update; how to not get rich/drunk on eggnog, etc.

fiction
Edward w Pritchard

Let's revisit the two stocks mentioned in my irrational exuberance article on December 26, 2013.

The stocks were INO and VISN. Both are still flying high in the stock market.

 INO was up 15% yesterday and is strong out of the blocks today. Since mid December 2013 INO is up 60%.

VISN has somehow held it's magnificent gains made in December. VISN still trades in the mid 20's.

Author does not give stock advice. If He did it would be to be careful of buying stocks with no earnings to speak of. Still stocks with no earnings are what the stock market today seems to like.

Not in the stock market? Real people will have to work real hard to keep up with their friends and neighbors who are fortunate enough to be fully invested now.

Original story below for reference.


drunk on eggnog; why the stock market is crazy around Christmas

fiction
Edward w Pritchard

It happened again, two concept stocks that I once owned are going ballistic today to the up side. INO and VISN, the first INO a biotech with " a one of a kind technology to deliver a treatment for prostrate cancer" and the second VISN a Chinese advertising company once the first of it's kind in China to post ads on cross town buses. Both are up to recent highs with VISN now trading in the stratosphere with no earnings in sight and up 400% in the last few weeks at 500% above it's 200 day moving average.

I own neither stock, my stock ownership now days is limited to stocked two pound boxes of oatmeal saved in the pantry for coming hard times.

Why do some stocks behave like this around Christmas? VISN is  difficult for American investors to short and financial updates are sketchy. With a small float and limited analyst coverage it is a favorite of the pump and dump crowd [IMO]. It trades on hope and hope abounds at Christmas time. Watch it soar until the professional traders return to work Jan 2, 2014 and market irregularities are corrected by sober analysis.

INO has potential but regularly needs more cash to continue research which is dilutive to existing shareholders. It negotiated  an arrangement  with a large pharmaceutical last year but such companies are quite fickle in their affections in my opinion. Additionally it has a limited pipeline IMO.

Why do small companies successfully trade on a wing and a prayer around Christmas? Professional traders take a few weeks off and the wing and a prayer crowd control the market for a few days around year end, or perhaps traders are drunk on eggnog temporarily.

Note
author does not give stock advice and has no financial interest in anything concrete anymore, but if I did own a small cap speculative stock now, up 400 % in a few weeks, near Christmas,  I would sell, sell, sell and take my profits to the Goodwill and buy myself some new clothes.