesson and now I am ready to get back on that horse.

I finally sold the ARTW stock and immediately reversed my position. I took whatever money I had left and sold ARTW short. I held my breath and on Friday it dropped. Today it looks like it will drop 10%. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

For the beginning investor who is new to the idea of making money when a stock price falls - its called shorting a stock. Whenever this stock drops too, I make money. Its like betting the stock is going to fall and is a handy investment tool for the bad news scenarios. Usually brokerages won't charge you anything to sell a stock short. It is usually an option when you go to trade a particular stock. You might see buy, sell, sell short, or buy to cover. Buy and sell are obvious. Sell short is what I did to ARTW. When I make back the 16.5% I lost, I will buy to cover and hopefully recoup my loses late last week.

Oh and in the time it took me to write this I have purchased a small amount of Etrade (ETFC). I couldn't resist and I think it will be a good long term play.

Scottrade back online 10:13 - Could it be Etrade (ETFC)

Can someone please tell me how many millions Scottrade just lost? I would have to start investigating E-trade. I know this stock has been pretty beat up and I know they have a huge debt (billions) that has made this stock trade in the penny stock category but after seeing Scottrade blow up for an hour, I have to think that there might be a slight migration over to E-trade...

Maybe the hack is E-trade (ETFC) ? It wouldn't be the first time a company tried some corporate espionage. Wouldn't that be funny if Scottrade investigated the hack attempt and found out it was Etrade ?

Just wondering and you can't sue people for wondering!

p.s. My buddy from Florida who just visited with me highly recommened E-trade. I was going to label it a good stock pick before this happened after some preliminary research .

Confirmed - Scottrade's website is offline

This is an interesting turn of events. It looks like if you try and log into your account you get an error page. This is being broadcasted on this blog first! at 9:41 AM on the 17th of December.

This cold be a hack attempt or just a site outage. This would not be the first time Scottrade.com has has sub come to a hack attempt. They notified customers last year about an attack that left clients account's that were linked to scottrade in jeopardy. I may have to remove them from our recommend lists.

We have other discount online brokerages recommended on our links list at the bottom of this site.


This is what it looks like when you try to access you account

When Scottrade Doesn't Work

Its been a while, sorry for the hiatus. I just can't believe scottrade.com 's website is not working. This has to be historical. When you try to log into scottrade you get a 404 page. I have to call them. More posts soon.

Monday, December 10, 2007

EP (El Paso Corp) Going It With Texas

I just entered EP, El Paso Corp, big. I thought I could get better gains in the short term with this company. They specialize in natural gas and own a major pipeline. Compared to its peers I think its in tune to make a short term 10% gain. I know about this company through PBR.

Out of GOOG and PBR

Well I pulled the trigger. Don't really know why, just did. I feel like having these short term interest on the table while I've seen such a huge run off is being greedy. I am taking my profits and running. I will post them tomorrow.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Incredible Gains - Not moving out of Google just yet

I am pleased with the short positions I took have provide me with a substantial boost. I am probably not going to make any moves for a little while. There are many juicy options on the table but I am unable to scoop them up because the profits I am making from Google and Petrobras are to good to be true. I will move out of these once they stop their ascent.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

National Global Financial Services



Click the images to get a bigger picture but I mentioned in an earlier post that if you wanted to jump into the market now that financials where attractive. Let me mention a fund that I have been in and thats been performing well for me - National Global Financial Services. It will give you good exposer to the financial sector without having to do a ton of research. I have included its chart and a snapshot of its holdings.

Great Day Yesterday - Today Looks Good Too

6% gain in my portfolio yesterday. Love days like that! Google, PBR, and JRJC took my portfolio higher. I think there were only two stocks that were down and they were only down a fraction of a percentage point. Anyways great day.

Today it looks like George Bush and congress will move the market higher with their efforts to help out the sub prime mortgage problem and then we have the fed speaking - folks it looks like a smooth couple of days of gains.

If your not in the market you may want to wait this bull run out, you missed the lows. If you have to jump in look at the beat up financial markets - I have one in my portfolio by the name of The Blackstone Group (BX). Its down 25% and can't go much lower.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Who is Willbros Group (wg)

Its been in our portfolio for a while and it has produced +95% gain this year. Heres the company bio:

Willbros Group, Inc. (Willbros) is an independent international contractor serving the oil, gas and power industries and government entities worldwide. Willbros operates its business in two segments: the United States and Canada (United States & Canada) and all other countries outside of the United States and Canada (International). It provides engineering; construction; engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and specialty services to industry and governmental entities worldwide, specializing in pipelines and associated facilities for onshore, coastal and offshore locations. The Company is also involved in asset development, ownership and operations as an extension of its portfolio of industry services. In June 2006, the Company announced its decision to sell its assets and operations in Nigeria, and on February 7, 2007, it sold its Nigeria operations through a share purchase agreement. In October 2006, it completed the sale of its interests in Venezuela.

Oil looks higher and Brazil getting hot!

Oil looks higher today. Opec decided not to increase output great for those of you in PBR, PBR-A, or any of our oil picks. The other good news is that Brazil is getting mentioned almost as much as the iPod this year. As far as growth markets go, many stock analyst are saying Brazil is the way to go. Let not forget the PBR is the STATE owned and operated oil company. Lets also not forget they found 5 billion barrels of oil. Now they have to dig for it and if they do it will be a record drill. You couldn't ask for a better story line - its a definite Hollywood ending that Wall Street will reward PBR for for.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Just a thought

Yes I know TTWO made 10% yesterday hope you guys jumped in. I am sure there will be some profit taking (maybe a drop in the price) but I do think that they are a good takeover target and maybe will command a price around $30.

I woke up this morning thinking about Google. I think they are playing a dangerous game (as far as stock holders go) with this 700mhz auction. Its going to be 13 + billion to get in. They said they are doing this to prove a point. I believe they have great intentions. BUT the stock price may take a short term dip because Wall Street doesn't reward companies who bet millions to prove a point. Some people may even think that this is reckless. I know its beach front property, I know they are doing it to ensure that the spectrum stay free and open but I can't shake that it is a little risky for the short term players in Google.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Stocks That Are At A Discount

The Blackstone Group (BX) is 25% off its price since the beginning of November. This one is set for a 20%-25% pop in the next three months or sooner.

China Financial Online (JRJC) is 17% off its price in the last 155-20 days this one is definitely at a discount.

PBR - Petro Brazilio under a $100 is a "wish I would have." They will be in the news soon. They have a record drill to do, reminiscent of the movie Armageddon (where they have to drill into the meteor). If they score (which they will) this stock will skyrocket. Get in now and hold it...

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Big Jump Alert - TTWO - Take Two and Nintendo - NTDOY.PK


ALERT!!!!!!

TTWO a stock that has been on our list for a while and it will experience a huge jump today. Its ups 5% in the pre-market trading. With Activision being bought by the makers of World of Warcraft we are going to see a bump in the gaming sector today. The it item this year is obvously the Ninentedo (NTDOY.PK) Wii. I dove to Carribou this weekend and saw a line that wrapped around the Best Buy. This stock was mentioned on our blog a couple of weeks back.

Please readers use these tips! I wasn't joking about this tireless research stuff.

TTWO will be the next take over target and this price and $14 - $15 is price to be in this stock.